REVIEW: Porcelain

Set in 90s Britain, Porcelain was Chay Yew’s first play, although not first produced. Exploring the isolation of a double minority – a gay Asian in a Caucasian society – Porcelain’s protagonist, John Lee, channels the rage, the isolation and highlights the not-so-subtle racism of the gay community.

It is hard not to feel that there is a lot of Yew himself in the character, and for me personally parts of the play came out a little high handed. Over the course of several confrontational conversations John has with his psychologist, John’s character invariably has the witty comeback, the sharply cutting line or the biting insight – and while it certainly builds his character as an isolated man nursing his emotional scars, at moments it appeared to break past characterisation into the mind of the author, sniping back at the personification of the white, gay men of the 1990s.

The narrative explores the otherness of the gay Asian in a time when a single Asian face in a gay magazine was a novelty. The usage of the word ‘Oriental’, the frustration of John’s immigrant father wondering whether he should have stayed in Hong Kong, and John’s desperation at feeling continually unwanted by the attractive white men surrounding him all mesh together to form a very believable picture of a man pushed to breaking point.

Perhaps more importantly, Yew very cleverly makes us care about the characters of Porcelain, drawing us in with characters the audience can identify with – be it John, his former lover William Hope or the drunken, anger filled psychologist, all gutsy roles compellingly performed by the cast. Keith Brockett, dressed all in white (the Chinese colour of mourning, and the western colour of innocence) stands out from his fellow actors, and truly embodies the tenuous societal position of John Lee – unwelcome in the Asian community but unwanted, if accepted, as part of Britain’s gay community, and driven to the public toilets as the only place where he ever feels desired by other men.

Drawing the audience in with a comical discussion about ‘cottaging’ that is reminiscent of Monty Python’s ‘Travel Agent’ skit, Porcelain grabs hold of the audience and using multiple narrators and intercutting flashback dialogue with voxpops and parables, it never lets the audience get comfortable, forcing one to question the validity and the reality of what is being portrayed. Perhaps not being strongly connected to the gay scene I’m the wrong Asian to comment on that – within my circle of rather geeky friends race is one of the last things noticed. However, Garrie Maguire, curator of Midsumma’s Men Like Me, insists racism is still alive and all too strong in the gay community, citing his exhibition as the only visual arts exhibition that failed to attract the “usual Midsumma arts crowd” to its launch. The theme is Asian men as photographed by other Asian men.

Regardless of how representative Porcelain is of the current situation, it certainly forces the issue with its audience, forces each member to consider how much of the existing racial discrimination they are responsible for, either as perpetrator or as a victim nursing early hurts to the point where engagement proves impossible even when offered. I do wonder however, how much it does to promote understanding and engagement with the subculture it represents however. While it lambastes the cultural zoo and fetishism of Asians, in going out of its way to explain Asian culture – in this case Sadako Sasaki’s one thousand paper cranes – it loses an opportunity to leave an unanswered question in the minds of those audience members who do not know of the story, and increase the resonance of the story with those who do. Leaving the question unanswered would also increase dialogue around the issues the play raises, which could only be a good thing.

Overall, Porcelain is a slick and thought provoking production, beautifully directed and acted – special mention must go to Keith Brockett’s commitment to the role of John Lee, a very difficult character to bring to life, and to Colin MacPherson’s Psychologist, another tough role, although his American accent has a tendency to default to his native Canadian on occasion. The set is simple, lighting effective – and perhaps by the end of the season, there will be one thousand paper cranes.

Porcelain runs until February 10 at La Mama Theatre, Melbourne
For more information, visit www.midsumma.org.au or www.lamama.com.au