K-Box REVIEW 7 Sept 2022 ***

THEATRE

Written by Ra Chapman, Malthouse Theatre

At Beckett Theatre, Malthouse until Sept 18 2022

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***

This review was published only on this blog. I’ll present an oral review of it on 3MBS Arts Weekly on Sat 10 Sept 2022. KH

Susanna Qian, Maude Davey, Syd Brisbane_c Phoebe Powell

K-Box, written by Ra Chapman and directed by Bridget Balodis, explores a story about racial identity and issues surrounding inter-racial and inter-cultural adoption and, although the themes and narrative ideas have potential, they are not yet fully realised. 

 

Korean adoptee, 34-year-old Lucy (Susanna Qian), returns to her parents’ home in an Australian country town, unannounced and after a long absence, after leaving her boyfriend and her job with no explanation.

 

Lucy’s well-meaning but confused parents, Shirley (Maude Davey) and George (Syd Brisbane), welcome their obviously despondent and disoriented daughter with open arms but are bereft of ideas to help her through what Shirley believes – correctly, it transpires – to be a breakdown. Lucy does not leave the house for weeks and is obsessed with a large, now empty cardboard box that she played in as a child and called something sounding like “Ship” or “Chip”, a name that she discovers has resonance with her early childhood in Korea. Lucy keeps her precious box close, weirdly seating it at the dinner table, stroking it as she watches TV or squatting inside it like a toddler.

 

Her crisis escalates when she brings home young Korean man, Kim (Jeffrey Liu), a pouting, posing and decorative K-Pop star who Lucy met when he suddenly and inexplicably arrived in their isolated and un-touristy town.

 

Chapman’s dialogue at the start of the play between Lucy, her mum and dad, is well observed and comical. There are some revealing arguments between Lucy and her parents, and Lucy and Kim, and some insightful passages of dialogue, particularly Davey’s moving monologue near the end when Shirley reveals the complexities of their choice to adopt a Korean child.

 

With her impeccable timing, Davey is exceptional as Shirley, finding range and nuance, shifting from comedy to poignancy in a relatively thinly written character. Brisbane’s George moves from optimistic and cheerful to gruff and resistant when Lucy accuses him of not understanding her identity crisis.

 Maude Davey, Susanna Qian_c Phoebe Powell

Although the play addresses  racial identity and criticises casual racism, George and Shirley themselves are depicted as white, racial stereotypes who are shallow, naïve and limited in their interests that include croquet, arts and crafts, and newspaper cartoons. They are unwittingly racist when they dress up in Korean traditional costume to celebrate Lucy’s “Gotcha Day”: the day they brought her home.

 

Qian is spirited as Lucy but struggles to find the subtlety and complexity in Lucy’s shift from dispirited and depressed to agitated and angry. Her character seems more recalcitrant adolescent than 34-year-old woman confronting life issues, and her portrayal of Lucy’s escalating confusion and agitation towards the end of the play is physically awkward and tense, and vocally strained.

 

Liu’s performance of the K-Pop ballad is an entertaining high point of the show but, in a play that is almost kitchen-sink drama/comedy, the K-Pop scene looks as if it’s been parachuted in to provide entertainment, and the character of Kim is not fully developed in the rest of the performance.

 

Chapman’s script needs further development to create a structure that more effectively dovetails the issues, narrative, character and styles into a cohesive whole. At present, it doesn’t clearly explain Lucy’s complex journey from completely oblivious Australian adoptee to confused bicultural adult.  The ending is predictable – she decides to go to Korea which we have been expecting from early in the play – and the final moment is anticlimactic and unsatisfying.

 

The issues raised in K-Box will be sufficient to attract and engage some audiences, but the script and production both need further development.

 

by Kate Herbert 

 

Cast:

Syd Brisbane

Maude Davey

Jeffrey Liu

Susanna Qian

 

Creative Team:

Writer – Ra Chapman

Director – Brigid Balodis

Set & Costume Design –Romanie Harper

Lighting Design – Amelia Lever-Davidson

Sound Design – Marco Cher-Gibard

Jeffrey Liu (silhouette)  Maude Davey, Syd Brisbane, Susanna Qian (oreground:) c Phoebe Powell

Jeffrey Liu, Susanna Qian_c Phoebe Powell