Synopsis:

They are not just convicts of the colony, they are to be citizens of the new world.

Nine Years Theatre and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre jointly present to you First Fleet. The audience will be seated on the stage of the Cultural Centre's auditorium, as they set sail with the players to explore the relationships between theatre and humanity.

The year is 1787. The First Fleet of the British Empire sets sail for Australia with a group of convicts aboard, to establish a penal colony. Along the way, the Governor instructs one of his lieutenants to rehearse a play with the convicts, with the hope of using the power of theatre to rehabilitate them. But who has ever heard of an officer putting up a play with his convicts? Certainly not the other officers, priest, judge, doctor or the convicts, who all have reservations about such a ridiculous proposition. Will they eventually be able to stage the play successfully? For these officers and convicts, is the foreign land that they are attempting to build a penal colony in, a brave new world or simply a nightmare from hell?

*First Fleet is an original play by Nelson Chia, inspired by Thomas Keneally's novel The Playmaker and other materials on the convict transportation to Australia.

他们不只是殖民地的囚犯，也将是新世界的人民。

九年剧场与新加坡华族文化中心联合呈献《第一舰队》。观众将就坐于文化中心表演厅舞台上，与演员们一起启航，探索剧场和人性之间的关系。

1787年，大英帝国的"第一舰队"载着一群囚犯，前往澳大利亚开埠刑事殖民地。殖民总督突发奇想，希望以戏剧艺术感化犯人，命令一名少尉给几个囚犯排演一出戏。军官给囚犯排戏，有谁听过？舰队里的其他军官、神父、法官、医生，甚至囚犯们皆对这个荒谬的想法有意见。他们最终能顺利完成演出吗？作为刑事殖民地的新大陆对这群军官和囚犯来说，是一个新希望，还是一场梦魇？

*《第一舰队》是以托马斯·肯尼利的小说《The Playmaker》以及其他澳大利亚囚犯遣送的资料为灵感。