Chimerica Response

As Emma said before, Chimera was the word used to create a parallel between China and America. This derives from ancient greek mythology. Joe and Zhang Lin had a very ‘comedic’ relationship I feel. It could have been looked upon as being humorous as Zhang Lin would take Joe on a wild goose chase. Zhang Lin was a character who was lost within himself, and who was constantly running from the past and who he held dearest to his heart. Zhang Lin was one of the most difficult characters to embody. This can be attributed to his lack of connection in the real world. The set design for his apartment was to have newspapers scattered all over the place in jumbles and piles on the floor and desk. I think that if I could have done anything over again, it would have been to interact with the newspapers. They were they for a reason, and that reason was because he was constantly hiding in fear. He wanted to know what was going on with the pollution everyday and if he had been found. He freaks out when Joe sends him an email which has the words “Tank man” in the subject line. The character of Zhang Lin was lost within himself and it was a difficult task to find him when the character himself couldn’t find themselves either. I personally wanted the audience to leave with the idea to not take anything for granted. The vision of the play was to make everything feel grimy and uncertain. I know we did this with lighting and the set. The initial plan for the lighting was to use the contrasting colours of blue and red in order to represent America and China. The set was constructed in a way to have the audience feel that they were being spoon-fed with information and not be so distracted with the set desgn and how the actors would interact with them. The visual imagery was used in a way to place a stimulus within the audience’s minds. The sounds in the play were mostly songs and ambience sounds. If there was one thing I could change, it would be to understand the role of Zhang Lin a lot better. This really bothers me. One thing that we did right, would be the fact that we delivered each of the messages within the play clearly to the audience.