Image: The Yellow Wave publicity image via poppyseed.net.au
Director Beng Oh and playwright Jane Miller have put together a tart and satisfyingly funny theatrical journey; a hammed-up version of a xenophobic 19th century novel by Major General Kenneth Mackay.
The production enjoys the considerable comedic talents of actors Keith Brockett (best known as Ky Lee from The Librarians) and John Marc Desengano, along with narration by Andrea McCannon – in the interests of lucidity, since there’s so very much going on.
Love and invasion form the themes of The Yellow Wave, subtitled ‘a romance of the Asian invasion of Australia’. Besides lampooning fears of ‘the yellow peril’, in its own right this production challenges a few performative traditions that, along with the premises of Mackay’s book, need to be relegated to a very distant past, i.e. that of ethnic actors being only able to play ‘their own’.
The two male performers here are both Asian-Australians and play all 17 or so roles; characters of all types, including one or two females. Watching Brockett take his posturing, sartorially sublime Commissioner Wang to the nth degree is delightful. McCannon is perfect as The Narrator, and Desengano and Brockett are versatile, quick on their feet and hilarious.
The set comprises only a bench with Desengano and Brockett constantly popping up and down from behind it. The production seems long but there’s no problem keeping up with the story, and the play’s subversive elements are the best fun.
The Yellow Wave nods in a satisfyingly emphatic manner to the old-fashioned conventions of vaudeville, panto and 1940s cinema, and employs comedic stage-craft that we just don’t see enough of these days. Oh’s directorial touch is cultured and sure, enjoying a familiarity with tradition. Miller and Oh thoughtfully pull apart all the old clichés about Asians and parody the pants off them in a production which is funny first and political second.
You could almost call The Yellow ​Wave an exercise in nostalgia for theatre of days gone by. There’s only one truly awkward moment, and that’s when Desengano (in Old Cameron mode) says to a couple of younger characters during a siege by invading Mongolian hordes: ‘You guys go on without me.’ ‘Guys’ is wrong here and it jars. Otherwise, an impeccable show pony ride.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The Yellow Wave
Director: Beng Oh
Writer: Jane Miller
Featuring: Keith Brockett and John Marc Desengano
Narrated by: Andrea McCannon
Set Designer: Emily Collett
Lighting Designer: Matthew Barber
The Butterfly Club, Melbourne
17-29 November 2015
poppyseed.net.au
