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Review: Scenes from a Repatriation (Royal Court)

Review by Sam Waite

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

Upon entering the Jerwood Upstairs space of the Royal Court Theatre, taking a seat at one side of the other of a sandy central area, there are two things to draw your focus. At one end of the auditorium is the statue of Guanyin, recreated in linen wrappings, while overhead at the other is a display resembling museum wall-text. It lists the title, Scenes from a Repatriation, the writer, Joel Tan, the style, “performance in traverse” and the tools used: among them are sand, linen, and bodies.

 


And thus you have entered Scenes from a Repatriation, effectively becoming one of these titular scenes in observing the multitude of stories connected to the statue’s history. True to its name, the play presents a series of narratively disparate scenes, all fixated on the location of and international feelings around the statue at any given time. Framed by protests, the show touches on student discomfort, PR crisis, budget discussions, pausing painfully on the employment of Chinese staff to rehabilitate the museum’s image.

 

Tan’s writing is wonderfully consistent, creating lived-in and easy to understand characters for what on paper could be a series of short one-acts. Directorial duo emma + pj ensure this is never the feeling coming across, uniting the sequences tonally and emotionally so well that we were a good chunk of the way through the first act before I realised early characters would not be returning. We often find characters in the middle of their respective narratives, and thankfully the collective voice of the creative team allows us to understand who these people are, and how they came to be in these situations.

 


A company of six, credited simply as “cast,” rotate through a seemingly endless array of roles, waiting behind the seats for their next moment in the centre, or even performing from this outside vantage point to create more expansive spaces. Performing quick-changes within the auditorium and switching personas in an instant, these terrifically committed actors bring such ferocity to some roles, and such quiet dignity to others, that it can take a few changes to recognise who has already done what.

 

The design work from TK Hay is central to the work’s impact, the deceptive simplicity of a sandy walkway with a raised platform at its end allowing for minimal set changes but maximising opportunities for the performers. An angled scrim sits above the theatre’s entrance, displaying the museum text as the audience file in. Alternately, this is used to project translated dialogue or key information for scenes, or performed behind to create a sense of separation in some of the more distressing, politically weighted screens. There is a surprise beneath the raised platform, but I will allow Hay this one mystery for new viewers to discover.



Alex Fernandes, lighting designer, and Patch Middleton, sound, help to amplify the atmosphere created by all involved, bringing to life both the more jovial scenes and those with a more treacherous edge. Both designs are bleak and unsettling when called for, inviting and familiar when not, never overshadowing the work of the cast or the text itself but a definite presence which supports the action on stage.

 

Perhaps a more intellectual writer would have more to say about this radical, deeply individual piece. Maybe one ever smarter would say less, recognising how truly the work speaks for itself. Somehow as intellectually accessible as it is challenging, and as willing to allow interpretation as it is concrete in the points it raises, Scenes from a Repatriation gives voice to many continually pressing concerns both at home and overseas, and demonstrates just how essential, and just how dangerous, acting for what you know is right can be.

 

Scenes from a Repatriation plays at the Royal Court Theatre until May 24th

 

 

Photos by Alex Brenner

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