Review: Snow in Midsummer (Stratford-upon-Avon)

This modern retelling of an ancient Chinese tale marks the start of a major RSC project translating Oriental classics into English and Shakespeare back the other way. Written a century before Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the original play is full of mysticism, superstition and the arcane artistry of medieval Chinese theatre.

In updating the story to a smog-bound, state-controlled city of brutal modernism, American playwright Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig has inevitably been forced to take liberties. And while there’s some interesting exploration of the tension between ancestral beliefs and 21st Century global capitalism, the end result feels like a mixed bag of missed opportunities.

The new owner of the city’s decaying factories is rich, entrepreneurial and, crucially, a woman. How she and her seven year-old daughter become entangled in the Buddhist-infused superstitions of the menial citizens forms the backbone of the present-day narrative, although there’s also a bizarre thread that purports to highlight social injustice with an overarching story involving a wronged ghost seeking revenge and a family’s twisted sense of honour thrown in there as well.

An ensemble cast do their best to unpick the unwieldy text, but a succession of gnomic utterances and some inscrutable expressions are barely enough to convey the complex story and impenetrable motivations of the characters, while the clash of cultures feels heavy-handed and clunky where it could have been fascinating and revelatory.

Justin Audibert‘s direction mines the play for atmosphere, and some stunningly effective pictures are created using neon light, fire and the elements. Designer Lily Arnold makes full use of all the influences she can find, from a swirling Chinese dragon to an evocative Buddhist temple, and the lasting impact owes more to the visual imagery than the play itself.

Composer Ruth Chan, lighting designer Anna Watson and sound designer Claire Windsor all play a significant role in creating this collage of effects and they contribute considerably to the haunting, slightly menacing undercurrent that suffuses the production.

Sensibly, the creative team have restrained any tendency towards the epic by keeping the running time to a pacy hour each way (much appreciated on the awkwardly uncomfortable bench seats in the Swan), and there’s no shortage of plot to push things energetically along.

Overall, it’s an impressively presented introduction to Chinese dramatic history, albeit transmuted through a distinctly modern, westernised prism. As far as the RSC’s ambitious long-term project is concerned, it makes a decent enough opening act.

Snow in Midsummer runs at The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until 25 March.