REVIEW: The China Incident, CUB Malthouse (Melb)

By Lian Low (as posted on Arts Hub) Writer and director’s Peter Houghton’s bleak satire of politics, public relations and spin doctoring, The China Incident, is embodied by Bea Pontificis, a hard-edged, ambitious, diplomatic consultant who is of the view that appearance is everything from her high profile work life to her family life. Pontificis is performed by Houghton’s partner, Anne Browning, who delivers the tightly-scripted monologue for the entire one hour duration of the show. First premiered at La Mama in 2007, The China Incident currently has a season at the Malthouse Theatre, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The play is set in the Tower Theatre, an intimate theatre space not unlike La Mama’s spatial set up. The onstage setting is simple; it is Pontificis’ office which consists of four phones, one intercom and one mobile, a coffee table and a Corbusier chair. Pontificis conducts her work via a laptop and her colour-coded phones; we hear her barking orders to her generation Y PA, masterminding plans for African dictator Sezbatzo and the US President via one way conversations. She also conducts her family and private life via the same phones; her bullying of her leftie daughter who is getting married, her dissatisfaction with her hippie ex-husband and her unhappy affair with a UN official. From the moment that Browning steps on stage, she commands her territory to tight precision. An accomplished actor with a background in film, television and theatre, she skillfully delivers the rapid wit of the text; and I only heard of one flaw when she slipped over some words. As the play develops and tensions within her family’s lives start to unravel - her son is arrested with charges of drug trafficking and assault, her relationship with her daughter is on a tether due the polarity of their expectations and interests –Browning performs these states of disarray via a mad juggling of phones and frenzied conversations. At one point she is holding one phone close to her breast, much to the delight of the sleazy US President at the end of the line, whilst coaxing the African director into peace being good for his image with another phone and negotiating china crockery with her daughter on the mobile. No doubt that Peter Houghton satirises the machinations of public relations and politics expertly, however the play falls short of its potential considering that Anne Browning plays only the one character. Stand-up comedians have the challenge of entertaining the crowd with a series of monologues, and those who are more accomplished will choose to inhabit different characters. For example Margaret Cho, a Korean-American comedian who visited Australia recently, would inhabit various characters to deliver her series of comic anecdotes – mother, staff nurse, alcoholic boyfriend, etc. This would be done to great success, despite the fact that it is a monologue that she is delivering. Even though Browning’s character isn’t exactly stand-up comedy, the play would have been a much better one if different performance choices were made. The China Incident is playing at THE CUB Malthouse until April 6.