A contemporary coming of age story… with a ghost hunting Chinese grandma!
A Ghost in My Suitcase is a contemporary coming of age fable where ghost hunting becomes a metaphor for growing up and overcoming fears. An adaptation of Gabrielle Wang’s children’s novel from playwright Vanessa Bates, this production is produced by Western Australia’s Barking Gecko Theatre and directed by Ching Ching Ho and Matt Edgerton.
Celeste is Chinese/French Australian and travels back to China to scatter the ashes of her recently departed mother. But when she steps off the plane, she also enters another realm. Grandma ‘Por Por’ is a ghost hunter, and whether she likes it or not, Celeste learns she too has inherited this ‘skill’. Celeste is forced to confront her spooky inheritance, and a rival ghost hunter- her grandma’s adopted daughter. Emerged in the beauty of the village of her family and, inspired by the fearless Por Por, Celeste steps up to the challenge.
The charismatic cast include Alice Keohavong as Celeste, Amanda Ma as grandma Por Por, martial arts dancer/actor Yalin Kong as rival Ting Ting and Frieda Lee and a particularly talented Imanuel Dado as various secondary characters.
While the story line is strong and the one-liners often quite funny and several of the vignettes quite poetic and inventive, there doesn’t seem to be much of a response from the children in the audience on opening night and I wonder if scenes are too long and lacking twists and turns to fully engage them.
What does work beautifully however is the set design by Zoë Atkinson and lighting design by Matthew Marshall. White blocks are rearranged throughout the play to create various scenes with images from China projected – from the airport to the waterways and bridges. These are the most enchanting moments of the play, and perhaps could have been employed even more.
A Ghost in my Suitcase plays until 19th January at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House.
Photo Prudence Upton
