A beautiful, romantic drama of love, fidelity, treachery, and poetry presented in the style of traditional Chinese theatre explains the essence of the story behind the 1930s drama Lady Precious Stream by Chinese playwright, writer, academic ( and many other things) Hsiung Shih-I. With the first production gracing the stage in London in 1935, and many other times after that in theatres and in high schools etc, it has been produced and performed again in 2022 at The Flying Nun at Brand X in Newtown, Sydney by Asian Australian theatre company Slanted Theatre.
Naturally if there is something produced by Asian Australians and features all Asian Australians, I would be there if I am able to, and the Slanted Theatre’s production of Lady Precious Stream was definitely worth it! Thank you to Slanted Theatre’s founder Tiffany Wong and the entire team! Before I get into more thanks, congratulations and a little review, here is the premise of the story behind Lady Precious Stream – just a few words:
True Love? or being filial and fulfilling duties to family?
Okay, and now to all the congratulations. Tiffany Wong who got the whole Slanted Theatre started needs to get the first lot of thanks and congratulations for ensuring an awesome show went on and being the director! Here are the rest of the creatives many thanks and congratulations are being sent to!~
Dramaturg Liangyu Sun
Composer Jolin Jiang
Production Designer Rachel Hui
Lighting Designer Catherine Mai 麦子晟
Makeup Artist Bonnie Huang 黄晓悦
Producer Aaron Cornelius
Assistant Producer Susanna Pang
The cast for this production of Lady Precious Stream were all extremely exceptional, and were all so multi faceted actors and talented as some played 2 – 3 characters in the one show. Here are the cast who made the show such a joy to watch:
Chloe Ho
Mym Kwa
Enoch Li 李樂斌
Tim Lim
Susan Ling Young
Steve Lu
Jolin Jiang
Now, my thoughts on the Slanted Theatre production. To be honest, before the show started, I wasn’t sure what to expect or whether I would enjoy it. But from the get go I couldn’t stop laughing and admiring the layered and multi tasking acting ( if that is a term ). The show was fluid, all the actors played their respective characters ( and I emphasise CHARACTERS) with so much passion and their love for acting shone through.
The story itself, is a simple one, and it shows how much talent we have with our Asian Australian actors, directors and creatives, because they turned a simple story into a funny and entertaining stage show. With all the awesome Asian Australian talent out there, why is it that our mainstream media, creative and entertainment industries ( including stage acting, producing etc) don’t showcase this talent? Is it that the mainstream industry is still so white centric that they do not see the value in having culturally diverse talent?
In any case, thank you for inviting me to check out the show!