THE ORPHAN OF CHAO
 ***** (out of 5)
Royal George Theatre, lunchtime one-act play, 60 minutes, no intermission. Ends Oct. 5. Translated and adapted by Michael Man. Based on “The Great Revenge of the Zhao Orphan” by Ji Junxiang. Directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster.

This is an old story: A child’s birth will destabilize a corrupt regime founded on the murder of his family. 

Themes of revenge, sacrifice, filial duty, honour, love, mortality and morality become powerfully new in this pared down riveting adaptation and gripping production.

What a path the Orphan story has taken. Its 5th Century BCE origin is believed to be “Zuo’s Commentaries” and Sima Qian’s 2nd century BCE historical account of the Zhao family. 

The first literary adaptation as a play took place in the early years of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty of the 13th century when Confucian scholar Ji Junxiang’s wrote “The Great Revenge of the Zhao Orphan” as a great classic drama of power conflict and payback (bao). 

It was introduced to Europe in the 1730s by Jesuit scholar Rev. Joseph Henri Prémare at a time when Chinoiserie style was all the rage with designers, artists and writers. Even Voltaire had a go at it with his “L’Orphelin de la Chine” in 1753.

More recently, it was translated and adapted as a play in 2012 by poet James Fenton for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. There have been many Chinese stage versions, Beijing Opera performances, a Hong Kong film, a British opera and now we have Michael Man’s compelling “Orphan of Chao” at the Shaw.

The setting is the 6th century BCE. Two senior ministers at court, Chao Tun and General Tu-An Ku, are arch-rivals in a power struggle.

Tu-An Ku falsely accuses and convinces the ruler of Jin, Duke Ling, that the Chao family are treasonous. Chao Tun and 300 of the Chao family are brutally massacred.

The ruler’s pregnant daughter is married to a Chao. Chao Ting, is spared from death but her child will die unless a plan is devised to save him.

Who will have the loyalty and moral courage to sacrifice his or her own life in order that the Chao infant survives to restore the family’s honour, legacy and position?

Against a minimalist staging of a dun-coloured backdrop of Mongolian steppes, a wooden and iron grate fence becomes whatever the action requires, be it a jail, palace or humble dwelling. The focus is on performance and what that entails.

The six performers convey the story exceptionally well using the “Jingxi” Beijing Opera traditions: monologue, recitative speech, song, pantomime, dance, martial arts and gestural movements. Designations of roles: Sheng (man) and Dan (woman) are followed in attitude and voice.

Special kudos to John Ng in the Laosheng role of the older, dignified mandarin Gongsun Chujiu, to Jonathan Tan as the ruthless Tu-An Ku and to Lindsay Wu as Chao Ting for dignity and her painfully expressive dance using long swirling scarves to evoke the agony of childbirth.  

Donna Soares as Cheng Ying and Richard Lee as Hon Jue deliver the sorrow and courage required for self-sacrifice. Eponine Lee, as the grown-up Orphan Bo seeking revenge, becomes the high-spirited dynamo Xiansheng warrior who will shrilly lead the revolution.

Costumes were a combination of simple contemporary and traditional that worked. Colours denoted character.  The taciturn bad guy Tu-An Ku wore a black military helmet and jacket.  

Black for defiance and strength was right for the Orphan in black boots and puff jacket waving a banner into battle. A subdued red slid at times in denoting loyalty, integrity or courage.  

The music was evocatively used for transitions of time and place. Percussion sticks, cymbals, gongs and drums complemented dramatic action and martial themes. Lighting was highly effective especially, in the final minutes of the play.

Good direction throughout made for cohesion. Michael Man has given us a timeless story relevant to courage and the sacrifices ordinary people are prepared to make to protect the values they believe in.   

I was fortunate to see a performance of the Beijing Opera in the auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 1986. 

It was three years before the Tiananmen Square massacre and inconceivable that Hong Kong would so radically change in future.  

See this lunch-hour play and take part in the discussion after, if offered. Our experience was an enlightening bonus. 

Penny-Lynn Cookson is an arts and culture historian, writer and lecturer living in Niagara-on-the-Lake.