The definition of a good future differs significantly for three generations of women in Amy Ng’s didactic family drama. An overbearing grandmother is desperate to find Wei (Mei Mac) a husband, but at the age of 27 Wei is a hard sell. As she plods through her PhD in Coventry and has a fluctuating friendship with roommate Lucy (Laura Tipper), her family head to Guangzhou’s marriage market, where CVs are pinned to umbrellas in the hopes of securing a match.
So much is unnecessary in this show, presented in association with Yellow Earth and Tamasha – the constant exposition, Justine Theman’s direction swirling the cast through scene changes that last as long as the scenes themselves, the many, many umbrellas. Ng’s overly explanatory script leaves no space to read between the lines; we realise what is happening seemingly decades before the characters do.
The characters are fickle, with their values only lasting as long as they’re useful for plot points. Any relationships formed are hastily undone by Wei’s uprootings, as she abandons her friend, moves house, and zips back and forth to China without a second’s thought for money, logic or logistics.
The plot becomes baffling and unintentionally melodramatic in the second half, when science and superstition battle for Wei’s headspace after the death of her grandmother. When it falls into the realm of the supernatural, it is nothing short of parody, with a horror B-movie-style soundtrack playing each time an umbrella is opened inside, letting ghosts fly free.
There are seeds of a great story when this all-female production starts to delve into the lingering trauma from the Cultural Revolution, the one-child policy and the female infanticide that blighted both, but it lacks the nuance and empathy for the tensions between generations and cultures to make the work really take hold.
At the Belgrade theatre, Coventry, until 16 March. Then touring until 30 March.
