SIUYI Chan was adopted from a Hong Kong orphanage in the 1980s by a white northern English family. She was 15 months old.

She grew up as Naomi Siuyu Sumner with her adoptive parents, a Lancastrian father often on the move in the British Army, and a Yorkshire mother.

Now, Manchester-based playwright Naomi Sumner Chan is premiering her 70-minute verbatim play Same Same Different, inspired by her own experiences as a trans-racial adoptee, at the York Theatre Royal Studio tomorrow and Saturday.

"The original idea behind the piece is explained at the start of the show, when I recall my feeling at Christmas 2015, sitting there with my family thinking, 'how am I related to you?'. 'I'm adopted, which makes sense of why I'm different', and I'm thinking there must be other adoptees who feel like this," says Naomi, who is played by Houmi Miura in the play.

"I was thinking, 'how am I the same as my adoptive family? How am I different? Does nature or nurture most influence my identity? What is it like to grow up in a family where you look physically different and may have a different character too.

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Playwright Naomi Sumner Chan. Picture: Loki Photography/Michael Townsend

"There's lot of pressure to feel grateful, to not rock the boat and think that if they had not adopted me, my life would have been worse."

From that starting point came a play whose research took in the stories of plenty more adoptees, interwoven with Naomi's experiences, with a diverse ensemble of actors presenting the scores of different nationalities, identities and unique personal circumstances that she encountered.

The final days of rehearsals have been held in the De Grey Rooms in York as the culmination to Naomi's 2017 Slate MAKE commission from Sheffield company Eclipse Theatre, a scheme that supports BAME (British Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) artists living in the north in making new work.

"I'm feeling terrified but excited as it's been a long process, so I'm kind of relieved to be releasing it into the world," says Naomi. "I'm intrigued to see what people will think, because I don't think people will have thought about adoption in this way before: from the adoptee's perspective."

York Theatre Royal first became involved when Naomi met Pilot Theatre artistic director Esther Richardson and Studio programme John Tomlinson (since moved to Sheffield Theatres) in late 2017. The play was green-lit when Eclipse gave £8,000 in funding, more than match-funded by Arts Council England's £36,000, which has enabled Naomi to work with London dramaturg Philp Osment, as well as director Alyx Tole, producer Ben Power, projection and live streaming exponent Osian Griffith, designer Irene Jade and a cast of five.

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Houmi Miura and Stefan Gumbs in rehearsal for Same Same Different. Picture: Loki Photography

 "I've had Arts Council support before, but always under £15,000, so this has allowed me to create a play on a bigger scale that we're taking to 12 venues and aiming to take to schools too," says 35-year-old Naomi.

She is "not sure of the circumstances" in which she was adopted. "There are a million reasons why you can be adopted but I'm not looking at that in this show. Instead I'm looking at things like being a girl of colour in an all-white school, or being with my brother and people saying 'is that your boyfriend?'," says Naomi.

"As my dad was in the Army, I was brought up with an extra factor in my childhood. We were moving every two of three years, up to the age of 14, so I'd have to explain my story again and again every time we moved.

"I coped because I didn't know any different and lots of big crazy things can happen, but because your range of experience isn't big you think it's normal. It's only now, talking to other adoptees and social workers, that I've fully addressed it."

Naomi visited Hong Kong for the one and only time at the age of eight or nine, when her parents took her to see the orphanage from where she was adopted. "I didn't like it. I found the Hong Kong culture too busy, it was too humid, and I've never been back since," she says. "I don't think they would have understood the psychological or emotional impact it would have had on me, but they did it with the best of intentions, so there are reasons I don't want to go back, but they're quite complicated."

At 18, Naomi won a place at LIPA, the Liverpool school of performing arts. "As soon as I could, I went off to Liverpool to do community theatre at LIPA and I haven't looked back since," she says.

Ultimately, Naomi's journey has brought her to Same Same Different, leading her back to her own sense of self and where she wants to belong, en route reclaiming the name Chan in 2016 as part of her identity.

Same Same Different, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow and Saturday, 7.45pm. A post-show discussion will follow Saturday's performance. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk