 |
| Shirong Li (Joy) - Deborah Faye Lee (Marcy) - Jeffrey Liu (Zhen Hua) - Stephanie Jack (Lily) Mabel Li (Sabrina) |
Written by
Michelle Law – Directed by Courtney Stewart
Set and
Costumes designed by Jonathan Hindmarsh – Lighting Designed by Trent Suidgeest
Composer: Dr
Nicholas Ng – Sound Design by Julian Starr - Choreographed by Kristina Chan
Canberra
Theatre Centre Playhouse August 23rd – 26th 2023.
Performance
on August 23rd reviewed by Bill Stephens.
 |
| Shirong Li (nurse) - Gabrielle Chan (Adeline) - Stephanie Jack (Lily) |
Michelle
Law’s latest play is a disarming affair. Given a terrific production by Belvoir
Theatre and directed with flair by Courtney Stewart, the play vacillates
unsettlingly between broad parody and moments of thoughtful comment about fitting
into the country in which you were born but are considered alien.
The audience
first meet Lily, played by Stephanie Jack, at the deathbed of her grandmother,
Adeline (‘Poh Poh’ in their native Cantonese). A former beauty queen herself,
Poh Poh (Gabrielle Chan) makes Lily promise that she will carry on her legacy
by entering and winning the forthcoming Chinese community beauty pageant, Miss
Peony.
Although she
is about to set off to London to establish a new life, and loathes the idea of
participating in a beauty pageant, Lily reluctantly agrees allowing Poh Poh to
happily expire. But, not for long,
because Poh Poh soon reappears as a ghost who, unless Lily achieves her
promise, is destined to linger in Limbo and determined to prevent that outcome.
 |
| Deborah Faye Lee (Marcy) - Shirong Wu (Joy) - Stephanie Jack (Lily) - Mabel Li (Sabrina) |
The rest of
the play is taken up with the actual beauty pageant, during which Lily becomes
life-long friends with three of her adversaries, Marcy, Sabrina and Joy. Each
of whom is depicted as a broadly-performed cultural stereotype.
During the Q
& A that is part of the beauty pageant, we learn that Marcy (Deborah Faye Lee) hopes to advance the success of her family’s business by winning the
pageant; Joy (Shirong Wu) is looking for a romantic partner; and Sabrina (Mabel
Li) is intent on portraying herself as a typical Western-Sydney
ethno-Australian.
Despite the
apparent shallowness of each of the contestants the actors manage to invest
them with a sense of authenticity, so that during the exuberant staging of the
lavish beauty pageant with its appropriately cheesy K-pop soundtrack, it is
easy to become invested in the outcome for each. That outcome itself is one of
many surprises imbedded in this production.
Among others are the endlessly surprising set and witty costumes by Jonathan Hindmarsh which capture the glamour and gaudiness of these events; Kristina Chan’s spot-on
choreography; and the scene- stealing performance of Jeffrey Liu as Zhen Hua,
the smooth, silver-tongued compere and producer of the beauty pageant.
 |
| Gabrielle Chan (Adeline) - Stephanie Jack (Lily) |
But it is
the performance of Gabrielle Chan, as the irascible Poh Poh, which anchors the fantasy
that is central to the success of the production.
Able to
switch from matriarch to witch in a flash, Chan has an elegance which makes her
completely believable as a former beauty queen, and an inherent grace which
allows her maintain an unworldly presence as a formidable ghost. She also wears
a remarkable costume which delivers surprises of its own.
However, perhaps
the most intriguing feature of this production is how well the device works of
having the dialogue delivered and captioned in three languages, Mandarin,
Cantonese and English. This provides the
production with an unusual authenticity which somehow defuses criticism of the
broad acting style, which, despite of the contemporary subject of the play,
often hints at traditional Chinese theatre.
With “Miss
Peony” Michelle Law and her director Courtney Stewart have crafted a clever
production which besides being thought-provoking is also terrifically
entertaining.
Images by Jason Lau
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au
