The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart theatre review.

The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart is a delightful, original work that weaves Scottish folk songs with a surreal story of love, hell and our tendency to overanalyse art and life.  The all-singing, all-acting, instrument-playing cast of five bring the songs and story to life in a real bar, and use the entire space, even if it means climbing over audience members.  With a fully stocked bar available, and complimentary whisky it is an all-sensory experience.  Furthermore, I am a sucker for things that rhyme.  This play rhymes a lot of the time.

The story revolves around Scottish folk ballads, and Act I takes some fun twists and turns, employing light comedy and ghost story techniques to reach the point when it appears that our heroine has found herself living out her own Scottish folk ballad.  Act II starts out in a drastically different style, which I found somewhat jarring.  This change in tone, though, is somewhat accounted for and eventually justified.  When it comes out this new style, though, rather than restoring the tone set in Act I the play morphs into a heightened version of its former self, and later morphs again into yet another cartoonish style.  I struggled with the theatrical style taking so many different forms, but thankfully the story and our heroine's plight remained absorbing enough to carry the awkward transitions.

The story is a truly fascinating and satisfying one.  Although it has surprising developments and kept me guessing on some points, I felt it was quite clearly moving toward Prudencia's discovery of her own ballad and I looked forward to hearing the song she would sing and how she would tell her tale.  When the story has finally resolved and Prudencia takes the stage with microphone in hand to sing to us I was prepared to be wowed.  I was thus completely bewildered when her song of choice proved to be a chart-topping pop song from the new millennium, one that in no way resembles a Scottish ballad of yore.  This decision was not totally at odds with the story but it further illustrates the muddy inconsistency of the tone the play wished to set.  It was a strange undoing to a long anticipated dramatic moment.

Overall, I enjoyed this show immensely.  On a detail-oriented level, I struggled to reconcile all of the changes in tone that the story-telling goes through.

See this play if you want to immerse yourself in another world and like combining various forms of entertainment in one package.

Rhinoceros in Love theatre review

Ma Lu is in love with his neighbour Ming Ming, in spite of her smelling like a photocopier.  Ming Ming is in an unhealthy relationship but can't tear herself away from it.  Ma Lu frees her from this damaging relationship by tying her up and keeping her in his apartment.

Is that what happens when a rhinoceros is in love?  Is it what happens in The National Theatre of China's most successful play?  Could be.  It's hard to say really.  I found the storytelling to be somewhat vague and ambiguous.  This is consistent with the poetic tone of the language and visual elements, but left me unsatisfied.   When there is a story to be told, I like that story to make itself known.  I can live with some uncertainty, but for my comprehension of the main story to be uncertain feels unintentional at best and a complete botch-up at worst.  In this case I did not comprehend what was happening, much less why.

Although the play is performed in Mandarin, I don't blame that for my struggle to perceive what was going on.  The onstage action alternates between plot-driven scenes by the two love interests and thematic diversions from the ensemble.  These thematic diversions were seldom interesting and often felt like a half-hearted attempt to get a laugh.  I would rather have focused on the story.  So when the central characters did take the stage I grew increasingly frustrated as their actions proved ambiguous.  Why are they speaking to the front, and not to each other?  Why are they running on a treadmill?  Why is he putting on his jacket - I mean taking it off - I mean putting it on?  Why? Why? Why?  

I did not know what I was watching and I was growing bored with the actors standing static on a bare stage.  Then suddenly, as if to appease my craving for visual stimuli, the stage explodes with colour, movement, flying props, overbearing shadows and so much water.  Well it's fun and interesting but by then I felt too distant from the characters and their rhinoceroses to be drawn back in.

This show contains much beautiful imagery, and the story is probably quite good (I am waiting for someone to tell me what it was).  But amidst these gems was far too much dross for me to bare.  Editing is required.

See this show if you understand Mandarin.  Judging by the enthusiastic standing ovation from several of the Chinese members of the audience I am led to believe this productions resonates more with those familiar with Chinese language and culture.