By, john nathan
1 min read
ByJohn Nathan, john nathan
Those who see China as one of the great opportunities that await Britain post-Brexit, might be given reason to pause for thought by this new play by Abhishek Majumdar.
It is set in 2008, around the time of riots in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital. In Majumdar’s version of events they are sparked by Deshar (Millicent Wong), a Buddhist student nun whose religious and national identities pose big problems for Deng, a Beijing-installed commander, played by Daniel York Loh. It is his job to “re-educate” those Tibetans who resist identifying themselves as Chinese. And, as Deng’s grip tightens, Deshar responds with the kind of protest that catches international attention.
In the Court’s tiny upstairs theatre, director Debbie Hannan’s promenade production is dominated by an architectural structure that suggests the Tibetan Buddhist nunnery that Deng closes down and orders to be demolished, and then the prison in which he carries out interrogations.
But the design comes into its own in the moment of Deshar’s protest when she stands on the train tracks in front of an approaching new Chinese train, pours petrol over her head and sets it alight.
How to stage such a terrible event? Designer Lily Arnold’s answer is to ignite jets of flame. There is so much fire that you wonder whether something may have gone wrong, but also how the hell the theatre got it past health and safety. How we trust our theatres.
This moment may easily have upstaged the rest of the production had Majumdar not conveyed the battles for identity with such clarity. But what lends this show its moral authority is its even-handedness.
While unflinchingly depicting the cruelty with which China exerts power, it also refuses to let the killer Tibetan militants off the hook.
Both sides are trapped in what one of Deng’s Chinese subordinates describes as father-driven anger and need for revenge. In Deng’s case it is for the death of his daughter who perishes in the riots.
As Deshar, Wong is head-and-shoulders above an often uneven cast. And granted, there is something mannered in the reckoning that takes place in a prison where philosophical banter is used as a life and death interrogation tool.
But the paradox of how a culture that defines itself as peaceful responds to force is powerfully explored.
