Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 2nd October 2015
A running time of over two hours, without an interval, was no deterrent to the large audience that attended the
National Theatre Company of China's production of
Amber at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was clear, and unsurprising, that many spoke Mandarin, laughing as a humorous line was spoken, even though the English translation had been on the three screens from the start of that line. Equally, many in the audience did not speak the language, but were so keen to attend the performance that they were happy to read the translations that made it possible. That is the beauty of the OzAsia Festival, its wonderful inclusiveness. No wonder that performers visiting from overseas get so enthusiastic about it and want to return.
Amber is the work of the company's resident playwright, Liao Yimei, and is directed by her husband, the influential and highly respected, Meng Jinghui. Regular attendees might recall that in 2011 Meng Jinghui brought Liao Yimei's play, Rhinoceros in Love to the OzAsia Festival.
It opens, oddly enough, with an instrumental arrangement of
L'Amour est un oiseau rebelle (Love is a rebellious bird) often referred to as the Habanera, from Bizet's opera, Carmen. The relevance, of course, quickly becomes clear when thinking of the description of the work, referring to the nature of love. The stage is opened to the rear wall, which has air conditioner fascias attached to represent an alleyway behind a building. An eclectic group of people fill the space, one man standing downstage at a microphone.
Gao Yuan is a charismatic figure, a self-centred, self-important, amoral playboy. At the beginning, he is beating everybody around him at chess, and gloating at his victories. He then challenges them all to contribute to a book of the most salacious kind that they can imagine. They will be a collective of ghost writers to be fronted by a would be star, Miss Yao Yaoyao, who will pretend to be the author of what is presented as the true revelations of her sex life in the book, which is to be titled Chuang de Jiao Han, or The Screams of the Sheets.
Gao collapses and is next found in a hospital bed, a heart transplant patient, where his team of writers arrive to read him snatches of their text, which he insists they make far more outrageous. Having premiered in 2005, the reference to surpassing the excesses, and sales figures, of 50 Shades of Grey is obviously an update to the original script. Another techno arrangement, this time of
All That Jazz, from the musical Chicago, is followed by the appearance of a young woman who claims to know Gao and that he knows her, somewhat to his confusion.
Gao chases after every attractive nurse that comes within his sphere, arranging meetings and trying to seduce them, with considerable success. His ego takes a battering when he discovers, after they have slept together, that the mysterious woman, Xiao You, a narrator at the museum, is not actually interested in him at all. The heart that he has been given had originally belonged to the man that she loved, and she wanted to get close to Gao in order to hear it beating once again. She loved the heart, not the man.
Tradition runs through this script. Confucianism, the philosophy that everybody is fundamentally good and can be helped to improve, underscores this work. There is also an element of Taoism, with both Gao and Xiao You opposing the natural universe, and gaining unintended results from their actions and intentions. Modified a little to add eroticism, Han dynasty poetry is also quoted as part of this script, with all of its beauty, imagery, and metaphor still shining through There is a lot going on here just below the surface and I am sure that fluent Mandarin speakers, especially those with a knowledge of Chinese culture, history, philosophy, religion, and literature would have found far more that I did.
Unfortunately, the programme only provides the names of the two main actors, Zhang Yicheng, who play Gao, and Kong Yan, who plays Xiao You. The entire cast deserves acknowledgement for their individual characterisations and strong ensemble work. Zhang Yicheng has enormous stage presence as the aloof, emotionless antagonist, his transition when Gao discovers Xiao You's real motives, and the emergence of feelings and concerns, superbly portrayed.
Kong Yan is every bit a perfect foil for his performance as Gao, giving so much to the role of Xiao You, presenting the poignancy of her sudden loss, her desperation to hold onto her love through the small part of him that remains, no matter how bad the person who contains his heart, and her eventual realisation and understanding of what is happening. The two performers are a wonderful pairing, with powerfully emotional scenes whenever the two characters interact. This is yet another remarkable performance in this year's OzAsia Festival.
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