The Gang of Five

Noel Fidge’s The Gang of Five is about five principal characters, whose lives revolve around, in some way or another, antique dealer Chen Fu (Raymond Khong). Much of the action takes place at Chen Fu and his wife’s Song Mie-Lien (Cindy Liu) residence in Melbourne where there have opened their home to their niece Chen Ting (Yu Lin), who has moved to Melbourne from Hong Kong to study commerce, and Xiao Jun (Po Goh), a former child prodigy famed for his piano recitals, but who now suffers from stage fright and can only play at home. The final member of this “gang of five” is art collector and friend of Chen Fu, Huang Chung (Maurice Wan), who regularly visits the home, and finds himself increasingly attracted to Chen Ting. Apart from Huang Chung, all of the characters are Chinese-born who moved to Australia in search of better opportunities, and all of whom, with the exception of Chen Ting, left abruptly under circumstances in which they are unlikely to return.

The eponymous “gang of five”, a reference to the infamous Gang of Four political faction in China, are all afflicted by a terrible secret, and spend the course of the play revealing their secrets to one another in the hopes of redemption. The play is also uniquely structured in Fidge’s unique attempt at musical theatre – throughout the production each of the characters (with the exception of Xiao Jun, who accompanies on piano) explain their true desire through song, and the actors’ undeniably skilled operatic singers, perform technically perfect outpourings of grief, joy, love, yearning, and the occasional polemic, in the German lied style. The dialogue, and subsequent action, is rather not as impressive as these musical performances, which showcase each performer’s singing ability. The rest of the action is often not as convincingly portrayed. 

The Gang of Five is a unique and often comedic play about redemption and second chances. The trouble is that the characters’s road to redemption is found easily and met without much conflict. The play, though as well intentioned as its characters, finds its strongest footing in the showcasing of its actors and their singing abilities, and its story, while entertaining, is ultimately not as compelling.

The Gang of Five
La Mama Theatre, Studio 1, 34 Little Turner Street, Abbotsford, 3067
Wednesday 10 to Sunday 14 February 2021 (additional shows Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 February 2021)
lamama.com.au/whats-on/la-mama-mobile/the-gang-of-five