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<\/p>\nLa Boite Theatre\u2019s first mainstage presentation of 2023, the world premiere co-production of The Poison of Polygamy comes with an array of content advisories. The work, which is recommended for audiences aged 15+ contains descriptions of murder, violence, drug use, sexual activities and references to suicide. The production also contains loud noises and the use of theatrical haze and smoke effects. We see the latter from its very outset when strobe lighting and smoke fills the Roundhouse Theatre stage space to foreshadow its story\u2026 from beyond the grave.<\/p>\n
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In its opening scene, our narrator, The Preacher (Shan-Ree Tan) looks, unimpressed, upon his congregation of modern Australians, in deliver of a sermon warning of the ancient social scourge of his mother country\u2026 the poisonous plague of polygamy. What follows in his provocation for us to consider its worth through his presentation of a case as illustration, and so we are quickly taken to the China of his birth and Part 1 Verse 1 of the show. Sour and selfish Sleep-Sick (Sha-Ree Tan) reluctantly makes his way home to his long-suffering, childless wife Ma (Merlynn Tong) who is caring for his gravely ill mother. Penniless and unable to obtain gainful employment, the unlikeable, opium-addicted Sleep-Sick soon sets sail for Australia (where there is wealth to be made on the goldfields), swearing to never take a concubine, lest the gods strike him down.<\/p>\n
The epic play by Anchuli Felica King, based on the novel by Wong Shee Ping, translated by Ely Finch, thus unfolds in a lengthy journey. Under Courtney Stewart\u2019s deft and detailed direction, there is a lot going on visually. James Lew\u2019s set and costume design sees its story worlds created upon a bare stage with only a few key set pieces. Large moveable red columns border and corridor some action, yet are also used to great effect to reflect the at-sea movement of travel from China to arrival in a foreign land. And their swift move in and out of the space ensures that scene transitions are seamless.<\/p>\n
Another of the work\u2019s unique staging elements sees its characters trekking overland from South Australia to Melbourne through the heights of the theatre space, around the aisles at the top of the stalls, accompanied by a wilderness soundscape courtesy of Guy Webster\u2019s evocative sound design. Similarly, the staircase between seating banks is used, for example, to play out the hard labour mining that has characters reflecting on their loss of idealism through continual toil without reward.<\/p>\n
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Nigel Poulton\u2019s fight and intimacy direction delivers many striking scenes of sex and violence, while Deborah Brown\u2019s choreographic detail allows for some unexpected humour through almost pantomime like movement and physical comedy, enhanced by the heightened reactions of performers. Until, that is, the dramatic and dramatically different in tone, Act Two in which full extent of its title\u2019s meaning is revealed. Having built up his wealth, Sleep-Sick returns to the faithful Ma and their adoptive son in Guangdong, bringing with him his second, beautiful wife, Tsiu Hei (Kimie Tsukakoshi), with tragic consequences and some shocking moments that we don\u2019t necessarily see coming.<\/p>\n
Reflective of its epic scope, the story was originally published in 53 instalments in \u2018The Chinese Times\u2019, a Chinese-language newspaper in Melbourne, from 1909-1910. And it is certainly a well-written one, full of the descriptive imagery of similes and alike to evoke audience engagement, especially from Tsukakoshi\u2019s Tsiu Hei, in suggestive allusion of chastity and similar sexually-toned topics. And messaging around legacy is embedded throughout as part of its ongoing moral. But, at 180 minutes\u2019 duration (including a 20-minute interval), it is a very long show, and just as La Boite theatre seating is not designed for three hour shows, such lengthy audience investments are perhaps not designed for 7.30pm start times.<\/p>\n
This does not, however, take away from the performances from each member of its excellent cast. Shan-Ree Tan transitions easily between demeanours of The Preacher and the eccentric Sleep-Sick throughout, with slip on and off of hat to assist the audience in their comprehension. And Gareth Yuen is solid is support as the politically-minded Pan, delivering a particularly persuasive monologue of his dream to create a place of unified congregation, motivated by the idea of solidarity arising from their collective displacement.<\/p>\n