Blog Action Day – and our viewing of the play “Chimerica”
Around the globe, today is Blog Action Day and this year’s theme is human rights. Coincidentally this afternoon, my wife and I made a too rare visit to the theatre in central London. We went to see an amazing play called “Chimerica” written by Lucy Kirkwood (who has never actually been to China).
It is all about the massacre of human right protestors in Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989 and offers a very original take on the so-called tank man who stood in front of army tanks carrying a couple of plastic bags. In the process, the play examines the relationship between the USA and China – hence the term ‘chimerica’. A sharp script, an inventive set design, and excellent acting make this a superb production.
The play finishes at the Harold Pinter Theatre this week but you can read a review here.
Nobody outside China yet knows the full truth about that day and its aftermath and most people in China have virtually no knowledge of the event thanks to rigorous censorship. I have been to China three times since 1989 and each time visited Tiananmen Square [for my first visit, see here]. I can never forget and I can never forgive.