This latest work playing the Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf 1 Theatre has had a long journey.
The starting point, the genesis, was the novel ‘The Poison Of Polygamy : A Social Novel’ written by Wong Shee Ping and published in 1910. It was the first novel to be published in Australia that was written by a Chinese Australian, addressing the issues faced by the Chinese immigrant, and was written in Literary (classic) Chinese.
Wong Shee Ping was a Christian preacher and his novel, whilst infinitely entertaining, was a cautionary tale as to what will happen if they are not good and moral citizens in their new country.
It was only recently, just in 2019, that Ping’s novel was translated into English by Ely Finch and published by the Sydney University Press.
Finch’s highly acclaimed translation of the novel inspired one of Australia’s most provocative and interesting playwrights, Anchuli Felicia King, to adapt the work for the stage. King’s program note says that she stayed (mostly) faithful to the novel but used some ‘poetic’ licence.
The next main step in the journey was when Queensland La Boite Theatre Company and the Sydney Theatre Company came together to produce and run the play as part of their main subscription seasons with Courtney Steward as the Director.
King’s THE POISON OF POLYGAMY was first performed at the La Boite Theatre Company at the Roundhouse, Brisbane and is now midway through its STC run.
The main throughline of this epic play which contains so many many different threads and themes is that it follows the journey of Sleep-Sick, a young man from Southern China, who feeling held back by his addiction to opiates, leaves his very devoted wife Ma and travels to Australia and the goldfields in a quest to make it rich. He promises Ma that he will come back home once he has made his fortune and that they will then be able to live the good life. Ma asks him to stay faithful and not take a concubine, which was a common thing for Chinese husband’s to do at the time. Sleep-Sick gives his word.
There’s a famous Oscar Wilde quote that goes, ‘I can resist everything but temptation’.. We see, not long in to Act 2, that we see Sleep-Sick is just like Oscar and pretty hopeless at resisting the temptation that comes with being far from home. The temptation comes in the form of the young and beautiful femme fatale Tsiu Hel (Kimie Tsukakoshi) who becomes his concubine, and let’s just say that things don’t go too well for Sleep-Sick from then on.
Such a big themed play requires a powerful production and this is what Stewart delivers. The cast is outstanding led by Shan – Ree Tan as both the Preacher and Sleep-Sick, Merlynn Tong as Sleep-Sick’s wife Ma, and Kimie Tsukakoshi as Tsiu Hei.
The production is performed in the round. There is no set to speak of. The one piece of furniture is a wooden bed for the sex scenes. The main props are six tall red pillars that have different dramatic uses. Personally speaking, Ben Hughes’ superbly atmospheric lighting design shone brightest in the work of the design team.
Such a big themed play requires a powerful production and this is what Stewart delivers. The cast is outstanding led by Shan – Ree Tan as both the Preacher and Sleep-Sick, Merlynn Tong as Sleep-Sick’s wife Ma, and Kimie Tsukakoshi as Tsiu Hei.
Sleep-Sick’s three compatriots are interesting characters, well performed by the actors. Ray Chong Nee play his loyal, good natured friend who settles in the new country, forming a family and a business. Gareth Yuen plays Pan, who tries to mobilise the locals politically. Yuen also plays the morally bankrupt Dr Ng. Silvan Rus plays Chan who is the most moral and law abiding of the characters and is against Sleep-Sick’s black market trading.
The play is about a lot of things. For me the central themes explored were male/female relationship and the power imbalance, moral versus aberrant behaviour, and the solidarity between the Chinese immigrants as they make a new life for themselves.
I will leave the final note to director Courtney Stewart from a program note, ”Ultimately the play is about legacy and how fixated we are as human beings by the mark of what we leave behind How will we be remembered? How can we take control of our own personal histories and curate them to shine us in. a certain light for generations to come? The production offers us a live conversation between the Chinese Diaspora of then and the Chinese Diaspora of now and asks the question: How can we ensure we become good ancestors?’
THE POISON OF POLYGAMY is playing the Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf 1 Theatre until the 15th July 2023.
Production photography by Prudence Upton