Two politically powerful families at war. A son and daughter helplessly in love, defying their parents. You’ve heard this story before – but what if Romeo was white, Juliet was black and the war mainly fought on Twitter?

After a whirlwind romance, hotshot lawyer Charlotte Gibson and penniless avant-garde cellist Francis Smith are engaged. One thing stands in the way: Charlotte’s the favourite daughter of Australia’s most charismatic Aboriginal politician, and Francis is the son of his dour and stridently conservative rival. It’s been mutual hatred for decades, sparked by an infamous shoe-throwing incident on the floor of parliament.

As the two bitterly entrenched families collide in the Gibson’s glitzy holiday mansion over an Aussie Christmas dinner, the long-standing feud comes to a head. Cue a sharp-witted and riotously funny struggle for dominance where barbed insults fly, secrets come flooding out and hypocrisies of all kinds – race, gender, religion, status – are mercilessly skewered.

Black is the New White sold out its world premiere season at Sydney Theatre Company in 2017, a triumph for Queensland Theatre’s director Paige Rattray, writer Nakkiah Lui and designer Renée Mulder. Now it’s coming to Brisbane.

PSA: Queensland Theatre has just announced its super-juicy 2018 season – click through to our Events Guide check it out!