A Review of Pelican Productions’ Xiao

In a world where diversity is encouraged and yet somehow never quite achieved, it is a blissful breath of fresh air when a team are able to create something that represents everything that they have been fighting for. Pelican Productions’ Xiao is an example of such a project, for in a perhaps unheard of feat the production brought together a full POC cast and a story from beyond the familiar sphere of Oxford theatre.

Walking into the Burton Taylor Studio, the audience was greeted by a simple and yet intriguing pre-set, setting up the story to come in an effective manner. Sat upon a table, looking through photographs of their time together were leads Sophie and Andy (played by Kate (Hui Ru) and Uǧur Özcan). As the tale began to unfold, a tale of family and societal pressures came to the surface, a familiar story to many at the university but told through a lens unfamiliar to most of us. This was both an insight into another culture and a reminder that some things transcend boundaries and bring us together. Of course, this fact took some time for the characters to come to terms with, as Sophie chose to separate her family life from the world that she built for herself while at university. Thus, the narrative followed the protagonist as she slowly accepted the knowledge that these two worlds could not remain independent of each other. Despite the overbearing nature of her parents and her desire to please them, she also wished to live her own life rather than that which had been laid out for her. Through interactions with friends and Sophie’s uncles, multiple perspectives were introduced, allowing the audience to gain a well rounded view of the situation and come to their own decisions about the best course of action.

Following Sophie’s journey with enviable loyalty, Andy was a boyfriend who always wanted to be there, even in those moments where he began to doubt. There was a selflessness to the character, a sense that the story was truly about Sophie and how her struggles affected him, rather than about his own challenges in his attempts to gain a foothold in the highly competitive industry of performance. Played confidently by Özcan, Andy both supported Sophie to stand up to her parents and delivered heart breaking lines such as ‘we didn’t get photos together’. Contrasting the relationship between Sophie and Andy, was that of the protagonist with her parents. Both overbearing and intrusive into Sophie’s life, these characters could have been even more forcefully written and performed; however, the overall impression of the situation was excellently conveyed. For, ultimately, in their own way all her parents wanted was for her to make the right decisions – a parental sentiment familiar to most I am sure. Less familiar was the use of the colour red throughout the performance in a striking manner, with set changes being boldly lit by red lighting. This use of lighting spread beyond just the use of red, with moments in which spotlights were utilised in order to represent the discussions of both Sophie and Andy as they tried to understand the web of confusion that they found themselves tangled in. The choice to have the actors continue to act when unlit was an unusual one, yet one which worked well for the performance.

This was a play about how overbearing and embarrassing parents can effect a child in a multitude of ways and the power it takes to overcome both family and societal pressures. With a strong red coloured motif and commitment to the cultural element of the narrative, this play was a strong statement about what can be achieved when assertions of diversity are loyally adhered to. As is clearly explored, acting is a difficult career and this play encouraged audiences to think about how some of these challenges may be overcome.