4/5 O’REILLY THEATRE, KEBLE
TUESDAY-SATURDAY, 8PM Nine actors form the cast of David Hare’s play, Fanshen, but the effect is of a single, shifting character: a collective of Chinese villagers. The crowd veers, chameleon-like, from peaceful cooperative to mob and back again. The village fractures at times into individuals, yet never loses its central identity. The play is set in post-war China. It’s 1946, and the village of Long Bow is undergoing land reform. The village is a microcosm for China, as communism flows into the power vacuum left by the retreating Japanese. Hare bases his play on the notes of William Hinton, an American journalist who spent 7 years in the village. The production is performed in the round. The actors are identically costumed and have no fixed identity. Casting often runs against gender lines or type, adding to the blurring of the individual. The play shines in its visually impressive set pieces, frequently throwing the audience offbalance. The sense of menace is palpable; in one scene, the set is plunged into darkness without warning, and four figures with torches encircle a succession of friezes displaying the torture of the landlords. As the friezes change, the complete darkness, coupled with the sound of heavy breathing, is pretty sinister. The weight of amassed injustice and rage comes across effectively. We also see the political process in action as the peasants probe questions of ownership rights, participation and individual responsibility. These questions are integral to a play whose heart is the exploration of evolving politics, and they certainly contribute a sense of authenticity. The problem is that they are rather boring, and lack the drama and emotional intensity evident in other scenes. An extended debate on ‘who depends on who?’ takes places, complete with blackboards with questions chalked on them. Yet this is a fault of the script, not the direction or staging. The acting ranges from competent to good, with XY Lin as an effective obsequious landlord, and none of the cast putting in weak performances. The emotional intensity makes it worth seeing, even if the over-serious politics drags a bit.By Elizabeth Bennett
Fanshen
