It’s October! Supermarkets pile Halloween selection boxes by the checkouts, my normally strait-laced friends text me for niche horror recommendations (This year it’s Messiah of Evil) and theatre directors bring out the tried and tested “loud electronic sting/blackout combo” as the London theatre scene puts on a handful of plays determined to deliver both chills and thrills (Both, in this economy? A bargain!) and so I made the perilous journey to West London to watch Mei Leng Yew’s new play, The Hungry Ghost, hoping to get scared out of one of the the compact but adequate seats of the Bush Theatre’s second stage, The Studio. How did it fare? Read on… if you dare (no but please, read on.)
If you’re after chills, The Hungry Ghost certainly has a few, thanks to the fantastic performances from the two actors that take centre stage. Mei Mac, fresh from her Olivier nominated run in My Neighbour Totoro, plays The Girl, and everyone else she interacts with in this frequently funny, occasionally scary ghost story slash romantic comedy. Sharing the stage with her, is Isabella Wei as The Ghost, who after Girl makes a textbook horror gaffe of not listening to her mum’s warnings about angering spirits, becomes possessed, just as she’s moving in with her new girlfriend, Naomi.
Mac, as she showed in Totoro, is an astonishing mimic – her ability in that to convince you that she was a small child is again put to good use, as she gives a huge amount of personality to all the characters she portrays, switching accents and posture throughout. Wei’s performance caught me more off-guard, as Bridgerton was never going to give her the opportunity to showcase an astonishing breadth of movement as, under coaching from Movement Director Jasmine Chiu, she depicts the possession by physically pulling and dragging Mac towards the desires in her life. It’s a remarkable special effect, and a good use of an often slightly underutilised space; The Studio is a much smaller, intimate, dare-I-say-it Spartan stage than Bush’s first stage, The Holloway, and I’ve seen directors whiff badly – you can just about fit two actors on it, so often a trip to the Studio means you’re watching a monologue and wishing something would happen. Not so with this – Ailin Conant’s direction and Yimei Zhao’s set design is surprising, with secret compartments and cupboards transforming the space and standing in for windows, props, etc when the moment arises.
I’m not sure how this is going to come across to general audiences – there were a few references to Chinese cultural traditions that were (to my delight) explained in the copy of the script I picked up from the merch table, and because I had this context, I can’t honestly say what my experience would have been had I not had it to reference; I’d like to think it didn’t need the additional context, but that’s speculation. A fun start to the month to get you in the mood for the upcoming festivities!
The Hungry Ghost – www.bushtheatre.co.uk
By Athasha Lyonnais