How do you live life when you don’t know who you are, with your right foot in one culture, your left foot in another, and both cultures unwillling to accept you. That’s the question at the heart of Jennifer Tang’s Ghost Girl // Gwei Mui 鬼妹. Take a look at these fantastic production shots from the show, then book your tickets.
The piece, which was devised by Tang and the performers, runs at Camden People’s Theatre until 9 February.
Tang’s personal story of being born to Cantonese parents but raised by a white British family runs at the north London venue as part of Chinese Arts Now, a new festival created to showcase the best new work by contemporary Chinese artists.
On a hot clammy muggy day in October
In a Chinese takeaway restaurant
A decision was made:
A woman was going to take another woman’s baby.
She thought she was getting a chow mein and instead she got a baby.
Six months later
From the top floor of a hospital
Wrapped in blankets and snuggled away
A woman called Janice and a man called Phil
Took home
Set in 1980s Gravesend, Ghost Girl // Gwei Mui 鬼妹 tells the story of Kim, a young Chinese girl who is fostered by a white British family. Juggling family loyalties, cultural contradictions and the widening gap between personal identity and social acceptance, this touching and theatrical show asks important questions about love, belonging and how to find your way in a world that doesn’t recognise you.
Tang conceived the idea for the play and worked with performers Bea Holland, Siu-See Hung, Danielle Phillips and Paula So Man Siu to devise the piece. Holland previously appeared in Not Now Bernard at the Unicorn Theatre and The School Run at the Canal Cafe, while Phillips boasts credits including Dark Winter for Hull Truck and Reared at Theatre 503. Siu’s credits include From Shore To Shore and The Flying Roast Goose. Hung reunites with Tang, who previously directed her in Mountains: The Dreams Of Lily Kwok. Her other credits include Chinglish at Park Theatre and Diaochan – The Rise of the Concubine, directed by Ross Ericson.
Director Tang has worked across new writing, devised work and opera, including extensive work with communities and young people. Her previous productions as a director include We Are Young for the Young Vic, Clytemnestra for Gate Theatre and For The Record for Theatre Royal Plymouth. Speaking about Ghost Girl // Gwei Mui 鬼妹, she said:
“In recent years there has been a flurry of theatre productions that explore Chinese stories. Nearly all of these stories have been set in China, or abroad, and have arguably done little to dispel the myth of Chinese people being far away, exoticised, and distinctly ‘other’. While any work featuring East Asian artists can only be welcomed, I’m really thrilled and excited for this opportunity to create a show that speaks specifically about the experience of the Chinese here in the UK, particularly the British Born generations. It feels incredibly important to be part of a flourishing movement that is seeking to give voice to our overlooked community, and which asks for British Chinese identity to be recognized alongside other minority voices. Ghost Girl // Gwei Mui 鬼妹 sets out to reclaim specifically the experience of the British Chinese. But this is not just a story for British Chinese audiences. This is also a story about Britishness, and what that means in these turbulent times, and it will resonate with anyone who has at times struggled to find their place in the world and wondered what it means to belong.”
Production images:
