A Month in China

I spent a month in China earlier this year, doing a number of workshops on the Rainbow of Desires. I have worked in many countries, and wherever you go there are there are cultural, or situational or other particularities which boundary the work - ranging from the prejudices and/or belief systems of the participants to the structures of the society - or the other more practical limitations like time and space. China was no different in this respect - there is definitely a hunger for this work - but perhaps the learning curve for an outsider is steeper than some places. I am hoping to return next year, so I will report more fully on a later occasion, but perhaps I can briefly mention a few uncontroversial things that caught my attention now.

On climate issues: the contrast with when I was last briefly there some ten years ago is marked - the air in the cities now seems remarkably unpolluted and more than half the vehicles you see on the road are electric or hybrids – which goes to show what you can do with a command economy. When the government sets its mind to something, they can make it happen quickly.

On history and culture: Chinese people’s pride in the incredible history of their nation, going back through millennia of different dynasties, is palpable and has theatrical manifestations of different kinds. The ruins of past palaces and the exquisite porcelain products of all those dynasties are preserved and venerated, as would be the case in most countries; what is less familiar is young people dressing up as emperors and empresses and being photographed at famous historical sites like the Forbidden City (for Instagram/WeChat purposes presumably).; It is difficult to imagine folk in the UK cos-playing Henry the Eighth or Queen Elizabeth the First at the Tower of London, however much some of our fellow citizens might pine to return to those times!

The actual theatre of former times – the famous Peking Opera – does not seem to be as thriving or popular as these amateur theatrical manifestations. I saw an extraordinary performance in a hotel theatre, but it was sparsely attended, mainly by foreigners like myself and was, as I understood it, a medley of extracts rather than a whole play. But I did wonder whether this legacy of ritualised performance (with its elaborate masks and encoded meanings) might be useful touchpoint when working with a form like Rainbow. Which after all, seeks to counter dull naturalism with heightened details as a way of reaching truths which the day to day might conceal.

Finally, on AI and the future, I can report that all the hotels I stayed in had three-foot high robots at reception, whose main task was delivering takeaways to people’s rooms; the Deliveroo or equivalent guy comes to the lobby, tells the robot where to take the meals and off they go. It is very difficult to stop oneself trying to make conversation with a robot when they ‘get into’ the lift with you. Huge comic theatrical possibilities here, for sure. In spite of the debates about AI and culture in our times, I don’t think actors need to worry about their jobs being taken by robots, given the improvisational limitations of the bots in the lift.