Adapting Alice Pung's award-winning book, writer and comedian Diana Nguyen and director Petra Kalive bring Laurinda's schoolyard setting to the stage for a fresh and feisty new work. Like Heathers or Mean Girls with a uniquely Australian flavour, this delightful take on the beloved novel is an incisive, funny study of a woman caught between cultures and class. When 15-year-old Lucy Lam wins the inaugural Equal Access Scholarship to a prestigious private school, the smart and well-liked student is not prepared for the new world she's suddenly propelled into. It's a world of wealth and opportunity, overseen by The Cabinet-a trio of girls who wield power over their classmates, and even their teachers. But when The Cabinet turn their attention to Lucy she has to make a choice: fit in and succeed, or stay true to herself. Either way, there's a cost. Whether high school is (thankfully) a distant memory or a current reality, this MTC NEXT STAGE commission offers a witty and moving insight into an all-too common experience as well as the inner strength it takes to speak truth to power.