A hugely ambitious hour-long musical being shown as the first part of a longer saga, Red Hare’s Wish provides excellent vocals and a vision which already feels developed, but suffers a little from a lack of directorial purpose and some audio issues.
I’ve been reviewing digital theatre at The Space for several years now, since they started making livestreams available during the lockdown.
You can always expect something you won’t find elsewhere in the fringe theatre, and I continue to applaud their commitment to reaching people who can’t easily make the trip to Limehouse.
Red Hare’s Wish brings the history and mythology of Imperial China together in three storylines.
A woman joins her two brothers in the army. A fugitive wanted for murder bids for power as part of the rebel coalition. These are all themes and tales that could carry a show in themselves.
And, a violent warrior deals with the fact that the woman he loves can’t abide him. The music by Jialun Qi, who is also the playwright, “combines traditional East Asian motifs with retro-modern polish.”
It’s an enjoyable fusion of story and style. The brief moments of dialogue are the most problematic as you often couldn’t hear what was said during a musical number, while sections simply spoken leave you impatient for the next number.
Director Enrico Liou allows some interesting touches to give a sense of scale, but not enough guidance for the cast to feel completely confident in the space, despite the fine work from movement director Ting-Ning Wen.
The eight-person cast are all excellent singers and actors, and with a bit of thought and a tweak or two in how Red Hare’s Wish is staged and developed, this could become a very important new musical.
Red Hare’s Wish was viewed on livestream on 15 Aug. Details here.
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