By Jennifer Beasley.
Extraordinary. Director Fini Liu combines exceptional acting skills to seamlessly integrate with his fellow actors Tony Zhang and Yuan Lu, to deliver a flawless production.
Do Theatre have done it again. What a way to open the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF).
After the ethereal beauty of The Ship at last year’s fringe festival, and the romance of Love Letters the year before, I was wondering what this innovative theatrical company would offer that could possibly compete with these shows.
What they offered is the absurdist comedy written by Zongxi Li titled Eighteen Lives (祖宗十八代).
Adapted by Fini Liu, who performs and directs, Eighteen Lives is told mostly in Mandarin, with English open captions projected onto a curtain screen. Dramturg is Yuchen Yao. With a minimal set, the three actors colour coded in muted red, green and orange-brown and some props to signify era/costume changes, this performance relies on the acting skills of the performers to translate universal themes and comedy to the audience.
Utilising a mix of Chinese Opera, theatrical elements borrowed from the avant-garde theatre group Odin Teatret, the physical comedy approach of Jacques Lecoq, some Japanese comedy inspiration and traditional Chinese xiangsheng, Fini Liu has managed that difficult task of melding many comedic and dance forms to elevate the three actors’ performances in this witty and clever play.
With the brilliant and solid support of Tony Zhang, who was so impressive in The Ship, and the elastic physicality of Yuan Lu (also in The Ship and highly likeable) the trio is rounded out by the child-like energy of Fini Liu, as each of these incredible actors journey through six lifetimes to tell the story of why their lives have intersected and how they present in each of these lives.
Using the conceit of six vignettes to portray these lives, I was reminded of Alice Birch’s approach (Revolt She Said, Revolt Again), however this play integrates the separate elements seamlessly, and uses another conceit, the play within the play, to bring story arcs to completion and realise the thematic statement.
You are probably wondering when I’ll get around to telling you what this is about. How much time do you have?
It may appear complicated but if you concentrate on the themes, it is wonderfully simple, and simple AND clever makes the best comedy.
Opening with these three marvellous actors, Lui tells us they are rehearsing the script, and will be doing a table read. But then it morphs via a song about peach blossoms into the first vignette set in the Qing Dynasty.
Colour coding the actors makes it easier to follow this trio. Zhang wears orange/brown, Lu wears green and Lui wears dark red. The men become friends when they are trying to avoid being war conscripts (being cowards with hilarious physical impediments adds to their woes), with a wonderful play on words and motifs which is very typical of xiangsheng performances from the Qing era. A requiring motif of peach blossoms and fruit, both visually with falling petals, in song and ‘fruit’ is a lovely tie-in that weaves through these sequences.
Utilising different characters as transition points to move into the next vignette, allows the cycle of reincarnation to continue. However, instead of travelling forward, the trio move backwards in time, in their quest to find out why they know each other so well, and the echoing karmic debt that must be repaid.
Through six lifetimes the trio move back, sometimes as a woman. It is the depiction of the vignette of the third lifetime in the Tang Dynasty (c. 650 CE) that the story deepens. Not only extremely funny as Lui acts as a courtesan but underscored with the tragedy of ‘her’ sexual assault, acted with restrained empathy by Zhang. This acknowledgement of female suppression and traumatic response which leaves her spiritually restless, is done with a light touch and explains why in this incarnation the three could not repay the karmic debt in that lifetime.
It isn’t until the play reaches the sixth lifetime, set during another war period, that we understand the blood oath that the three men swear, promising to meet again at the peach garden when peace reigns.
There is a lovely message here about peace and the violence of war, and the spiritual resilience necessary to find your family, whether by blood or chosen, that leads to inner serenity.
There are so many amazing moments in this play. It swings from absurdist to drama to tragedy. The scene in lifetime two is emotive as the father of the Huang family (Zhang) mourns his lost children. I dare you not to be moved. Superb.
Embrace the experience. The captioned English surtitles make the story easy to follow, and the full house easily laughed in all the right places.
Not to be missed. Well done Do Theatre.
Eighteen Lives (祖宗十八代) is playing at Explosives Factory, 7:30pm (matinees on Saturday as well at 2:30pm) until 4th April 2026.
