Lorna Irvine reviews the latest teaming between NTS and Oran Mor.
The second Chinese play in Oran Mor's stable, written by Hao Jingfang and adapted and directed for the stage by Davey Anderson, concerns that well-worn territory of moral ambiguity.
When construction workers Ping (Ross Allan) and Lei (Martin Docherty) learn of a corrupt businessman's embezzlement scam involving a hit-and-run of someone close to them, they break into his plush home to settle the score, but their plans backfire as they happen upon his son, philosophy student Jun (Marco Chiu), suicidal and teetering on the window ledge with a bottle of vodka.
What transpires balances perilously close to farce as they initially manipulate the boy then bond over matters of ethics and family loyalty, culminating in an uneasy sing-song with an acoustic guitar. Ross Allan as Ping steals more than the family silver and jade, easily the most likeable and rounded performance, perfectly at home with comedy as pathos, but young Marco Chiu shows much promise too, particularly when portraying raw teenage desperation.
Somehow it fails to consistently grip right through to the end as the tension is undermined by piling on yet more and more twists which feel shoehorned in. It makes for a play which, although interesting, could do with more room to breathe. Not the worst by any means though.
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