Controversies over statues of cultural figureheads have churned in the news in recent years. The repatriation of a fictional 12th-century statue of a Chinese deity, carved in stone, forms the central dispute in Singaporean Joel Tan’s play.
The Bodhisattva Guanyin reclines in the “royal ease” pose at one end of a traverse stage, designed by TK Hay, with a combination of screens and mirrors. The drama is formed of 12 distinct scenes, loosely connected around the statue. It begins choppily inside the British Museum with patronising or incendiary debate by protesters and curators, sometimes set beside flashes of 19th-century imperial history. The tone switches from serious-minded to satirical to gnomic.
