Women in Red

Women in Red refers to the traditional rice wine fermented at the birth of a daughter and drunk on her wedding day; this show is an exploration and celebration of womanhood brought to life by an impeccably talented solo performer, Mo Yan Chi Lai. She forges a solid bond with her Cantonese roots lets us in to her world and proclaims at the start of the show that she is a ‘Hongkongnese’ and wants to share her women’s stories with us.

This is a feminist theatrical endeavour from one of Hong Kong’s celebrated artists as director, theatre maker, actor, musician and writer, with her first feature film Band Four (2023) under her belt, and an award for outstanding achievement in Hong Kong. Mo Lai has brought us an English iteration of her show Women in Red, first performed back in 2012; she seeks to forge a new dialogue with her homeland and Melbourne audiences at this year’s Fringe Festival.

Bras strapped to the back of audience chairs are a peculiar but powerful sight to behold upon entering the space, and as you go to sit down there are small rectangular shaped toilet paper pieces on seats (no spoiler alerts). Mo Lai scans the room, making eye contact whilst engaging with her audiences, as she seeks to enlightens us with her women stories.

Three strong belligerent and colourful characters from various age groups are given a strong and visible voice. A young girl gets her first period; she lives with her father and longs for her mother who abandoned her after their divorce. Mo Lai encapsulates the confused girl with a comical but serious flair as she does her other characters, including an eighty-year-old woman reminiscing about her life, as she scorns her husband for falling for a younger woman after sixty years of marriage.

Her characters are rich and multifaceted, and all have conflict and serious repercussions. Her seventeen-year-old female volleyball player is bullied by her female teacher only after rejecting her sexual advances. They all wear red. A cultural colour symbolising luck, joy and happiness and theatrically, it adds vibrancy and feistiness to her intelligent characterisations. Musician and songstress Candace Lee accompanies her on the side of the stage on keyboard and ukelele.

Mo Lai is an elegant performer. Lucid and seamless in her character transformations, she reminds us at the end of the show to listen to people and become storytellers.

A fascinating journey by a talented artist who is always on the search for a good yarn.

Flora Georgiou