Fight the Landlord (Do Di Zhu)

Overview

The White Rabbit Gallery has gotten us well acquainted with the vibrant powerhouse that is 21st-century Chinese art — so bright, witty, and full of winking commentary on politics and pop culture. Now we have the chance to see the stage version of that with Fight the Landlord (Do Di Zhu), on at Carriageworks in 2013.

Its set-up is a card game evocatively known in China as Fight the Landlord. Here it is played by three panda-costumed women of unspecified relation, which shifts dramatically with every round. But it's their wry chatter that will keep you rivetted, as they discuss their love lives, gossip mags, the role of work, and the housing crisis, among all else, as the game escalates around them.

The cross-cultural co-production between Ireland's fun and subversive Pan Pan theatre (last here with Oedipus Loves You in 2010) and Beijing's Square Moon Culture has been recognised as representing the heights of contemporary Chinese absurdism in reviews from China and Melbourne. You can get a particularly close perspective on it if you pull up your chair to the big, round game table, as the audience sits on stage with the actors (although for the apprehensive, more distant seats are also available).