Most people are accustomed to the standard Chinese ornaments and decorations in their local takeaway. A similar experience occurs at the beginning of The Golden Dragon’s intricate and fast-paced story. The cast entrap the audience in Roland Schimmelpfennig’s play that entwines different series of people connected to their local takeaway.The stage is covered with columns of white paper that transform the black studio into a clean and sterile space, ready to be painted with the different shades and tones of The Golden Dragon’s striking tale. Five actors take on an array of characters, tagging in and out of the scenes. Sections focus variously on the family that run the takeaway with their own melodrama of ‘the boy’s’ toothache, residents of the flats above, the shopkeeper next door and the pivotal fable of the cricket and ant.The actors take on characters that are opposite to their own features, Kathryn O’Reilly brilliantly takes on male roles that include a very drunk and recently dumped boyfriend, ‘the boy’ with toothache and a pilot who is too old for his girlfriend. This challenges the translation of any empathy or charm between the character and audience member due to the visual contradiction, providing a whole new perspective on the story. It heightens the comedy that is expertly laced across the unravelling truth to the employees of the local takeaway.An intelligent play, brilliantly written with an excellent balance of comedy and tragedy in which the riveting acting never fails to keep the audience captivated. Anyone who relishes the guessing game of a murder mystery will love the riddles that The Golden Dragon delivers.
