'Thunderstorm' by Tsao Yu
St. John's Auditorium.
19/02/02

This play's publicity bills it as 'The Chinese answer to Shakespeare'. The
comparison is not unreasonable but the feel was rather more akin to Greek
tragedy, with its tone of formal high drama and themes of forbidden love
and nature itself reacting against unnatural acts. The tale takes place in
the house of a mining magnate, Chou Pu Yuan, and his family, divided by
their secrets and aspirations. Waiting on them are two servants, Lu Kei
and his pretty young daughter Ssu-Feng, who, along with the rest of their
family, are to play central roles in the ensuing revelations. As a
thunderstorm builds outside, tensions rise within.

A convenient diagram is provided in the programme, both clarifying the
relationships between the protagonists and cleverly hinting at the
revelations to come. The acting was universally strong, though the cast
had some difficulty building a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere in the
large and airy venue. Carly Vanderburg and Thomas Williams as the master's
dissatisfied young wife and her fraught, self-loathing step-son both gave
appropriately highly-strung performances from the outset, but this left
them little room for maneuver as feelings mounted higher. More successful
were co-director Wen Tak Wong's quietly domineering performance as the
master of the house, and producer Siran Lu's playing of the young serving
girl Ssu-Feng, torn between her desires and her duty. Their mannered
styles gave them more scope to raise the emotional tone as the play
progressed, without slipping into melodrama.

The staging was excellent, with some gorgeous Chinese costumes and
make-up, spare but well-designed sets and good use of sound to heighten
the stormy atmosphere. This production is clearly a labour of love for
those involved, so it is heartening to see it so successfully realised. An
unusual modern tragedy that is well worth a visit.

Alex Williams.