Two Dogs, National Theatre of China, The Coopers Malthouse, Merlyn Theatre, Thursday October 6th 2016
"Two Dogs" from the National Theatre of China was presented at The Coopers Malthouse, Merlyn Theatre, on the opening night of the Melbourne Festival - Thursday October 6th 2016.
For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre. I buy my own tickets. So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights. Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases. I write for my memories of what I have seen, and is more of a stream of consciousness.
Immediately after the show I wrote the following on Facebook,
DO NOT READ THIS: If you want to endure Chinese water torture and Chinese burns combined with English surtitles that sometimes match the action - then go along and suffer probably the second worst night in the theatre: "Two Dogs" by the National Theatre of China. My partner said it was THE worst night at the theatre ever!
By the way people did start walking out after about 20 minutes.
By the way people did start walking out after about 20 minutes.
The show started about ten minutes late which has now become a Melbourne Festival tradition. Note that not one show we have attended since the first festival in 1986 has started on time.
An announcement to switch off mobile phones was made prior to the show. Still patrons had their phones on. The blessing was that the first fifteen minutes was a mini-lecture on the proceedings: namely the show will include improvisations and the surtitles will sometimes not match the action on the stage. The cast of two even announced to take photos now and then to take no more photos. That was fine and then the house lights went down. I had to ask the man in front to turn off his phone as was illegally recording the show!
The cast of two educated the audience to clap when the word "Ah" was said! This enthusiasm for clapping like Pavlov's dog petered out quite quickly.
The screens for surtitles were on both sides of the stage. Another screen was above our heads and impossible to read and was for those sitting behind us. The surtitles were so constant that I kept missing their actions. So I missed many physical jokes which the Chinese audience laughed at as they could understand the language. I am used to surtitles and they hard to read and watch the show at the same time. Maybe the surtitles could have been placed overhead centrally above the main stage.
So with all of these things in place I sat back to try to enjoy the show. We like to be challenged and it was so exclusive that the show excluded us due to the Chinese language barriers - particularly in the long improvisations. The physical humour was okay at times but we missed out on the timing of a joke due to the language breakdown and with our constant head turning to read the surtitles. Oh well only about an hour and half to go (according to the One hour and 45 minutes according to page 33 of the Melbourne Festival brochure!)
Late comers arrived in three separate groups and the house lights would come up and the cast would summarise the proceedings. The audience were also instructed about the clapping on "Ah" cues. Again it became even more tiresome. I have seen amateur pantomimes that do the one, two, three gags with more aplomb!
The Chinese audience members were enthusiastic in the laughter.
"Two Dogs" was directed by Meng Jinghui. Liu Xiaoye and Han Pengyi performed and I do not know which was which actor. One was short and dumpy and the other tall and slim reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy or Abbot and Costello. They both played with enthusiasm and had infectious smiles.
I had seen Meng Jinghui's work before with "Rhinoceros In Love" which was a far superior work.
Some of the jokes about Australia were rude (not brave) when coming to a foreign country that is as tolerant as ours. Imagine if Pauline Hanson had been there! That would have been worth buying every ticket in theatre to see her reaction. Imagine if an Australian theatre troupe went to Beijing and started berating and mocking their culture and their way of life?! Maybe the joke is on us - and how tolerant we should not be. This is timely with the Malaysian nine warned by a judge after spending four nights in cells for wearing togs/swimwear that was offensive to the Malaysians at the Grand Prix.
I think the laughter from the Chinese audience reflected how relieved they are to not be living in China with their repressed laws.
The show was like a Form Three (Year Nine) school drama project. Look mum and dad at how funny we are! Look I can do the splits! Look I can bang my head on this 44 gallon drum once - as it looks impressive as a large prop. By the way it is an expensive prop and only gets used this one time!
Well people started leaving at the twenty minute mark as the show must have caused a violent attack to escape the theatre. A slow trickle of people left to obtain relief as it must have given them the runs!
The screens would announce "Actor Improvising" when they would go off script. Once the screen announced "Actor Improving" and I thought that was funnier than the show. Was it intentional? Who knows? It was probably a translation error.
My favourite joke was when the tall man made his into a stethoscope. The two actors occasionally would mime with clarity. They were paying homage to many famous slapstick duos like Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and Abbot and Costello etc. All of these performers still make me laugh even when I have seen their antics numerous times. These two actors occasionally would get a giggle from me. I am being generous I giggled three times I think. I love good slapstick and physical comedy that is well timed and executed. I think you get my drift ... I did not like the show.
I think the show is propaganda to show how tolerant Chinese culture has become. Yeah sure!
Someone walked out and I will never know if it was another toilet issue, or they did not like the show or whether the use of "Er bi" which apparently means something to do with a "cunt". Twice they used this word on the surtitle screens and the young Chinese lady in front pointed at how naughty it was. Oh so daring - so clever. So third form!
I was disappointed I missed the ending as the house lights came on after a loud guitar solo and lots of handbags were still on the stage. I know they would have been returned with theatrical teasing.
I gave this show a 2/10 because it was a show and it was in a theatre and trying to challenge me. My partner said this was the worst show ever! My partner even threatened to never attend another Melbourne Festival again if this is the standard that the new artistic director Jonathon Holloway is going to present.
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