It was seven years ago when I saw Kids Killing Kids but I remember it
so vividly. The show reflected on a previous collaboration between four
Australian theatre makers (David Finnigan, Georgie McAuley, Jordan Prosser and
Sam Burns-Warr) and a Filipino theatre group, Sipat Lawin Ensemble, on their
season of Battalia Royale. This was based on Japanese writer Koushun
Takami's novel Battle Royale, in which high school students are pitted
against each other in ways that would give the tributes in The Hunger Games nightmares.
It proved to be extremely popular with thousands of people eagerly flocking to
see it but also extremely controversial with its immersive depiction of violence. Fast forward to 2020 and the
ensemble has brought its newest show to Melbourne, Are You Ready To Take The Law
Into Your Own Hands.
This time round the controversy surrounds the kidnapping of the biggest star of the Philippines, and
it is up to three women to rescue her: Selina (Ji-ann Lachica) a social media
influencer, her older sister Sanya (Claudia Enriquez) and police officer Sophia
(Adrienne Vergara). There is action aplenty as they face-off in rap
battles, dance challenges, underwater fighting and encounter corruption at
every corner in order to free Gracielle V. Their personalities and circumstances might be outlandish but committed performances by the actors
allow for honest and authentic characterisations to develop.
Between 2010 and 2015, Andrew Sutherland, an Australian, lived in Singapore where he worked as a model and actor. Ming Yang Lim moved from Singapore to Australia in 2002 to complete his schooling. In Poorly Drawn Shark, the two men open up about their lives and relationship with Singapore through some provocative and surprising storytelling.
In true colonial spirit, Sutherland's years in Singapore dominate the show as he discusses his modelling career, being gay in a country where prosecutions for consenting sex between men still occur, and his relationship with an older Singaporean man. It's fast paced, a bit of a blur and seemingly one (mis)adventure after the other, and as someone who has also lived in Asia, it's an accurate depiction of what life as a white person in an Asian country can feel like.
In 2011, Japan was hit by its most powerful earthquake ever recorded. With a magnitude of 9.0 - 9.1, it triggered a huge tsunami and resulted in the deaths of over 16,000 people and left thousands more injured. Referred to as "The Great East Japan earthquake" it was a devastating blow for Japan, with sympathies and aide coming from around the world.
In Kagerou - Study of Translating Performance, director Shun Hamanaka uses the story of Kyoko Takagi - a woman in her 70s who lost her husband in the tsunami - and attempts to explore how sympathy and connection between strangers can be born from a tragedy such as this. Hamanaka has opted for a minimal set design, having just three chairs on stage with video footage being projected onto a screen with some effective shadow work by lighting designer Hiroshi Isaka, emphasising the documentary-style of the performance.
In was in 1979 when - in order to control its population - China implemented a One Child Policy per family. While there were a number of ways that families could still have a second child, there were strict rules and regulations that had to be adhered to. In a society were males were more favourable, this law resulted in the murders of many female babies or families having to keep the existence of a second child a secret. In 2016, the Chinese government formally ended its One Child Policy.
Presented as part of Asia TOPA, Lachlan Philpott's Little Emperors is a look at one such family - while being representative of many - and the impact this law had on their lives and continues to do so. Alice Qin - making her Australian stage debut - is the standout as Huishan, who is in her 30s, single and still living with her mother in Beijing. Qin finds a delicate balance of guilt, frustration and resentment at the pressure of being the eldest child and the expectations placed upon her: that she marry and produce a grandchild for her mother, played by Diana (Xiaojie) Lin.
The inaugural Melbourne festival Asia TOPA is the opportunity for Australia to celebrate the contemporary arts with its neighbouring Asian countries. Time's Journey Through a Room comes to Melbourne from Japanese theatre company chelfitsch, and is a meditative and meaningful exploration of life, death, the in-between and the hereafter. Written and directed by Toshiki Okada, the performance is set a few days after the 2011 earthquake and Fukushima nuclear accident, but if you think the performance is going to be about those events think again. Okada instead focuses on the relationships a young man has with his deceased wife and his new girlfriend.
The cast of three - Izumi Aoyagi, Mari Ando, Yo Yoshida - deliver deeply
nuanced performances in roles that on the surface do not seem to demand much, but the subtleties of their characters and the delicate spoken nuances are where the complexities of hope and
hopelessness are explored. There is a significant emotional detachment present by the performers throughout the show that is well-balanced and effectively manifested.
