Jan managed to get some $20 last-minute tickets to the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Chimerica. The bargains came after a tipoff from our neighbour Paula Chegwidden who had found the secret STC website. Coincidentally, she and her daughter Emma went along to the same production and were seated right next to us!
We knew we were going on the same night so I drove us to Walsh Bay. We had some tapas before the play in one of the little restaurants overlooking the harbour , always a good Sydney experience. Then we found another coincidence. Chris phoned me while I was at the restaurant and, when he found out what we were doing, told me Vivienne was going to the theatre with friend Moya. We managed to meet up at the interval for a chat.
I wasn’t expecting too much from the play. It sounded a bit dry and political.
As tanks roll through Tiananmen Square, a young man holding shopping bags walks out to block their path. It is an image that has come to symbolise courageous and defiant protest, and yet the name of the hero – known simply as ‘Tank Man’ – has remained a mystery.
But it was superb. More than three hours (excluding the interval) but it didn’t flag at all. An amazing production that included some music and dancing and marvellous stagecraft. This was a great play written by Lucy Kirkwood. It was was first staged in London’s West end to great acclaim, and went on to win an Olivier award.
I remember Tiananmen Square very well. I visited it in my Hong Kong years. In 1989 I helped put the news of the massacre on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald.
The play was very moving. We all loved it.
