Lao She’s celebrated play Teahouse has come to Vancouver 58 years after its premier and it rises up to its longstanding reputation. A powerful and captivating account of Chinese history, this production uses the setting of one teahouse to depict the social struggles of everyday individuals from the end of the Qing dynasty to just before the civil war.
The play is roughly 2.5 hours long and is split into three acts that follow a 50-year period. This seems like a long time to sit in a theatre for, however the richness of the history makes the play exciting throughout. The first act is set on the eve of the Boxer Uprising in 1898, where poverty and desperation are paramount amongst the countryside folk and British influence is heavy. The second act fast forwards twenty years into the future where the Chinese Republic is in turmoil and Warlords (each backed by foreign forces) divide the country. The final act takes place in 1948 where the Kuomintang, also under foreign influence, rule China but dissatisfaction is clear.
This history creates a narrative that is incredibly politically charged. The teahouse turns into a space where the personal becomes the political and is the perfect setting for showing the effects of these times on everyday people. From rich eunuchs who purchase wives, to deserting soldiers, and sleezy pimps the teahouse is filled with characters from all walks of life, their struggles becoming both humorous and touching as they intersect one another within the simple setting.
This was possibly one of the best things about the show- the set. By having it remain in one place, a place which only changes in terms of décor depending on the period, the story becomes tied together with a sense of familiarity. This familiarity is also created by the characters. Despite it being a cast of around 30, the characters are either returning, connected, or ‘types’ that exist within any time frame. This familiarity helps to navigate the, at times, complicated story. It also adds to the humour of the play making the content easy to digest; such as when a peasant has to sell his daughter to the Eunuch to guarantee she wont starve. The moment is one of desperation, yet the characterisation of the campy and ridiculous Eunuch turns the scene into one of laughter. The moment becomes memorable as it brings the audience into relation with the action.
At the centre of this production is Wang, the owner of the teahouse, who spends his life comforting the extreme mix of people that come into his establishment with tea and conversation. The performance was incredible in the discreet details, and the character although minimally visible at first, grows to be the heart of the show. When he loses his teahouse in the end the whole audience feels his pain.
However, this play is not for the weak willed. Although its story line is compelling, it is also in Mandarin with English surtitles and the performance runs for around 2.5 hours. If you are like me and do not understand Mandarin, then watching this play will be an exercise in concentration. It is hard work, and inevitably sometimes there is not enough time to read as quickly as dialogue is being spoken, or certain things are lost in translation, but the effort is well worth it for the incredible story.