★★★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.

SAPPHO at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★

“Wendy Beckett’s script is uncertain and seems not to trust itself.”

Georgie Fellows shines as Sappho in an otherwise uncertain muddle of a play.

The story is set in an alternative history, circa 600 BC. It follows the imagined life of Sappho, the Ancient Greek poet, whose real life we know little about. In this play Sappho is engaged to be married, a marriage of convenience to further her parents’ political ambitions. However she is in love with a woman, not the man she is marrying.

While the premise seems simple enough, it is complicated by convoluted sub-plots about her parents’ politics. They want to spread democracy across the land. Since it’s neither historically accurate, nor particularly clear in the play, this becomes a political drama with no context. The broad strokes commentary against the elite falls flat.

This points to the bigger issue with this play, which is that it doesn’t know what it is. The tone is a mishmash of campy asides and panto acting, with boppy dance numbers and earnest calls to arms. Every chance at emotional depth is undermined by jokey asides, but it’s not quite funny enough to make that worth it.

Wendy Beckett’s script is uncertain and seems not to trust itself. The simple love story at the heart of this play, is nice, and it would’ve been stronger had it stripped back the tangled layers around it.

Wendy Beckett co-directs with Adam Fitzgerald and again this uncertainty comes through. Every performer seems to be in a different play and every scene is a different tone. There is a Greek chorus, which at times are used for beautiful discordant singing and moments of dance (well-choreographed by Fotis Diamantopoulos) but in many scenes confuse and crowd the stage.

The performances are broadly strong, if uneven tonally. Emmanuel Akwafo is a strong comic narrator, though sometimes his asides become a little repetitive. However the show stealer is Georgie Fellows as Sappho, who manages to ride the tonal rollercoaster of this play, and carries its emotional heart, such as it is.

Adam King’s lighting stands out in a moment where the stage in bathed in rainbow light, in what should’ve been a moving commentary about Sappho’s legacy. Halcyon Pratt’s set is simple and versatile, if not particularly memorable.

Mehdi Bourayou’s sound design and score provide boppy pop style numbers and more traditional Greek chorus songs, many of which are really fun. It would’ve been great to have more music in this, as it might have hung it together more fluidly.

Sappho’s importance not only as a poet but as a queer poet is unquestionable, and her poetry speaks through the ages. This play hasn’t quite decided how to tell her story – should it be a campy and fun musical or a hard-hitting political drama. By not making that decision, the play is neither satisfying as a comedy nor a political biopic.

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

SAPPHO at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★

“Wendy Beckett’s script is uncertain and seems not to trust itself.”

SAPPHO at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 8th May 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues

Sappho

Sappho