The Orphan of Zhao, RSC Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon - review

Revenge of Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company's first Chinese play
p36 p37 The Orphan of Zhao performed by the RSC at The Swan Theatre Graham Turner as Dr Cheng Ying, Jake Fairbrother as Cheng Bo ©Alastair Muir
Alastair Muir
6 March 2013

Ahead of its opening, there’s been controversy about the casting choices made for the RSC’s first ever Chinese play. Many have protested that performers of East Asian heritage are under-represented — there are only three, all in minor roles. New RSC artistic director Gregory Doran has certainly had occasion to question the old adage that all publicity is good publicity.

The Orphan of Zhao is a curio and exists in several versions, the best-known of which is by Ji Junxiang and dates from the Yuan dynasty (roughly the age of Chaucer). Poet James Fenton’s lucid adaptation draws on multiple sources and is a mix of lyricism and violence, aided by Paul Englishby’s nicely varied music.

The play is sometimes called the Chinese Hamlet, which strikes me as wayward. It does at least share Hamlet’s concern with revenge. Almost the whole of a clan is wiped out at the behest of the emperor, whose dirty work is done by egotistical courtier Tu’an Gu. The one survivor is a small boy, whom Tu’an adopts. The boy later learns that the man who has brought him up is to blame for the slaughter of his relatives. Amid grandiose musings about destiny and various archaic details (painted scrolls, gossipy eunuchs) there is an urgent interest in issues of justice, secrecy and sacrifice, all resonant today.

This is the first production Doran has directed since taking the helm at the RSC, and it’s a satisfyingly dynamic interpretation that also has passages of tranquillity and pathos. The closest we get to Hamlet is when Joe Dixon’s Tu’an wrongfoots us delightfully: he seems set to launch into “To be or not to be” yet instead says “To be ... powerful, one must be feared”.

Dixon is husky, virile and imposing. Jake Fairbrother is likeable as the grown-up orphan, and Lucy Briggs-Owen makes a strong impression as his unhinged mother, while Patrick Romer, Nia Gwynne and Graham Turner provide gravitas at key moments. The fuss about casting was justified, but this is a moving account of a historically significant play that few British theatregoers know.

Until March 28 (0844 800 1110, rsc.org.uk)

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