Chinese security officials reportedly tried to suppress the world premiere of this drama about a blood contamination scandal in the Nineties, which marks the start of Roxana Silbert’s regime at Hampstead Theatre. While it’s laudable that Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s play will make more people aware of this disgraceful, tragic story, the Chinese state needn’t lose any sleep. I’m not sure this mash-up of soap opera and live Wikipedia entry will inspire any particularly revolutionary feelings.
Set in Henan Province over a six-year period, beginning in 1992, it’s loosely based on the life of whistleblower Dr Wang Shuping. Here she’s fictionalised as Yin Yin, her unshakeable conviction well captured by Celeste Din; she’s persuaded to reluctantly leave her job researching infectious diseases to help set up a plasma collection scheme.
Impoverished families, still haunted by a recent famine, jump at the opportunity to sell their blood plasma for generous sums of money. But when Yin Yin discovers that pressure to increase supply has led to blood being mixed, she warns that it will become contaminated. Her pleas fall on deaf ears, and so does her discovery that samples have been found to be infected with HIV.
Directed by Michael Boyd with Tom Piper’s design sending a conveyor belt into the heart of the audience, it’s a big, unwieldy piece that switches between Yin Yin's pursuit of the truth and the harrowing fate of one working class family. While it’s well-paced and always compelling, the writing often doesn’t feel detailed enough to really move us, with the numerous characters – the actors double up parts – feeling cartoon-like.
That corruption can be naked, power can inspire heartless greed: these are depressing cliches. What’s needed is more sense of the emotional burden whistleblowing has on brave, uncompromising individuals like Dr Shuping – something the woman herself provided last night. Called on stage as the cast took their bow, she was so overcome she had to turn away.
Until October 12 (hampsteadtheatre.com; 020 7722 9301)
