The Village

The Oz Asia Festival reminds me that we are an increasingly globalised nation and world. I felt somewhat remiss about my understanding of the struggles that befell the displaced refugees and ‘military dependants’ who created the democratic nation of Taiwan, but The Village changed all that.

Running at 3 hours and 30 minutes, this Australian premiere is by China’s most revered playwright and director, Stan Lai and is presented by Stan Lai and Performance Workshop, in collaboration with Wang Wei-Chung. It features 23 amazingly agile and diverse performers. It is of epic proportions, presenting the establishment of a village, in chronological order.  And created from various disparate Chinese sub groups thrown together when escaping mainland Chinese politics and a nation divided by war.

Drawing from true life stories, and starting in 1949, the play traces the lives of three different families, largely made up of Communist-defeated Chinese Nationalist Party soldiers, across half a century of heartbreak, struggle, intersecting relationships and loss of family and fortune and identity. What started as a temporary refuge, became a homeland and home-place to several generations before the village was ultimately demolished, and it is their stories that are vibrantly drawn. People from all classes, generations and circumstances are woven through this tale, and interestingly, a character, Granny Lu, literally walks through the story’s generations, slowly and surely being an anchor to the past and a wise guide for the future.

The set is impressively imaginative and is cleverly rotated by cast and non-obtrusive crew at key points in the story to create different playing areas. The ‘fly’ used to create a tree under which men, women and children meet to gossip, problem solve, support and challenge each other, is a triumph of subtle, evocative staging.

This performance is in Chinese, with English sub-titles and depending on where you are seated in the theatre impacts on how easily non-Chinese speakers could move from the sub-titles to what was often furiously paced action and dialogue on the stage. The many Chinese speakers in the audience seemed to follow the dialogue with ease and particularly humour and action.

The first half of the play is fast paced, using both western and traditional music at key points to embellish and underline the changing circumstances and eras. The second half employs a somewhat slower melodramatic style, reminiscent of Chinese Opera, to tell the stories of those who are re-united, and those who are lost to each other by time, migration and misunderstanding.

This is a courageous play, presented by talented and committed actors. It reminds us of the poignancy of abandoning home and heritage and captures the dreams and optimism that are hallmarks of human survival.

Jude Hines