The Blue Room Theatre has hit the ground running in its 2025 main season with three independent shows running simultaneously at the venue and making use of the Kaos Room for China for the June Wedding by Howard McKenzie-Murray and ITSAHA Production. A chamber piece with an ensemble of four and first-time direction by actor Adam Sollis, China is a nod and a love letter to mid-century film and theatre from a writer who is demonstrably in love with words.
I use demonstrably that way because it’s a frequently used word—spoken with great emphasis—by one of the show’s characters. The fact that McKenzie-Murray, in his debut play, has written a character whose linguistic quirks are so specific and memorable demonstrates his delightful skill and care. To borrow from a post-show comment from the lovely woman I sat next to on the night, the play is “jam-packed”—with character, dialogue, allusion, and imagery.
The play feels reminiscent (but not derivative) of Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, et al., with a tragicomically unstable central character, Louise (Amber Gilmour) and alcohol-fuelled banter that escalates to juicy sniping and existential crises. Narrated from the perspective of tennis prodigy Max (Cezera Critti-Schnaars), we see a group of four expats converge in a cramped Paris apartment, filling it with sound and fury that signifies—well, not exactly a Seinfeldian nothing—but certainly something less pressing than you’d find in a play centred on a particular social issue or moral debate. It’s a character-driven play.
How wonderful it is to listen to a script that offers quotable lines and larger-than-life characters that actors want to really sink their teeth into. Gilmour absolutely ate up every morsel, left no crumbs, and demanded comparisons to some of the greats—I imagined I could be witnessing an early-career Pamela Rabe (fresh on my mind from Perthfest). Later at home I wracked my brain until I worked out that Gilmour tickled the same funny bone that Black Adder/AbFab-era Miranda Richardson does. She can go to the wildest of emotional heights and dance on the edge of comic madness but somehow remain believable, and that is a rare gift.
Her counterpoint and verbal tennis match opponent is Critti-Schnaars, whose character’s job is the same as hers as an actor—to ground the story, frame it, and give it context. She has to set herself up as a reliable narrator in order to get us on her side, which she does naturally. She shows us her character’s flaws but lets us love her all the same because we empathise with her dilemmas, her questions, and ultimately her growth as a young human.
Completing the pairs of doubles are Alessandra Tognini and Ray Teakle. Tognini’s character Birdie finds herself caught between Louise and Max and has the benefit of distance and perspective to remain a kind of moral neutral. Tognini understands her supporting role and facilitates each discussion or argument with a light touch and quiet confidence. Teakle plays three different men in Max’s circle, each serving as a kind of mirror for her inner state at that time in her life. Teakle sits comfortably on the periphery of Louise and Max’s scenes but gets a chance to step into fuller presence as Max’s tennis coach Paulsie.
I really think China‘s got legs; it’s an attractive script that offers the potential for variety in its interpretation by directors and actors. To once again borrow from my fellow audience member, it’s so “jam-packed” that you could watch it a second time and see a “whole new show.”
You won’t be able to see the current production of China twice though—its short run is completely sold out.
CICELY BINFORD
China for the June Wedding by Howard McKenzie-Murray and ITSAHA Production is presented by The Blue Room Theatre from 29 Apr – 3 May 2025. For more information and to get on the ticket waitlist, visit here.
