Gabby Wong and Millicent Wong in Shanghai Dolls [Marc Brenner]

AMY Ng’s character drama explores the interwoven lives of two women from Chinese history – Madame Mao (Gabby Wong) and Sun Weishi (Millicent Wong) – and how one destroyed the other.

Jiang Qing and 14-year-old Sun first meet in 1930s Shanghai at an audition for Ibsen’s The Doll’s House, and swiftly become friends, united by their passion for theatre.

While Jiang went on to become Chairman Mao’s fourth wife and a leading proponent of the brutal Cultural Revolution, Sun (who we discover is a “red princess”) became China’s first female theatre director and the adopted daughter of Zhou Enlai, president of the People’s Republic.

Little is known as to what changed the women’s friendship – professional rivalry or personal jealousy?

Some suggest Sun was raped by the predatory Mao. In the 1950s and 60s, Jiang proposed several artistic collaborations which Sun rejected.

Sun knew Madame Mao was coming for her at the start of the Cultural Revolution. After her arrest, Sun was repeatedly tortured in prison on Jiang’s orders. It eventually killed her in 1968.

Jiang was herself sentenced to death after Mao’s demise in 1976. This was later commuted to life imprisonment and she spent her final years making rag dolls before taking her own life in May 1991.

Ng’s 80-minute two-hander is well acted but parts feels frustratingly underwritten. Decades are covered in short scenes, weighed down by exposition, and Katie Posner’s well-paced production relies on Akhila Krishnan’s video design to help situate us in time and place.

It’s a shame because this is a great premise for a play, but the characters need developing and more emotional depth in order for us to truly care about them.

Until May 10
kilntheatre.com/