RUNNING THE SILK ROAD. To 28 June.
Watford/London.
RUNNING THE SILK ROAD
by Paul Sirett.
Palace Theatre To 21 June.
21 June 3pm & 7.45pm.
then Barbican Theatre (Pit) 24-28 June 2008.
7.45pm.
Runs 1hr 30min No interval.
TICKETS: 01923 225671
www.watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk (Watford)
020 7638 8891.
www.barbican.org.uk (Barbican)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 June at Watford Palace.
Ancient stories strengthen modern tale.
For centuries the Silk Road was the trade route between Europe and China. Its purpose was profit and, exotic and ancient though it may now seem, very much to do with the business of the day. As Ken’s determination to run it, in a series of daily half-marathons for ecological charities, links to the modern world.
Accompanied by three friends (one Chinese, one Shia, one Sunni - respectively female and gay, so all’s well-balanced), he sets off amid arguments over global warming and China despoiling Africa’s resources. He takes a green torch, as an eco-alternative to shine when he reaches Beijing as the official flame opens the Olympics.
He gets there in the end, though his plans come unstuck on the way. Something that might be said about Paul Sirett’s play, its concept created by Yellow Earth Theatre director David Tse Ka-Shing. The piece involves the everyday, often its least effective aspect, as the four friends stand around in desultory, low-key talk. It’s the sort of thing student improvisations or some Theatre-in-Education might use, a backing track and a bottle or two trying to give a local habitation to chat that is there simply to make points about plot or theme.
Some of it’s so low-key it almost disappears through the keyhole. And situations are often barely established as the play focuses on the eastern part of the route, where accident, injury, miscalculation and addiction take their toll. Neither script nor production ties these incidents together.
There are stronger elements, though. The promise of Xi, deeply concerned at the natural tragedies striking her China, to meet them in Beijing forms a final link between the like-minded across the world. It’s a world where emails and blogging make geography-defying contact possible. Yet where language forms barriers, as the opening speeches, respectively a lecture and a tortuous joke, indicate.
A reference to Chinese Opera introduces this piece’s main asset; the mythological interludes where the elements and an archer-hero struggle against each other. The colour, composition and choreography of these strong mythic stories give the play a vital spine and sense of significance.
Ken: Nick Chee Ping Kellington.
Jahid: Saraj Chaudhry.
Dina/Iranian Woman: Betsebeh Emran.
Wei/Chinese Man 2: Chia Kuei Chen.
Xi/Nu Ch’ou: Gongxin Lan.
Lei Shen/Tajik Man/Chinese Man 1: Shen Feng.
Tu/Yi/Iranian Man: Yanzhong Huang.
Director: David Tse Ka-Shing.
Designer: Yoon Bae.
Lighting: Douglas Kuhrt.
Sound/Composer: Suki Mok
Dramaturgs: Philippe Cherbonnier, Brigid Larmour, David Tse Ka-Shing.
Puppets: Blind Summit..
Assistant director: Liya Wu.
2008-06-21 14:06:38