By Lucy Kirkwood
Directed By Lyndsey Turner
Tiananmen Square, 1989. As tanks roll through Beijing and soldiers hammer on his hotel door, Joe – a young American photojournalist – captures a piece of history.
When a cryptic message is left in a Beijing newspaper more than 20 years later, Joe is driven to discover the truth behind the unknown hero he captured on film. Who was he? What happened to him? And could he still be alive?
“A stunning new play” (Sunday Times) by Lucy Kirkwood (NSFW, Royal Court), with “breakneck direction” (Daily Express) by Lyndsey Turner (Posh, Royal Court and West End), this provocative new play examines the changing fortunes of two countries whose futures will come to define our own.
These performances will be taking place at the Harold Pinter Theatre
Previews 6 August - 14 August
Evening performances 7.30pm
Wednesday matinees 2pm from 14 Aug
Saturday matinees 2pm from 10 Aug
Audio Described Performance by VocalEyes
Mon 7 Oct at 7.30pm
(Touch Tour at 6pm)
Captioned Performance by Stagetext
Tue 8 Oct at 7.30pm
Young Lin / Benny
Theatre includes: #aiww: The Arrest of Ai WeiWei (Hampstead Theatre); Mr Blue Sky (Clapton Festival 2012); A Leap of Faith (ArcolaMiniaturists); Man in the Middle; Trolls (Theatre 503); The Beggar’s Opera; Romeo and Juliet; Othello; Uncle Vanya; All My Sons; The Dutch Courtesan; DNA (East 15).
Television includes: Dirk Gently; Phoneshop.
Film includes: Lilting; The List; Comes a Bright Day.
Zhang Lin
Theatre includes: #aiww: The Arrest of Ai WeiWei (Hampstead Theatre); Hamlet (Young Vic); Hungry Ghosts (Orange Tree); The Pillowman (Leicester Curve); In Arabia We'd All Be Kings (Hampstead Theatre); Julius Caesar; Antony and Cleopatra; The Merchant of Venice; The Honest Whore (Shakespeare's Globe); The Letter (Lyric Hammersmith).
Film includes: Prometheus; The Counselor; Hummingbird; Kick Ass 2; The Lady; Moon; Largo Winch; Shanghai; Johnny English Reborn; Grow Your Own; Sunshine; On a Clear Day; Code 46; Dirty Pretty Things; A Cock and Bull Story; Wit; Spygame.
Television includes: Covert Affairs; Law and Order; Spirit Warriors; Spooks; The IT Crowd; State of Play; 15 Storeys High; The Peter Serafinowicz Show; Look Around You; Cracker; Run; Top Boy; The Wrong Mans.
Wei / Pengsi
Theatre includes: #aiww: The Arrest of Ai WeiWei (Hampstead Theatre); The Tempest (National Theatre Tour); The Changeling (Finborough); M.Butterfly (West End); The Madman of the Balconies (Gate); Blue Remembered Hills (Jacksons Lane / Yellow Earth); Cellarworks (Theatre-Rites / LIFT); Rashomon (Riverside / Yellow Earth); The Travels of Yoshi & The Tea-Kettle (Polka); The Magic Fundoshi (Lyric Hammersmith); King Rollo (Watermill); Hiawatha (Torch); The Whisper of a Leaf Falling (Jacksons / Yellow Earth); Altar Notes (Theatre Noir); Yam Sing! (New World / Yellow Earth); Wolf in the House (Tara Studio / Corax); Yellow Gentlemen (Oval / Sirius); Cross-mopolitan (Chung Ying); Behind the Chinese Take Away (Institute of Contemporary Arts / BAC / Yellow Earth); New Territories (BAC / Yellow Earth); The Magic Paintbrush (Polka); Heer Ranjha (Stratford East); Heer & Romeo (Tara Arts).
Television includes: Spooks; Holby City; Wolfblood; Spy; Spirit Warriors; Down to Earth; Hearts & Bones; Brittas Empire; Outbreak; The Grid; Thieftakers; Cracker; Minder; The Knock; London’s Burning; Frontiers; The Bill.
