Chimerica

Playwright Lucy Kirkwood became a major name of British theatre at the age of 29 with her critically acclaimed 2013 play about China and the West. By Michael Hodges

Time Out London gave the show five stars

LUCY KIRKWOOD’S LIGHTNING-PACED personal and political drama Chimerica, which premiered at the Almeida in 2013 before transferring to the West End, traces the twisting relationship between the East and the West, beginning with the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989. It follows the obsessive quest by American photographer Joe to find Tank Man, the lone Chinese protester whose picture he took as the man stood in front of a column of tanks, an image that came to symbolise the movement.

Time Out London’s theatre editor gave the Almeida incarnation of the show a rare fivestars, declaring it “a triumph of storytelling… gripping, multi-layered”.

Kirkwood first came to attention writing for Skins on TV in the noughties but attracted serious interest with two works for the theatre that established her style – meticulously researched, dialogue-driven, snappily cut, bigissue plays: It Felt Empty When the Heart Went at First but It Is Alright Now, in 2009, and NSFW at the Royal Court in 2012. Lucy, what made you choose to write about China for Chimerica? Over the years I was writing the play, what kept rearing its head was this liberal carefulness around China, when people thought, ‘It’s not that bad, is it?’ And I felt it was. Is that why there’s a torture scene in the play? Yeah, I was unapologetic about saying: ‘This happens there.’ And I wanted to ask, ‘How does it make the audience feel?’ So there was a double thing I wanted to address – one part was political, one part was artistic. A lot of your work is about exploitative relationships. Isn’t a Western playwright using the suffering of the Chinese just another form of exploitation? It could be read like that. I’m not going to spend the rest of my career writing plays about China, but I do worry a lot about the things I write. About it being misunderstood, in the way you say: that I’m picking something up and playing with it for a while and putting it down again. That’s worrying because it’s so opposite to my approach. When writing a play you have to have a seriousness of purpose about it, to have something that is hooking your head and guts. But it’s much more a play about the West than it is about China. ■ ÒRoslyn Packer Theatre, 22 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay 2000. 02 9250 1777. www.sydneytheatre.com.au. Mon, Tue 6.30pm; Wed-Fri 7.30pm; Sat 1.30pm & 7.30pm. $55-$105. Feb 28-Apr 1. This is an edited version of a story that ran in Time Out London in 2013.