Review: Three Women of Swatow

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Three Women of Swatow directed by Sophie Gee and written by Chloé Hung reveals the relationships between the women of three different generations: universal Grandmother, Mother, and Granddaughter. It felt as though all the women in the audience were sighing with some recognition of similar scenes in their own lives. There were of course some very kinky and surprising differences.

There was horror in this play but it was not to be taken  too literally. The performances were masterful and at times quite hilarious. Julie Tamiko Manning was deliciously wicked and also surprisingly caring. As the grandmother she was an antidote to the cliché of the obedient, docile, home-oriental, prototypical woman. Shiong-En Chan embodied a woman doomed to live the fate of her own mother. Her nuanced performance made all this believable.

Qianna MacGilchrist was delightful as the daughter who was determined to escape the consequences of bad choices which sealed the fates of generations of women in her family. The actors moved smoothly from their own time into the skins of the women of different generations.  We know something of trauma transference from one generation to another, and Three Women of Swatow takes this as a subtext for the story. With brilliant changes of costumes, designed by Jessica Poirier-Chang, the actors move seamlessly from the present to the past and back.

The story of these three women unfolds like a Greek tragedy, and has peppered throughout a vein of humour, dark but strong. The set by Diana Uribe worked beautifully and added dimension to the story. Sophie Gee directed this with a masterful hand. She never let the horror overtake the humanity of these women.

Chloe  Hung has devised a wonderful piece of theatre and it is worth going out in the cold to see it.

Three Women of Swatow is at the Centaur Theatre from November 5 to 24th. Tickets available HERE.