Film includes: Spy Game; Tomb Raider; Foreign Moon; Soursweet; Annie 2; A Bhaji on the Beach; Just like a Woman; Snapshots; Cut Sleeve Boys.
Liuli / Jennifer
Theatre includes: The Wheel (National Theatre of Scotland / Traverse); Greenland (National Theatre); Don’t Shoot the Clowns (Fuel); An Argument about Sex (Traverse/ Tramway); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); Bacchaefull (Dirty Market); Inside Out; Monkey (Polka Theatre); The Script Factor; Soho Slam (Soho Theatre); Ya Get Me (Old Vic); Nicholas Nickleby; Age Sex Loc@tion; 2:18 Underground; Kissing Angels (National Youth Theatre).
Television includes: Black Mirror; Coronation Street; Spirit Warriors; Silent Witness.
David / Peter / Paul / Officer Douglas
Theatre includes: One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show (Eclipse Theatre / Tricycle); Not Black n White Season; Fabulation (Tricycle Theatre); Riff Raff (Arcola); The 11th Capital (Royal Court); Measles (Gate Theatre); Fuente Ova Juna (National Theatre); The Meeting (Riverside Studios).
Television includes: Youngers; The Fuse; Black Mirror; The Fades; Death in Paradise; 2012; Excluded; Shelfstackers; Silent Witness; The Bill; Metrosexuality; A Thing Called Love; Grease Monkeys.
Film includes: The Unloved; Twentyfourseven; Life n Lyrics; GMT; Robert Ryland’s Last Journey.
Karl is soon to be seen in Southcliffe and The Doors.
Doreen / Maria Dubieki / Susannah Schofield / Barb / Judy
Theatre includes: Vieux Carré (King’s Head Theatre); The Children’s Hour (West End); Design for Living (Old Vic); Love the Sinner; Angels in America (National Theatre); Re-Orientations (Border Crossing / Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre); Now or Later; The Sweetest Swing in Baseball; The Strip (Royal Court); Chains of Dew; Trifles (Orange Tree Theare); The Girl in the Goldfish Bowl; Six Degrees of Separation (Sheffield Crucible Theatre); The Price (National Tour); Habitat (Royal Exchange, Manchester); A Wedding Story (Sphinx); Our Late Night (West End).
Television includes: Nixon’s the One; Upstairs, Downstairs; Law and Order UK; Cambridge Spies; Strike Force.
Film includes: The Special Relationship; Batman: The Dark Knight; The Road to Guantanamo; Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow; The Machinist; The Fourth Protocol.
Feng Meihui / Old Ming Xiaoli
Theatre includes: Factors Unforseen (Orange Tree Theatre); Mail Order Bride (Theatre Royal, Northampton / Nuffield Theatre, Southampton); A New World; The Tears of the Indians; The Fit Up (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton); Poppy (RSC); Top Girls; Sergeant Ola & His Followers (Royal Court); Cries from the Mammal House (Royal Court / Leicester Haymarket); The Magic-Olympical Games; Lost Worlds (National Theatre); Penny Whistle (Hampstead Theatre); Whose Life is it Anyway? (Birmingham Rep);
Television includes: Holby City; Sherlock; Casualty; Two Thousand Acres of Sky; Children’s Ward; Inspector Morse; Waiting; Frank Stubbs; Virtual Murder; Top Girls; Brookside; Howard’s Way; A Woman’s World Teresa’s Story; Late Starter; Cats Eyes; The Secret of The Black Dragon; No Problem; QED; Angels; The Chinese Detective.
Film includes: China Connection; Hamlet; To Be The Best; Tropic of Ice; Shanghai Surprise.
Mel
For the Almeida: Enemies; The Earthly Paradise.
