Pan Pan Theatre's Chinese Playboy might just stir up its Dublin audience like the original did 100 years ago, writes Clifford Coonan.
No shawls, no tweed and not a flat cap in sight, but plenty of skimpy tops, People's Liberation Army coats and Asian passion characterise Pan Pan Theatre's Chinese production of Playboy of the Western World, which opens in Dublin tonight at the Project.
Whatever will Irish audiences make of Widow Quinn wearing kinky boots strutting the stage, speaking slangy Mandarin in a hairdressing salon that does a decent sideline as a bordello? Or Pegeen Mike as a tall, confident Chinese girl, whose charm easily sways a hapless and blonde-bewigged Christy Mahon? Staging what is arguably Ireland's most famous play is difficult at the best of times, and putting it on in the difficult environment of modern-day China was a huge task. Will this work in Ireland, where Synge's signature piece has been staged so often before, a default drama for generations of Irish Leaving Cert students?
"The level of understanding in Dublin will be very high. It will be like watching a well-known opera, a strange transmogrification as it's from the other side of the world. The Dublin audience will read a lot into the characters and it's by definition an exotic experience," says director Gavin Quinn, who made seven visits to Beijing in four years to get the project up and running, and describes the play as representing Irishness through Chinese atmosphere and feeling and energy.
The ribald energy and sexiness of this production will go a long way to winning over Irish audiences. And it's an cunningly inventive version, too.
The challenge was to translate Ireland's rural and nationalist heritage and transpose it to the heady early days of the 21st century in China, a country at a moral crossroads, where tradition is forced to kowtow to the demands of a rampant economy and delirious social change.
This is very much a contemporary Chinese Playboy. The pacing and rhythm is tight and fast, it's achingly hip and it looks sensational, and this surface dazzle is underpinned by the weighty themes of the original Synge piece.
Quinn has been energised by the players' enthusiasm. Shawn Keogh once responded to a direction by saying in Chinese: "Spotter of talent with peach blossom luck, thank you for pointing out my bad acting habits."
"I can't imagine an Irish actor having that response to direction," he says.
Synge's story of the anti-hero Christy Mahon who claims to have killed his father went down a storm in Beijing. The play has obvious parallels in classical Chinese philosophy - the philosopher Confucius said there are five core relationships that maintain social order, and one is that between father and son.
Just as it did when first performed at the Abbey 100 years ago, the play caused a sensation in Beijing when it premiered in March, with beady-eyed censors watching proceedings from the audience following complaints about a scene when Sha Sha, who plays the Sarah Tansey character, exposed cleavage and hint of shift when helping Christy Mahon into his blonde wig and mini-skirt disguise.
The fact the play is situated in what is known in common parlance as a "whoredressers", where you might get a haircut, but other less salubrious services are on offer out the back, added to the whiff of scandal. This frisson of controversy has done a lot to inject fresh energy into the piece.
The version for Dublin audiences is more controversial still, in that it is set in Xinjiang, the restive western province which is home to Muslim separatist movements. The Beijing version was set in the local Dongbei region, as the producers did not want to overpoliticise the play.
"For Dublin we went back to Xinjiang, to show the diversity within China and to show the strong divide between city and country," said Quinn.
Watching a classic Irish drama, translated into Chinese and then brought back to Dublin and staged in Mandarin is a challenging prospect, but the inclusion of surtitles on large screens at the back of the stage should make the piece more accessible and add a fresh artistic element to the whole.
The surtitles will use much of Synge's original text but will be peppered with Chinese argot in the English "pinyin" transliteration from the new adaptation.
"The surtitles are a real bonus. It's enjoyable to see the words. It's about the aesthetic of language, it gives it a poetry in itself. The words will be large and prominent. It's like an artistic installation," said Quinn. "It's a retranslation of a translation, playing with national stereotypes in an international way to create a global mix, stirring Irish and Chinese together to make a strong, sensual, visual evening," said Quinn.
The cast are extremely excited at the prospect of playing to a Dublin audience. Travelling abroad is still an extremely rare privilege for Chinese people - only three or four of the cast members had passports when it came to organising the trip.
The actors are keen to make as much as possible of their trip. They want to see as much theatre as they can while in Dublin and soak up the atmosphere of what they know as a great international theatre city.
"There is a giddiness among the cast members about coming to the West, they're so excited they're almost distracted. But they will go up an extra gear and I'm anticipating an electric chemistry," says Quinn.
Watch out for Bao Gang's baleful and crackly Old Mahon, dressed in his old PLA coat.
Bai Shuo, who plays Kun Guafu or Widow Quinn, was struck by how relevant the Chinese adaptation of the play was to contemporary China. Wang Zhuo plays Ma Shang, or Christy Mahon, the original actor being otherwise engaged.
"I hope the Irish audience will enjoy our version. It is a pioneering work in terms of contemporary Chinese theatre and it has led to a new trend in the avant-garde here, with the director using an acting style that is unique in China today," said Bai.
Xia Zi Xin, who studies at the prestigious Beijing Film Academy, is a confident La La, or Pegeen Mike, and she is curious about the Irish reaction but confident that the strength of the production and the play itself will prevail.
"I like the play very much. I find something fresh every time I read it, just like when you are in love with someone. Although the original play was written 100 years ago, the characters seem so familiar to those who live in China today. It shows the ugliest side of human nature - that hasn't changed at all in 100 years," she says.
Beijing-born Australian Wang Zhaohui, who co-produced the play with former Dublin Fringe Festival directorVallejo Ganter, believes the play should work in Ireland as it keeps true to the poetry of the original. "The language of the original Playboy is very poetic and colourful, and it was difficult to maintain the poetic elements in the adaptation while making sure it looks local rather than a translated foreign play. Judging from the audience's reactions we think it works," she says.
"I think the most exciting aspect of the project is the dialogue between the two cultures. It makes us feel so close. It also gives me more confidence to produce more such productions," she says.
Pan Pan has hired a Chinese publicist, Oliver Wang, who organises the Chinese New Year festival and works on Chinese-language radio in Ireland, to help promote the play among Chinese living in Ireland. There are separate posters and flyers in Chinese and the goal is to have around one quarter of the audience coming from the local Chinese community.
The plan after Dublin is to take the play to Shanghai's Grand Theatre, and there has been interest from other parts of China, as well as from London, although there may need to be further adjustments made to make it comprehensible to an English-speaking audience outside of Ireland, where audiences are so familiar with the play.
"Irish people watching Playboy being translated and performed by Chinese people - it's a strange one, to see themselves being presented in an oriental way. I've no idea what the effect will be and the level of involvement will be interesting to see. But I think it will work well," says Quinn.
Playboy of the Western World opens tonight and runs until Sat at the Project, Dublin
