Writer: Xinyu Lu
Director: Miranda 杨知君
Reviewer: Christine Stanton
“Stylistically Cluttered“
2.5 / 5
Lim, Ethan and Vanessa have reunited in their set to be demolished childhood home, with one hour to complete a property report together. But with their conflicting ideas and clashing personalities, it’s not an easy job to get through, especially under a time crunch.
Xinyu Lu’s storyline is tender and relatable, many families can resonate being left to deal with the fall out of forgotten memories and boxed up belongings after older generations have passed. Kevin Ip, Chen Xu and Yijia Gong make for a believable three siblings as they bicker and snipe, while still showing obvious care and love, in the way only family members can display. Each sibling has their own individual personalities and struggles – Lim (Kevin Ip) is the oldest sibling, used to taking control and making decisions for the others. Ethan (Yijia Gong) left China to move to London when he was a child, feeling disconnected with Chinese culture, with little to no memories in the house itself. Vanessa (Chen Xu) is full of anger and frustration, constantly barking at both brothers as she quickly runs out of patience. The narrative helps to define their feelings around family, belonging, culture and tradition, with some interesting conversations and monologues.
While the storyline itself is relatively simple and straightforward, the execution of the production is very stylistically cluttered, with so many varying things competing for your attention, that it’s often hard to stay focused. The most curious decision, is having a camera project some scenes on the back wall. Some are pre-recorded such as Chen Xu’s depiction of an older relative wandering around the house, some are live, with monologues spoken into the camera directly rather than addressing the audience. It doesn’t add anything from an audience perspective, and instead is just rather distracting – the lighting is so stark that it’s hard to see any emotion on their faces through the camera, and it doesn’t feel as engaging as it does when monologues, such as lp’s enjoyably endearing introduction, are performed directly to us.
During some scenes there is one character speaking, the other characters in the background talking and gesturing, video projections on the back screen, a constant ticking clock sound effect, and a live performer playing short melodies on a guitar at the side of the stage. With all of these distractions and additional aspects to concentrate on, it often takes you out of the story as it’s not always clear where the focus should be. The story itself is a touching one, so maintaining concentration on that would really help to keep the audience invested and make the production as a whole stronger.
Runs until 10th September 2026
RatedReviewed 
This sounded promising, as a lot of people will likely need to deal with the event of a loved one dying and having to decide what to do with their home and belongings. In parts, it was relatable. Siblings, who had drifted apart, each holding different memories of the past and each having their own opinion as to what to do with the family home and contents. Unfortunately, too much time was spent on reading the Legal Documents over and over again, until it felt like I was in a Solicitor’s Office being bombarded with legal jargon!
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