This includes the head of the Chinese office Xiao (Momo Yeung,) whose current state of hysterical crying is because of concern for her father, who’s under investigation by Chinese authorities for corruption; but everyone else thinks she’s stressed because a massive PR disaster happened on her watch.
White Pearl is the company’s popular skin-whitening cream, a concept that’s worrying enough without an ad campaign where a woman who doesn’t use it grows an afro while hip-hop plays. It’s just a not-for-broadcast demo the ad company have made but it’s somehow been leaked online, and now Priya and Sunny are fighting the inevitably losing battle of trying to get the video taken down before the Western media wakes up. Far too amused by the whole crisis is Thai-American Built (Kae Alexander,) but her lack of concern masks the fact that she’s ignoring calls from her stalkerish ex-boyfriend Marcel (Arty Froushan,) who leaked the video to get her attention.
This is a frantic, hyperactive production in every respect – the usual flashing lights warning should be taken very seriously in this instance, Ian William Galloway’s video design is frankly too much and seemed to send a number of audience members scurrying for the exits tonight. But the cast match the ever-climbing number of YouTube hits for energy, and this is an evening with a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. Often of the guilty kind, as King uses the crisis to let her characters really let rip with the inappropriate comments; she’s said that in part the idea behind the play is that Asian women are so thoroughly stereotyped as quiet and passively good-natured that she relished the opportunity to let a stage full of Asian actresses play downright horrible people.
But it’s also interesting to see racism explored in a context that we don’t often see in the West: The device of every woman representing a different country means we see the divides and stereotypes that exist within cultures that are often lumped together in people’s minds. So the unpopular Soo-Jin (Minhee Yeo) will keep getting comments about worshipping her divine leader however many times she tells people she’s actually from South Korea, while Japanese Ruki (Kanako Nakano) quite likes Xiao, but assumes there’s no point trying to be friends with her because she’s not meant to get on with the Chinese.
Race isn’t the only target of the play’s satire though, and White Pearl’s corporate environment could be a self-satisfied start-up anywhere: A flashback to a happier time sees a lot of talk about the family environment there and how they do things differently (this is definitely the kind of company whose job ads tell you they’re not looking for squares who are tied down to the 9-to-5 or expect to get paid in “money”) only for the backstabbing reality to reveal itself as soon as something goes wrong. The fact that King needs a flashback to do this is an example of a somewhat clumsy storytelling style – there’s a lot of plots and themes being touched on and Nana Dakin’s hectic production doesn’t quite convince that there’s method in the madness; there’s also a bit too much cheese, with a couple of instances of the cast turning to the audience to state the point being properly cringe-inducing. But this is a short and entertaining evening, often filthily funny (a “white pearl necklace” gag was probably inevitable but it’s beautifully timed) and with an outlook we don’t often see, so a few rough edges don’t outweigh the positives that make this a memorable evening.
White Pearl by Anchuli Felicia King is booking until the 15th of June at the Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes straight through.
Photo credit: Helen Murray.
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