not just another romcom, but a story that navigates the messy bits of an intercultural relationship
What does it mean to let someone in? Not just to a family lunch, but into the bits of yourself you haven’t quite figured out how to live with?
Written and performed by Maggie Zhang & James Walsh, naked follows a British-Chinese couple as they find their way into each other’s lives. From first dates and growing attraction to family introductions and the months leading up to their wedding, we witness the milestones of a relationship. These are interspersed with stories of their individual upbringings, buried memories and personal struggles. What initially sounds like an intercultural romcom at Voilá Festival turns out to be something far more complex.
At first, Zhang and Walsh address the audience separately, narrating a play-by-play of their eighth date, from outfit choices to bad jokes over dinner. Gradually, the storytelling gives way to shared moments. We stop hearing about the relationship and start witnessing it unfold. And that’s where naked really comes alive.
The play doesn’t reduce the relationship to cultural differences, but they undeniably colour it. What’s great about it is that it doesn’t over-rely on easy stereotypes or predictable clashes. Still, those who’ve navigated intercultural encounters might recognise some familiar tensions. Particularly memorable is Zhang’s multi-role performance as her Chinese relatives, enthusiastically quizzing her about her tall British boyfriend and their marriage plans during Chinese New Year.
Zhang and Walsh bring honesty and vulnerability to their performances, comfortably handling comedy but shining brighter in the tender moments. Directed by Haiqing Liang, the production has a dreamlike quality that builds a collage of memories, encounters and reflections. A set by Yijing Chen, washed in white and using pillows, chiffon and a moon-like lamp, becomes a space where stories take shape. The couple shares memories with one another through playful scenarios and metaphors to lay in the open some of their most vulnerable moments, like when a childhood dress, a gift from a judgemental mother, becomes an egg that needs warmth to hatch. naked succeeds in bringing together the many bits that make up a relationship, although some moments, like the one in which Zhang stops to describe different types of men, feel like a rather odd link onstage.
Sexual kinks also weave their way into the relationship. More than just a sexual exploration, the interplay of dominance and submission somehow echoes the couple’s ongoing navigation of vulnerability, power and compromise. It also allows some of the rawest emotions to surface. In a spellbinding moment, he commands her to call herself beautiful in front of a mirror. But what begins as an intimate gesture opens the door to old body-shaming trauma.
naked is neither a cautionary tale nor a story of hope. It’s a portrait of two people trying. As the couple weaves a life together, there’s room for everything – the beauty and the struggle, the love and the frustration. We get a glimpse of the raw nature of a relationship with two people discovering and confronting what they’ve carried into their shared life: not perfect, not healed, just naked.
Director: Haiqing Liang
Writers and Performers: Maggie Zhang & James Walsh
Set and Costume Designer: Yijing Chen
Associate Set and Costume Designer: Naomi (Ruizhi) Zhang
Sound Designer: Belle Bao
Lighting Designer: Jason Ahn
Movement Director: Nicoletta Bonanni
Original Movement Direction: Adi Gortler
Choreographer: Caterina Danzico
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