An elderly couple attempt with all their strength to mourn their child who was murdered in the Tiananmen Square massacre 35 years before.
Candace Chong Mui Ngam’s lauded play May 35th makes its English-debut at Southwark Playhouse Elephant this May. Having played to repeatedly sold-out crowds in Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan, Amnesty International has assisted to bring this ground-breaking production to a UK audience.
May 35th remembers the victims of the June 4th massacre at Tiananmen Square through the perspective of an elderly couple who lost their son to the government’s gunfire. The timing is poignant: the piece is set 35 years after the event, in other words, in 2024. China’s National Security Law imposed in 2020 prevents this play from being performed in the country ever again. Thus, May 35th has made its way to the West.
With members of the production working under pseudonyms in light of China’s aforementioned law, the stakes of this production certainly exceed that your typical play; the necessity of this piece cannot be understated. As all records of the Tiananmen Square massacre have been erased from record in China, the families of victims are left void of the opportunity to mourn. For Western audiences, the event is surmised in our minds by the image of a man standing before a line of tanks. This play offers a far deeper insight into the pain and suffering incurred by the tragedy, reverberating for decades to follow. With a recent influx of anti-protest sentiment in the West (look no further than the response to the Pro-Palestine university protests in the United States) the broader message of freedom and liberty espoused by this play is unquestionably significant.
The piece depicts an elderly couple attempting with all their might to mourn for their son on the 35th anniversary of his death. There are many obstacles in their way: by sneaking into the Square and attempting to light a candle for their son, they would receive a swift and vicious response from the authorities. Their ability to even make it to the Square, likewise, is unclear. They are both elderly and sick. We travel back and forth in time with them, increasingly learning more about their plan to get into the Square, as well as the heavy history they will carry there with them.
This ambitious and gut-wrenching play does not shy away from the pain and horror experienced by those impacted by the June 4th massacre. Director Kim Pearce does a phenomenal job cultivating an experience that leaves one feeling that these events are closer to home than Western audiences might think. Chong Mui Ngam’s writing is bitingly funny, cutting across very real agony. These characters are survivors, and this play is an essential watch.