★★★½

“an important and extremely moving piece of theatre”

Next month marks 35 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. In an act of memoriam and collective consciousness raising, Stage June Fourth, with support from Arts Council England and Amnesty International, are producing the first English language adaptation of a play inspired by witness testimony.

May 35th tells the story of an elderly couple whose son, Ah Ping, was killed in Tiananmen Square. May 35th is the codename for the event, as still, references to June 4 are censored on Chinese social media. Decades later, as they both face their own mortality, their dying wish is to hold a ritual for him in the place he was murdered.

Written by Candace Chong Mui Ngam, a Chinese playwright from Hong Kong, it is based on interviews and real-life stories of parents whose children were killed in the massacre. In the week that 14 pro-democracy activists were found guilty under Hong Kong’s new national security laws, imposed by Beijing, it is a timely reminder of the ramifications of Tiananmen into the present day.

Set solely in parents Siu Lum and Ah Dai’s small apartment, design by Hong Kong-style Pineapple Bun with Butter had a fitting mix of crumbling upper walls and more brightly painted lower thirds that got across both the horrors and more touching moments the apartment had seen over their lifetime. Almost imperceptible transformations at scene changes, such as additions of layers of knitwear, and the appearance and disappearance of a poster to Chairman Mao, demonstrate the passing of time and delineate between contemporary scenes and flashbacks.

Despite the frailty of the couple, they both brim with deep set anger over the senseless, evil violence done to him and all the victims of the massacre. In a particularly memorable scene, Siu Lum is tied to chair by Ah Dai, who is trying to stop her from rashly reacting to her son’s death. The power of her words and delivery, speaking about her anguish over her son’s death, not knowing what had happened to him, not being able to see his body and grieve his death, it utterly transfixing.

Contrasted with this is her husband, whose reticence to act for fear of repercussions from the CCP is a source of tension. But as we witness the couple in their heart-breaking final days, and wonder whether Siu Lum will make it to see her wish of lighting a candle for her son in the square, any doubts about Ah Dai’s devotion are redeemed.

May 35th is no doubt an important and extremely moving piece of theatre telling the story of the massacre. As emphasised by the CEO of Amnesty International and Zhou Fengsuo, executive director of Human Rights in China and President of Humanitarian China in an aftershow talk, shows like this can help support global activism and international support for Human Rights, truth and justice in China today.

Forgotten

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed – 31st October 2018

★★★

“Forgotten is a play which should most certainly take its place in our global collective memory”

Daniel York Loh’s play takes as its subject the forgotten contribution of the WW1 Chinese Labour Corps – approximately 140,000 in number – who supported the Allies and, in no small part, paved the way for the shaping of modern China. The cast of six take us on a journey from a rural village in China to 1920s Paris, by way of the trenches and a French munitions factory, and, for the most part, it is a compelling and enlightening ride. Three of Forgotten’s central protagonists are part of a rural theatre troupe, and the play begins with their stylised performance of a folk-tale, complete with the striking high pitch and rising cadence associated with Chinese opera. It is a clever device through which to catapult this 21st century London audience into a different world, and immediately emphasises how little we know of China and its history and traditions. This theatrical form was continually woven through the tapestry of the piece, with greater and lesser degrees of success, but at its best moments – the Eunuch Lin facing down German shell-fire with song and dance – was uniquely arresting. Credit must be given here to Quang Kien Van’s perfectly tuned movement direction, which so deftly transformed the villagers/soldiers into performers when the occasion demanded.

Emma Bailey’s excellent design, complemented by Jessica Hung Han Yun’s lighting and Luke Swaffield’s sound, artfully created the play’s various different worlds, and Kim Pearce (Director) ensured that the narrative rarely lost pace. There were some lovely performances to boot. This reviewer was particularly charmed by the open-faced and open-hearted Big Dog (engagingly played by Camille Mallet De Chauny), and the other-worldly innocence of the Eunuch Lin (beautifully portrayed by Zachary Hing). In many ways, the play’s central character is The Professor (Leo Wan). He is educated and aspirational, frequently railing against China’s status in the world and yearning for Western cultural and technological sophistication. He begins the piece as a hopeful optimist, convinced that once the fighting has died down, his country and his fellows will finally be given the golden ticket. Wan perfectly captures this sweet, earnest man and provides the play with some gentle but essential comedy moments – his explanation of the muddled alliance and origins of the war being a particular highlight. His final act of anger and defiance is the play’s most powerful image, and justifies the otherwise slightly limp final section, set in postwar Paris.

By shining a light, a hundred years after the end of the Great War, on the shameful omission of the CLC from the numerous narratives of Allied victory, Daniel York Loh’s Forgotten is a vital piece of theatre, and deserves a longer run and a larger stage. It is a complex piece, grappling with themes of colonialism, the price of technological progress, the plight of rural women, and, in a meta-theatrical fashion, the power and role of theatre itself. Occasionally the piece strains under the weight of this thematic density. The post-war exposition seems clumsy, and the play’s language – a melting pot of Confucian poetry, delicious archaic swearing, French and English – occasionally becomes overly dissonant and would benefit from a bit of editorial finesse. It is to be hoped that Loh can harness some further investment to keep working, because Forgotten is a play which should most certainly take its place in our global collective memory.

MAY 35TH at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★★½

“an important and extremely moving piece of theatre”

MAY 35TH at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 30th May 2024

by Amber Woodward

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

MAY 35th

MAY 35th

Forgotten

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed – 31st October 2018

★★★

“Forgotten is a play which should most certainly take its place in our global collective memory”

Reviewed by Rebecca Crankshaw

Photography by Jack Sain

Forgotten

Arcola Theatre until 17th November

Previously reviewed at this venue: