This work was borne out of Chinese state security incarceration — a space designed to erase humanity.

There is no existing audio or video of the torture known as RSDL, we invite the audience into that claustrophobic world, asking them to participate in its inhumane isolation and pain.

To survive the darkest times and return from the edge of despair, the performance will demonstrate the power of the mind as it improvises coping mechanisms, from memory games, empathy for my captors, to flights of imagination.

The absurdly opaque judicial system, its bewildered executors and their shameless lies form the material of satirical moments.

This play also celebrates human connection — the dazzling creativity that arises from our instinct to reach out and comfort one another. Sharing precious sunlight, singing for inmates on Christmas Day, crafting gifts from scraps, even knocking coded messages of romance through walls — these acts defied the machinery of dehumanisation.

It asks urgent questions about what we value in a society, the difference between democracy and autocracy, no matter how ordered and efficient the latter may appear. It is a meditation on the meaning of freedom — physical, mental, and emotional — and how easily we can surrender it, becoming our own worst warders in the lifelong sentence of existence.

Ultimately, this work is a tribute to all who are punished for thought, speech, and truth — weaving tragedy with comic relief to reveal the luminous pulse of humanity that no system can fully crush.

Cheng Lei
Lei Cheng is an Australian-Chinese journalist who has worked for both Western and Chinese media. She was born in China but grew up in Australia from the age of 10. At the tensest point in Australia-China relations, she was incarcerated for three years and two months in Beijing by China's Ministry of State Security on charges of supplying state secrets to overseas organisations. Australian diplomatic efforts secured her release, and she was reunited with her family in October 2023. Lei has two kids and currently works as presenter for Sky News.

Emma Valente
Emma Valente is a freelance director, dramaturg, lighting designer and occasional trouble maker. She is the Co-Artistic director and Co-CEO of feminist theatre company THE RABBLE.

Emma is the recipient of the Creators Fund grant from Creative Victoria, a Sidney Myer Fellow, was the Curator at Large (performance) at The SUBSTATION for four years and received a Lifetime Achievement award for Technical Achievement from The Green Room Awards.

Emma has directed works that have been performed for Dublin Fringe Festival, Arts House, St Martins, Wuzhen Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Dark MOFO, Brisbane Festival, Malthouse Theatre, Belvoir, MTC, The Substation, Theatre Works, CarriageWorks and La Mama.

Emma is also an award-winning Lighting and Sound Designer and has worked for many major theatre companies across the country including: Queensland Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Fraught Outfit, Sisters Grimm, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre, Griffin Theatre, Women’s Circus, Theatreworks, CarriageWorks, La Mama and many more.

Clyde White
Clyde White is a Brunswick-born theatre-maker and longtime friend of Cheng Lei. Their acting work has featured in major Australian fringe festivals and 1154 Days marks White’s directorial debut. Drawn to bold storytelling, they balance their creative practice with a love of fishing.

Co-Creator, Writer & Performer: Cheng Lei
Co-Creator/ Co-Director: Emma Valente
Co-Creator/ Co-Director: Clyde White
Dramaturg: Mary Helen Sassman
Set, Costume & Video Design: Romanie Harper
Set, Lighting Design: Emma Lockhart-Wilson
Stage Manager: Celina Mack
Producer: Phoebe Kelly