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Kiln Theatre in association with Paines Plough today announces the cast and creative team for the world premiere of Shanghai Dolls by Amy Ng, directed by Joint Artistic Director of Paines Plough Katie Posner, playing from 3 April – 10 May (Press Night: Thursday 10 April).
Posner directs Gabby Wong (1899 and KAOS, Netflix) in the role of Lan Ping/Jiang Qing and Millicent Wong (The Crucible, Sheffield Crucible) as Li Lin/Sun Weishi in Amy Ng’s new play telling the untold story of two of the most influential women in Chinese history during the Cultural Revolution.
The creative team includes Jean Chan (Designer), Aideen Malone (Lighting Designer), Nicola T Chang (Composer & Sound Designer), Akhila Krishnan (Video Designer) and Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster (Movement Director), Holly Ellis (Associate Lighting Designer), Imy Wyatt Corner (Kiln-Mackintosh Resident Assistant Director).
The true story of a cultural martyr and a cultural oppressor.
When two penniless actresses meet in Shanghai at auditions for Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, they quickly become inseparable. But as political upheaval rips through China, their tumultuous friendship will alter not only the course of their lives, but the course of history. One will become China’s first female director. The other, the architect of the Cultural Revolution.
Amy Ng’s newest play looks at the untold story of two of the most influential women in Chinese history – Madame Mao and Sun Weishi – and how the personal truly is political.
Amy Ng | Writer Amy Ng is a British-Hong Kong playwright. Her plays include Under the Umbrella (Belgrade Theatre Coventry, UK Tour), Acceptance (Hampstead Theatre) and Shangri-La (Finborough Theatre). Radio plays include Tiger Girls (BBC Radio 4) and Kilburn Passion (BBC Radio 3). Adaptations include Miss Julie (Chester Storyhouse and UK tour 2020, 2021; Singapore Repertory Theatre 2022, and a bilingual version for the Hong Kong International Arts Festival, 2024). Amy trained as a historian and is the author of ‘Nationalism and Political Liberty’ (Oxford University Press). She is fluent in English, German and Chinese and regularly translates Chinese plays into English.
Katie Posner |Director Katie Posner joined Paines Plough as Joint Artistic Director with Charlotte Bennett in August 2019. For Paines Plough, Katie has most recently directed Fringe First award winning play Strategic Love Play by Miriam Battye, You Bury Me by Ahlam (winner of the Women’s Prize for Playwriting) which premiered at Bristol Old Vic, Edinburgh Lyceum and the Orange Tree, Hungry (Soho Theatre/Roundabout Edinburgh), Really Big and Really Loud and Black Love (Co-Director for Roundabout) and You Bury Me staged reading for the Edinburgh International Festival (Paines Plough/ Ellie Keel Productions/ 45 North).
Her productions as a director include: Strategic Love Play (Audible/Chase This Productions, Minetta Lane Theatre, New York), Richard, My Richard (Shakespeare North Playhouse/Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds), My Mother Said I Never Should (Theatre by the Lake), Mold Riots (Theatr Clwyd), The Seven Ages Of Patience (Kiln Theatre), Swallows & Amazons (Storyhouse), Babe (Mercury Theatre), Playing Up (NYT), Finding Nana (New Perspectives), Made In India (Tamasha/ Belgrade/ Pilot), Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes, End Of Desire (York Theatre Royal), The Season Ticket (Northern Stage), A View From Islington North (Out Of Joint), In Fog And Falling Snow (National Railway Museum), Running On The Cracks (Tron Theatre), York Mystery Plays (Museum Gardens York), Blackbird, Ghost Town, Clocking In and A Restless Place (Pilot Theatre).
Gabby Wong | LAN PING/JIANG QING Theatre includes: Pericles, Jew of Malta, Love’s Sacrifice, Volpone, Troilus and Cressida (Royal Shakespeare Company); Macbeth, Othello (Shakespeare’s Globe); Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale (National Theatre); Maryland, Pah-La (Royal Court Theatre); Duchess of Malfi (Citizens Theatre); Life of Pi (Crucible Theatre); Doctor Faustus (Jamie Lloyd Company); Takeaway, Sinbad the Sailor (Theatre Royal Stratford East); One of Two Stories or Both (Manchester International Festival); Posh- all female (Pleasance Theatre) and Last Days of Limehouse (New Earth Theatre).
Television includes: 1899, KAOS (Netflix); Eastenders, Unprecedented (BBC) and Strangers (ITV).
Film includes: Rogue One, Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny.
Audio includes: Private Revolutions, The Drifted Stream, The Warringham Chronicles (Audible); Dragons of the Pool, The Quiet One and Avenue of Eternal Peace (BBC Radio 4).
Millicent Wong | LI LIN/SUN WEISHI
Theatre credits include: The Mosinee Project (Edinburgh Fringe); The Crucible (Sheffield Crucible), Sputnik Sweetheart (Arcola Theatre); Orlando (Garrick Theatre); Henry V (Donmar Warehouse); Athena (The Yard Theatre); Afterlife (National Theatre); The Doctor (Duke of York’s Theatre); The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (The Bridge Theatre); The King of Hell’s Palace (Hampstead Theatre); Pah-La (Royal Court Theatre); Six Degrees of Separation, Macbeth, Richard III, A Streetcar Named Desire, A View From the Bridge, As You Like It, Closer, The Three Sisters (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama); Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress (Singapore Repertory Theatre) and Beauty World (Victoria Theatre, Singapore).
Television credits include: The Undeclared War 2 (Channel 4); Douglas is Cancelled (ITV); Dal Y Mellt (Vox Pictures); Silent Witness (BBC); Dracula (BBC) and Annika (Alibi / UKTV). Film credits include: I Used To Be Famous (Netflix).
Get your tickets now: https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/shanghai-dolls/
WRITTEN BY: NURA AROOJ