Seen by Federica at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 10^th of August 2024

4 stars – but very close to 5!

In this comedy, Lairs and May could be each other’s nemesis, but they develop a (not-so-balanced) friendship. Lairs is a Chinese student who stems from a rich family and has just moved to London. May is a sound, practical person, she looks Asian but was born in the US and works in a cafe. Nonetheless, when it comes to the topic of marriage, their visions can’t but collide.

The two characters are extremely well-rounded and the differences between them give place to many jokes. Lairs aims for rich older men, while May is attached to the feelings she had for a boy from her class. The wonderful text by Qi Wang portrays the two character’s clashing approaches. In their words, they bring to the centre of the discussion the grey area around some key themes related to feminism and the experience of migration.

The conflict between ideal and reality (or: culturally different realities) is problematic, and The Dream of Being a Madame has the praise of not ignoring this complexity, nor trying to resolve it, but to explore it and reflect on the possible consequences. The actresses, Joyce Lim and Li Xu, are excellent in embodying and delivering the depth of each character, always bringing forth the funny side of each scene, according to Cameron Ablimit’s direction.

With four chairs as scenography, perfect rhythm, and very smooth transitions, this play manages to reach great depths of themes and high peaks of humour. If it weren’t for the abrupt finale, it would be 5 full stars.

5^th-10^th August; 11.05 am

Running time: 50 minutes

Venue: The Space on the Mile

Tickets and Info: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/dream-of-being-a-madame

Company Website: https://fringe2024.dreamofmadame.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.dreamofbeingamadame/