THEATRE
Written by Christopher Chen
At Red Stitch Theatre, St. Kilda until Sept 11, 2022
Reviewer: Kate Herbert (Reviewed on Sun Aug 21, 2022)
This review published only on this blog. KH
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| Caught-David Whiteley, Jessica Clarke and Louis Le-pic Jodie Hutchinson |
Christopher Chen’s play Caught begins with an address by Chinese dissident artist Lin Bo (Louis Le) to the audience at a pop-up art gallery, then proceeds to unravel not only Lin’s story but our entire understanding of truth in art, journalism, power and theatre itself. The play is like a Russian doll, a Rubik’s Cube, a kaleidoscope that changes every time it moves, disorienting the viewer.
Lin’s opening speech is both charming and alarming as he describes his experiences in a Chinese prison after his arrest for plotting a conceptual protest rally on the anniversary of the Tienanmen massacre. In a calm, almost cheerful tone, he describes the appalling conditions, inedible food, frequent interrogations and rats leaping from toilets in his open-air cell during his two-year imprisonment. Lin’s story featured in The New Yorker and made him a celebrity artist in the US.
What follows is a gradual deconstruction of Lin and debunking of his horrific tale by the ambitious but vulnerable New Yorker journalist (Jessica Clarke) who wrote his story, and her spiky, obnoxious editor (David Whiteley). Their interrogation of Lin begins as a search for truth then deteriorates into brutal absurdity.
We then meet another Chinese artist, Wang Min (Jing-Xuan Chan), being interviewed about her own artwork and the complex issue of truth in art, journalism, and capitalism. Again, a conversation that begins as a civilised discussion descends into a demented argument that deconstructs the interviewer’s (Clarke) comments, opinions, language, culture and finally destabilises her perception and even her sense of self, leaving her a blithering and hilarious mess.
The final scene – without spoilers – seems to reveal the “truth” behind the entire performance when two characters (Le, Chan) talk about the preceding episodes and their relationship to the artist. Of course, nothing is as it seems, and their worlds are upturned as well.
The performances, directed by Jean Tong, are delightfully playful, shifting from earnest to demented in the blink of an eye, with characters morphing into the actors playing them then stepping back into characters or switching roles altogether. The simple black and white design with its huge, torn pieces of paper bearing ragged calligraphy echoes the Chinese artist’s description of his work.
Caught is theatre commenting on itself, on art, on politics, on truth, on reality. It is a play inside a play inside a character inside an idea inside a concept and on it goes. After the first reality flip, we expect the “truth’” to be turned on its head again but each permutation manages to surprise with its peculiarity.
By Kate Herbert
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| Caught-Jing-Xuan Chan & Louis Le-pic Jodie Hutchinson |
Writer Christopher Chen
Director Jean Tong
Set & Costume Design Silvia Shao
Lighting Design Lisa Mibus
Sound Design Edwin Cheah
Composer James Gales
Dialect Design & Coach Yuanlei (Nikki) Zhao
Stage Manager Natasha Marich
Assistant Stage Manager Douglas Hassack
Dramaturg Kevin Hojerslev
Assistant Lighting Design Sam Diamond
Cast
Jing-Xuan Chan
Jessica Clarke
Louis Le
David Whiteley
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