Helen is a Cambridge-educated lawyer, raised in a Manchester chippy, working in Hong Kong. She thought she’d feel at home in the city from which her Chinese grandmother, Lily, emigrated. But she’s lonely, and the intensity of her emotions conjures the long-dead Lily, a woman whose father told her how to move mountains.
“You called me into your present and I invite you into my past,” Lily tells Helen, and time and identity shift as the two women go on a journey into maternal family history that includes murder, the wartime Japanese invasion, lost children and Lily’s move to England where she founded a restaurant using recipes she perfected on the boat over. This is a family that cooks what it cannot say.
Based on Helen Tse’s novel Sweet Mandarin, inspired by the female-run Manchester restaurant of the same name, In-Sook Chappell’s play considers the need to understand your family history and offers a lively look at ambition and the desire to improve the lives of children and grandchildren. Lily does just that, but at what cost?
This is an enjoyable, piquant play that in Jennifer Tang’s bustling production not only raises ghosts but the spectres of racism. Part of a fine ensemble, Ruth Gibson gives a wry portrait as the well-meaning Mrs Woodman, a woman trapped by privilege, and Siu-See Hung and Tina Chiang are moving as the granddaughter and grandmother unearthing family secrets.
• At the Royal Exchange, Manchester, until 7 April. Box office: 0161-833 9833. Then touring until 2 June.
