NB: This is a review of the production from 2023 season.
The 2024 season in At Arts Centre Melbourne from 6 to 16 Nov 2024.
(I may be able to mention it on Arts Weekly on 2 Nov or 16 Nov 2024).
THEATRE
Written, co-directed and performed by Wang Chong
Malthouse Theatre
At
Beckett Theatre, Malthouse, Southbank until 19 March 2023
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ****
This is not a review in the traditional sense, although I've given the production stars.
This print comment will be published only on this blog. . KH
Wang Chong_Made in China 2.0_credit Tamarah Scott |
Made in China 2.0 is the second production presented in Australia by Wang Chong, a Chinese theatre director, writer and performer. The first was Little Emperors in 2017, also at the Malthouse, written by Chong with Lachlan Philpott.
In this unusual, solo performance, co-directed by Emma Valente, Chong begins with a casual, direct address to the audience that reveals him to be, a charming, ebullient performer as he talks engagingly about his development as a theatre artist and his life in art.
What follows is a sometimes surprising, often harrowing but always enlightening representation of his risk-taking theatre style and his personal views on art and life.
Chong
is magnetic and his theatrical style is challenging and will leave you
with plenty to think and talk about on the trip home - and perhaps for
days after.
I am unable to discuss the specifics of this production, so this is not a review as such. You’ll have to see Chong's charismatic performance to judge it for yourself.
By Kate Herbert
Credits
Wang Chong – writer performer, co-director
Emma Valente -co-director, production designer
Emma Lockhart Wilson – co-designer
Wang Chong_Made in China 2.0_credit Tamarah Scott |
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