Theatre includes: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (ACTER Tour); Little Malcolm and his Struggle against the Eunuchs (Hampstead / Comedy Theatre); All’s Well That Ends Well (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Our Boys (Cockpit / Donmar Warehouse); Twelfth Night; Macbeth; Coriolanus; The Winter’s Tale (English Shakespeare Co / West End / World Tour); Romeo and Juliet (York); The Merry Wives of Windsor; Pravda; Hans Anderson (Ipswich); My Dad’s a Nero (Derby); Danton’s Death (Young Vic); Edmond (White Bear).
Television includes: Monroe; Them from That Thing; Kidnap and Ransom; Inspector George Gently; Treasure Island; The Shadow Line; Shameless; Life on Mars; New Tricks; Doctor Who; The Brief; Murphy’s Law; State of Play; Hornblower; Ultimate Force; The Vice; Don Quixote; Dangerfield; Far from the Madding Crowd; Touching Evil; The Investigator; Soldier Soldier; Call Red; Our Friends in the North; A Touch of Frost; Rich Deceiver; Resort to Murder; Knowing Me, Knowing You; Circle of Deceit; Meat; Between the Lines; Tears Before Bedtime; Roughnecks; On The Up; May to December; Shelley; A Gentleman’s Club.
Film includes: The Selfish Giant; The Fall; Rabbit on the Moon; King Arthur; AKA; Mike Bassett; Gangs of New York; Honest; Dual Balls; Clancy’s Kitchen; The Innocent Sleep.
Joe
For the Almeida: Richard II; Coriolanus.
Theatre includes: Berenice (Donmar Warehouse); Clybourne Park (Wyndham’s Theatre); All My Sons (Apollo Theatre); The History Boys (National Theatre / Broadway); Much Ado About Nothing; Antony and Cleopatra (RSC); The Changling (Salisbury Playhouse); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Albery); Death of a Salesman (Compass Theatre).
Television includes: The Wrong Mans; Hunted; Just Henry; Titanic; Sleepyhead; Pulse; Ben Hur; Larkrise to Candleford; Ashes to Ashes; Rough Crossings; Hustle; Wallis and Edward; He Knew He Was Right; Byron.
Film includes: Complicit; Johnny English Reborn; Season of the Witch; A Short Stay in Switzerland; Sea Wolf; The Day; The Bank Job; Amazing Grace; The History Boys; A Good Woman; Bright Young Things.
Frank
For the Almeida: The Late Henry Moss; Awake and Sing!; Measure for Measure; House of Games.
Theatre includes: Heartbreak House (Chichester Festival Theatre); King Lear (Tobacco Factory, Bristol); The Swan; There is a War; Playing with Fire (National Theatre); The Tempest (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Arcadia (Duke of York’s, West End); The Lieutenant of Innishmore (RSC / The Garrick Theatre, West End); By the Bog of Cats (Wyndham’s Theatre, West End); King John; The Prisoner's Dilemma (Royal Shakespeare Company); Soldiers (Finborough Theatre); The Iceman Cometh (Old Vic); The Shallow End (Royal Court at the Duke of York's); Live Like Pigs (Royal Court).
Television includes: Vikings; Spooks; Inspector George Gently; Outnumbered; Tess of the D'Urbevilles; The History of Mr Polly; Murphy’s Law; Trial and Retribution; The Ruby in the Smoke; Stan; Eroica; Frank Stubbs Promotes; The Singing Detective; Longitude; Our Friends in the North; Smiley's People.
Film includes: Somerstown; Happy-Go-Lucky; Elizabeth: The Golden Age; The Gangs of New York; Vanity Fair; Until Death; Drowning by Numbers.
Radio includes: Napoleon Rising; The Weirdstone of Brisingamen; Old Peter’s Russian Tales; Dr Zhivago; Master Class; The New Bwana.
Michelle / Mary Wang / Deng
Theatre includes: Tonseisha – The Man Who Abandoned the World (Barbican PitLab / Arcola Grimeborn Festival / Dinefwr Festival); The Firework Maker’s Daughter (Theatre by the Lake); Jingo (The Finborough / Primavera); Talking in Bed (Theatre 503); The Fever (Brighton Fringe); Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (New Perspectives UK Tour); Mansfield Park & Ride (Eastern Angles); When The Lights Went Out (Tara Arts, UK Tour); The Death of Tintagel (saltpeter); Uncle Vanya (Sturdy Beggars); The Winter's Tale (OUDS Japan Tour).
