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SCMP Reporter

Painting Churches

Theatre Space

Studio Theatre  Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Reviewed July 16

Tina Howe's Painting Churches  is a strange choice for Theatre Space, a local theatre group   that specialises in  translations.

The dialogue is full  of the names of famous western artists and writers - immediately   recognisable to a western audience, but  probably not Hongkongers,   especially when they're translated into  Cantonese.

Although   there's a lot of information about the play's characters in the house programme,  the cultural difference is still a great obstacle  to an appreciation of the play.

The title of the play  hints at  the theme. Mags Church   returns home to help her aged parents move house - and so that she  can paint a  portrait of them.

Her father, Gardner, is an eminent poet who is gradually losing his mental faculties.  Her mother, Fanny, whose attention span is on the short  side,   is devoted to him.

In the process of packing and painting,  the parents and the daughter discover some  hidden realities under the blissful facades.

Time magazine has described the play as   'radiant, loving and zestfully humorous'. But to achieve this would require  the cast  to digest the sometimes too-wordy and unmotivated monologues, and  create a convincing portrayal of these eccentric characters.

The Theatre Space cast fails to achieve this. The characters are written as capricious and prone  to be withdrawn,  but the actors jump from one mood to another without a truthful core.



Painting Churches