This magical story of daring and adventure comes to life through body and shadow puppetry.
Review by Carla Caruso
Adelaide’s OzAsia Festival offers the perfect opportunity to head into the city and soak up the atmosphere riverside.
During the fest, I recently went to the Space Theatre with my eleven-year-old twins to see the contemporary Asian Australian performance, The Story of Chi.
But before going in to see the show, we first checked out the Tanabata Star Village in the Dunstan Playhouse Foyer.
The interactive installation is inspired by the Japanese star festival of the same name. Here, theatregoers can write their wishes on tanzaku cards to hang on a labyrinth of bamboo, woven together with recycled materials.
It was appropriate that we added our own wishes as The Story of Chi also delved into the topic of wish fulfilment.
The magical story comes to life through body and shadow puppetry. It revolves around 12-year-old Chi, whose world is torn apart after she loses her beloved dad.
At home, she feels crowded in by her overprotective Japanese mother and her tradition-loving Vietnamese grandma, who don’t often see eye to eye. At the same time, Chi has to deal with school life and her friends.
Watching the performance felt like seeing a middle-grade novel being played out onstage. The story has plenty of heart and humour and captures the rigours of youth well.
As well, I was reminded of the animated film, Abominable, which also revolves around a teen (albeit from Shanghai) who loses her dad and lives with her mum and grandma.
While in Abominable, the plot kicks into gear when the young protagonist encounters a yeti, in The Story of Chi it’s a wish-granting dragon. A dragon, who only Chi can see and who you can’t help wondering if it’s her dad in another form, wanting to say a final goodbye.
It was interesting to learn about Asian traditions throughout the story, such as the memorial altar at Chi’s home dedicated to the spirits of deceased ancestors. Offerings must be made to a spirit daily in the first 50 days following a person’s death.
This insight was intermingled with the modern-day, including references to Chi’s dad’s love of taro bubble tea and the band, Regurgitator.
There are touching moments during the play, which left me a little teary and made me reflect on my own relationships with my kids and elders.
An important point is also made about making wishes – do you wish only for things for yourself or for others in your life too? The trills of the colourful, young dragon and its family are rather hypnotic as well.
The performance goes for an hour and is recommended for those aged 8+.
After the show, we headed to the Lucky Dumpling Market at Elder Park and tucked into fare including bubble tea buns, fried seaweed rolls, and karaage chicken.
A Saturday well spent, indeed!
OzAsia Festival 24 Oct – 10 Nov 2024
For more information, please visit the Adelaide Festival Centre website.
All photos by James Elsby and Carla Caruso for Play & Go Adelaide, excluding the main photo (top) from the Adelaide Festival Centre.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go (unless specified).
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