Television includes: Coronation Street.
Film includes: Panic; Random 11; After the World Ended; Son.
Tess
For the Almeida: The Lady from the Sea.
Theatre includes: All’s Well That Ends Well (RSC); Macbeth; Lear (Sheffield Crucible Theatre); The Comedy of Errors; The Cherry Orchard; Attempts on Her Life; Peter Pan; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (National Theatre); Di and Viv and Rose; The Good Samaritan (Hampstead Theatre); Love and Money (Young Vic); A Girl in a Car with a Man; Kosher Harry (Royal Court); Billy and the Crab Lady (Soho); Three Sisters (Oxford Stage Company); The Tempest; Present Laughter; The Seagull (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Romeo and Juliet (Chester Gateway); My Sister in This House (Theatre Clwyd); Creamy (Red Room).
Television includes: New Tricks; The Night Watch; Nativity; Blue Geranium; Larkrise to Candleford; Cranford Chronicles; Fallen Angel; Fear of Fanny; Vital Signs; Inspector Lynley; Dirty Filthy Love; He Knew He Was Right; Ready When You Are Mr McGill; Ed Stone is Dead; Mr Charity; Christmas Carol; Playing the Field; The Bill; An Unsuitable Job for a Woman; Touching Evil; Pirates; No Bananas.
Film includes: Lennon Naked; Bright Star; London to Brighton; Severance; Pride and Prejudice; Gosford Park; The Cat’s Meow; The War Bride.
Understudy Feng Meihui / Ming Xiaoli
Theatre includes: Compliance (Theatre 503); Hong Kong Impressions (Theatre Noir); Soho Streets (Soho Theatre); Typhoon Live (Yellow Earth / Oval House); The Letter (West End); Festival of the Fish (Yellow Earth / Wimbledon); Forgotton Classics (Primavera / King’s Head Theatre); Lear’s Daughters ( Yellow Earth / Soho); Demon Baby (Birmingham Rep); 58 (Yellow Earth / The Albany); Optic Trilogy (Theatreworks / Institute of Contemporary Arts); Butcher’s Skin (Yellow Earth / Wimbledon); Rashomon (Yellow Earth / Riverside Studios)
Television includes: Bad Education; Come Fly With Me; Crisis Command; Ideal.
Film includes: Fortune Cookies; Gone Too Far; Jam; Tomato Delivery.
Radio includes: Chinoiserie; The Fox; Battle Hyme of the Tiger Mother; Translations; Village SOS; Man In Black; Commonwealth Stories; The Chivers Audiobook; Shark Island; Hong Kong By Night; The Private Papers Of Eastern Jewel; The Archers; Sweet Manarin; After the Quake; Story of the Stone; Metropolis; The Fog; Tapertime; Westway; Dr Who.
Liz won Best Actor at the London Fringe Theatre Awards for her role in the dark comedy Dogs for Typhoon Live.
Understudy Michelle / Mary Chang / Deng
Theatre includes: Oresteia (National Theatre); Moonwalking in Chinatown (Soho Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Much Ado About Nothing; Othello; Little Shop of Horrors; Office Party (Singapore Repertory Theatre); Romeo & Juliet; Boeing Boeing (Wild Rice); The Buried; Undercover; Broken Birds (Theatreworks).
Television includes: The Bill; Coronation Street; Doctors; Peak Practice; Murder City; Year of the Tiger; Shivers; Masters of the Seas; Triple 9.
Film includes: Hot Hot Hot ; The Blue Mansion.
Radio includes: Westway; Bare Branches; Story of the Stone; Boom; Demolition Man; Words & Musics.
★★★★★ It’s blistering theatre, elegant, crammed with wit and insight, and explosively exciting. Essential.
Metro
The running time is approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes including a 20 minute interval.