Our Man in Beijing

The Australasian Chinese Theatre company presented their first full production Our man in Beijing. This one-act show was presented in the property of a house in Brighton.

Having been to their previous production blues in the night, I was prepared for a less orthodox venue.

The premise for this production was an Australian who loses his briefcase in the back of a taxi and has to sign Bejings' most prominent personality/singer for the cover of a local Australian magazine. Mistaken identities, misunderstandings and lots of red tape ensues.

Upon arrival we walked up the driveway to the ticket counter, and then onto the bar. There were signs all around the carport to indicate that we were at the bejing airport.
There was a guitar-playing singer, who sang a few numbers while we stood around the carport waiting for the action to begin.
A car (taxi) backs up and our leading man, Peter Muir, comes out and puts his briefcase in the back of the taxi, then out of nowhere an Asian lady jumps in the taxi and the car roars away (literally) with briefcase.
We are then led into the house and the rest of the action takes place in the kitchen of the house.

Blues in the night was performed in the garage, to much success. I believe that if you are going to move your audience from one location to another, keep the movement happening -- it can’t stop after one change. I thought we’d be led out to the garage, then back into the house only to end where we began, with our happy hero taking off in the taxi.

Peter played the lost Australian in Bejing (John Willams) very well, although I thought a little more subtlety could have added to his character. Fanny Hanusin played the dual roles of Ding Ling and May. This role gave Fanny a chance to show her lovely vocal abilities as well as her suitable acting skills for this role.

David Lih underplayed the concierge of the hotel/friend of our hero. I was a bit confused as to what role David was actually playing as his character was never introduced. I believe some really funny moments could have been had at the Immigration Office however I believe the script was lacking in this area and left Aparna Bhattacharjee, who played the immigration officer, no much to work with. Philip Trainer kept us entertained with his guitar playing and there was even a special guest spot from our hostess Moni Storz.

I believe director Wolf Heidecker could have made more of his environment and helped with some scripting. He stated in his director's notes that he thought the script was ready to go. For this piece to keep the momentum and not stall, as it did on several occasions, it needs some reworking. It became a bit 'preachy' when talking about how many forms there were to fill out for someone who lives in Beijing to become an Australian citizen and the red tape these individuals have to get through in order to become an immigrant in Australia. The same points could have been put across with more of a comedic slant.

Over all I enjoyed my Sunday out and would recommend this experience to other theatre-goers.

This company has a lot of promise and even though I thought my chair was going to collapse at any moment I look forward to seeing what they present next.

One man in Bejing continues at The Australasian Chinese Theatre (ACT) Studio/garden
11 Cole st, Brighton on March 25 and 26th at 8:00pm and Sunday at 5:00pm
Moni: 0419367261 or 95961756
Email: gbs002@ozemail.com.au

Gavin has been involved in theatre for the past 26 years, reining from Geelong where he played such roles as Jud Fry in Oklahoma!, and Juan Peron in Evita. He moved to Melbourne over 10 years ago and has performed in Into the Woods as the Baker, Jeffrey in Godspell, and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Having performed in over 30 productions, Gavin went onto direct Hot Mikado for Nightowl Productions for which he received a Guild Judges award. Gavin has also directed several productions for Loyola Musical Society, performed in MLOC's Production of Beauty and the Beast as Cogsworth and is currently portraying Trekki Monster in Slams' production of Avenue Q.