There is a post-apocalyptic bleakness to the set of Graceland that doesn’t quite match the gentle pain of the material.
Nina is a British-Chinese woman breaking away from the expectations of her restaurant-owning and largely Cantonese-speaking parents. She is clearly a bit of a lost soul, and as such throws herself headfirst into a flirtation and then relationship with the ‘perfect’ man she meets at a barbecue. That he can’t live up to that billing of perfection is inevitable. But the elements of control that he seeks to exert throughout the relationships clearly give Nina red flags which her friends also appear to spot.
The story is one familiar to so many of us. A relationship that – at first – seems wonderful – disintegrates into a toxic stew of control and bickering. We are presented with a one side of this relationship – that of Nina’s who addresses her ex-lover directly throughout.
Graceland is a monologue that – while occasionally meandering – has some real depth, beauty and poetry. It tells a story of a failing and bad relationship that is not the worst story you will hear of poor treatment by lovers. As such is feels extremely real, but sometimes less than dramatic.
The delivery by Sabrina Wu is excellent. Understated, controlled and believable. Her Nina was sympathetic, but you could see through the one-sided view that she was also aware of her flaws but also not always of her worth.
This show’s staging let it down. For a start, the excessive drama of the set didn’t match the gentler brutality of the text. It was also a mistake to stage this one-person play in a thrust formation as it made it so much harder for Wu to engage the audience while keeping her back to us much of the time.
Wong Davis has proved herself to be an adept writer of monologue and a storyteller of not insignificant power. Graceland has a great deal to offer in textual terms. However, it fell down considerably in the presentation. It felt insecure in telling this quiet story quietly and so added in literally elemental elements as at several points, Wu smears herself symbolically in mud, we are also offered rain and smoke in fairly heavy handed moments of symbolism.
Graceland has a great deal to offer, but both Wu and Wong Davis deserved a better presentation of the subtlety of their work.