Riffing off Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of An Author, writer Eratle Wang’s aggrieved Willow breaks free from her creator’s constraints to set the record straight. She seeks autonomy and substance, conditions she feels are not being provided by Raphael Lecat’s shallow, incompetent mystery author. Tasked by his agent to move beyond his generic white male navelgazing for his next novel, the vain artist contrives to shoehorn in an Asian paramour into the mix, ultimately exploiting her as a scapegoat in the plot. With no real sensitivity for her perspective or interest in her culture, he is content to use her as exotic window dressing in a facile bid for diversity. His sole investigative “research” into Asian culture is to schedule a self-serving series of dates with Asian women from an app. It’s no surprise that a pissed-off Willow would want to escape such bullying control. When Willow takes the wheel, the narrative starts to spark. Lecat is a sweaty ball of anxious self-justification as the author and a bemused and uncertain husband/boyfriend in the book’s plot (which starts to unfold under Willow’s command).

Elena Haarding provides gravitas and cool, cynical reserve as both the agent and cuckolded wife, communicating a worldly wisdom born of exhausted experience. Chih Ling Liu projects a quietly forceful concentration as she goes about her business rearranging the plot line, although at times the cavernous space defeats her vocally. The production could do with a bit more of the juicy energy of a potboiler, as overall it still feels a bit expository. The current 45-minute running time has a lot of ground to cover and characters are not always able to breathe as expansively as they could in a lengthier format. All the elements are in place for a dynamic production, but at this stage the material stills feels slightly nascent.

{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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