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Pandas

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
From: Tuesday, 19th April 2011
To: Saturday, 7 May 2011

Our Review:

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Synopsis

Crouching Tiger. Hidden Marchmont. A romantic-comedy-thriller set in Edinburgh and China... maybe. A young couple are sitting together, overlooking the Meadows. They're talking about possibilities. Lin Han and Jie-Hui have exchanged 536 emails and 72 JPGS but have only just met. She's very sure that Jie-Hui's the man she could fall in love with, if only he'd do it first. Jie-Hui's an entrepreneur. When his business partner gets shot, the stock goes missing and the trading company is stolen by his partner's girlfriend, things start to get awfully complicated. Especially when he realises his heart is broken. Madliene finds herself in a compromising situation with James, the most attractive man she's met in years. And the feeling seems to be mutual. It's a pity he's the policeman questioning her about the mysterious shooting of her ex-boyfriend, a dodgy importer of Chinese rugs. And what do love, lust and broken hearts mean to pandas?

Our Review:

Keith Paterson - 3 May 2011

Rona Munro's new play for the Traverse is a beautifully produced, touching and humourous love story. The play, set in leafy, spring-time, Edinburgh could have been a relatively conventional romantic tale, albeit one that tackles internet dating, East West relations and some nefarious activity. However, in Munro's hands we are taken on a delightfully surprising and poignant journey.

The darkly comic play concerns the affairs of three very different couples, whose paths intertwine as the theft of some Chinese rugs gets rather out of hand. We have the solid Scots policeman, the dodgy dealer, the rather helpless, young Scots-Chinese businessman and the intriguing women in their lives. A possible recipe for stereotyping in lesser hands.

Munro explores the relationships in a very detailed way but against a vivid backcloth of bigger themes. The cast is uniformally excellent, particularly Meg Fraser, as a neurotic entomoligist and Crystal Yu as a not so hopeless...

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