Review: White Pearl
Sadly, I came away from this show feeling deeply disappointed. Instead of an incisive behind-the-scenes look at cross-cultural working, my experience was of a show that had really missed the mark. It wasn’t particularly funny, there was little variation in the pace, and the set was the highlight of the evening.
Anchuli Felicia King’s White Pearl addresses issues of casual racism and corporate culture in a 90-minute show. The plot centres on a look ‘behind the scenes’ in the fictional Singaporean offices of ‘Clearday Cosmetics,’ as the team react to the new tv commercial that has ‘gone viral for all the wrong reasons.’
I loved the ideas behind the play. A black comedy about a whitening cream is an ideal setup for considering issues of racism. An advertisement that might be considered to work in one particular region—but would be offensive in most—is also an interesting route to consider regional vs local and national vs global. And having an office of staff drawn from Japan, India, Singapore, China, UK and USA is a great way in which to challenges ideas of a single pan-Asian culture – or even one way of speaking English.
The stereotypes were well-observed and sometimes beautifully played. Highlights were the performances by Nicole Milinkovic (Built Suttikul) and Mayu Iwasaki (Ruki Minami). The development of the relationship between Soo-Jin Park (Deborah An) and Xiao Chen (Lin Yin) was convincingly portrayed, leading to a believable challenge of the dominant Priya Singh (Vaishnavi Suryaprakash). Matthew Pearce’s Marcel Benoit, the only male character, was sufficiently needy and a believable foil to Milinkovic (and with an entertaining European accent).
However I came away feeling disappointed. The script had next to no external crisis management, as staff were portrayed as concentrating on the internal ‘who will get fired’ issues—which for me meant that the rise and fall of Singh needed to be more believable, paced, and nuanced. Priscilla Jackman (Director) had the show running at full tilt, when—even if just occasionally—the pace needed more variation.
And I really didn’t find this production to be funny. Some members of the audience found moments of humour, particularly when picking up on cultural references or being shocked at the behaviour of the all-female Clearday staff. Cheryl Ho (Sunny Lee) relished the opportunity to play the manipulative jester role, as the self-selecting number two to Singh, and certainly attracted a number of chuckles from the Monday night audience.
At least the set worked well, and looked great. For me, the set was the definite highlight of this show, complete with professional ‘advertising’ videos and trendy neon. Glossy, slick, and beautifully lit (Jeremy Allen [Designer], Damien Cooper [Lighting Designer], Anchuli Felicia King [Projection Designer]).
However, I expected a piece of theatre that was more than a lovely set. I was expecting much more from a Queensland Theatre Company show.
Verdict: I’m not recommending this one. Great ideas, but I was expecting more.
Audience information: Ages 18+ (strong language, adult themes, sexual references. Content warning included note that ‘White Pearl dissects aspects of race and culture and contains content that may be confronting for some audience members’). Smoke haze. Billie Brown Theatre, 78 Montague Road, West End, Brisbane. 90 minutes (no interval). 17 June-10 July 2021 (night with the artists on Monday 28 June, 6:30pm). Tickets $85-$27.
The reviewer attended the Monday 21st June (6:30pm) performance. Image Queensland Theatre Company.
A version of this review first appeared on In My Honest Opinion.