Miss Peony

Glitzy, quirky, funny and searingly honest, Miss Peony is a fascinating glimpse into a world most Australians would not be familiar with, but immigrants from all nations can relate to. That is, when someone slips in between the worlds of the old country and the new country.

Lily (played originally by the playwright Michelle Law but at my performance by Stephanie Jack) is an assimilated Asian Australian who is confronted by the deathbed wish of her grandmother to follow a family tradition. 

Adeline (Gabrielle Chan) tells her grand-daughter that she can’t pass peacefully into the other world until she takes part in a distinctively Chinese custom of entering a beauty pageant known as Miss Peony. To make sure she goes through with it, Adeline sticks around to haunt her as a ghost. The charismatic granny has amazing long hair which spins around like a helicopter at one point.

The play is performed in English, Cantonese and Mandarin with sub-titles, which was a little had to keep track of in the first act, but the acting was so strong the tone of what was being said was clear.

At Adeline’s funeral a rude aunt needles Lily to enter the pageant because she is ‘not too ugly’ but she resists being involved in an event she describes as ‘trashy’. Once coaxed into taking part, Lily navigates the treacherous and bitchy world alongside rivals and chums.

In the second act the play comes alive with the sizzle of the grand final of the pageant. The host is the only male in the cast Vincent (Charles Wu) who beautiful milks the glitzy aspects of the occasion. He segues from thanking sponsors, such as Hurstville’s leading luxury car dealership, to spinning nifty dance moves and keeping his hormones in check as far as possible.

The contestants compete on categories including talent, calligraphy, and fan dancing. They give hilarious if unlikely answers to the questions posed to them during the pageant and pout and pose when appropriate.

The set comes alive with lights and sparkles with even some of the costumes igniting in fusions of colour.

Although it is of course a heightened version of the reality there are enough moments of authenticity based on real world events to make it work.

One of the characters says that minorities spend so much time fighting amongst themselves to avoid having to tackle the outside system which discriminates against them.

Lots of pearls of wisdom like this drop through-out the play. The experience is like being served a Chinese banquet and being able to enjoy different dishes.

David Spicer

Photographer: Sherry Zheng

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