Synopsis The third part of Border Crossings breathtaking Orientations Trilogy, the first two parts of which have played worldwide. The trilogy tackles issues of gender, sexuality and performance in mythic and contemporary Asia and is a spectacular visual feast. A Chinese baby is abandoned by the roadside. Two Swedish actors play out sexual dramas, both onstage and off. Former banker, Marie Lucas battles with tsunami relief in India, until an unexpected phone call shatters her world and all the characters’ lives collide across continents. Painted on a vast pan-global canvas of locations, characters and experiences, Re-Orientations is an astonishing visual feast, exploring love, sexuality and performance in contemporary Asia. Stunning imagery collides with a powerful physical style and vivid story-telling in this multi-cultural and multi-media explosion of East-meets-West.
Re-Orientations at Soho Theatre is an amazing piece of devised work from a company called Border Crossings, who are co-producing with companies from China, Sweden, France and India. It's got at least five languages in it, and uses the different theatre forms of the cultures involved, as well as a very strong element of multi-media.
This may all sound confusing - but actually it's brilliant, clear storytelling in a very contemporary way. It feels like surfing the net, or walking down a busy street - there are all sorts of connections being made across the globe.
The play begins in a Shanghai night-club, and moves on to India, where a charity worker gets a phone call to say that her daughter, who she hasn't seen for years, has died. Meanwhile, her ex-husband is working with some Swedish actors performing Miss Julie at the Shanghai Festival, with terrific comedy of linguistic and cultural confusion resulting! The play veers between comedy and tragedy at breakneck speed - so you are laughing one minute and crying the next - especially when an hilarious scene in a Chinese Starbucks turns into a dance about the history of 20th century China.
It seems unfair to single out anybody in the ten-strong cast: they are all stunning. But I guess the highest acting honours go to the two Chinese actresses - Song Ru Hui for her sensitive portrayal of Song, the bereaved lesbian lover, and Wang Jue, who is hilarious as the peasant girl arriving in a bustling city.
Totally stunning.
- Nisha Dassyne
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