The Big Gold Mountain

Recently I had a chance to participate in a new theatre project called “The Big Gold Mountain” Also because of this project I got a chance to visit Perth again, a city that I once considered settling in when I decided to move to Australia. The project itself was a great journey and gave me the satisfaction that I thought was lost.

I love acting and I like the stage. There is nothing better than unfolding someone else’s story live on stage in front of a live audience. Every move, every word, every gesture and every look matters. The adrenalin rush makes acting on stage so much more satisfying.

However, the satisfaction of the Big Gold Mountain was not just because it was a theatrical production. It is also a production about Chinese migrants in Australia in 1850s. Even more special was that an Australian playwright Russell Roberts, who has keen interests in this part of the Australian history, wrote this play.

When Russell first contacted me about the project, apart from the project being in Perth, I was not quite sure whether I want to be another soup shop owner again. However after I read the script Russell sent over, I know that I am in for a very special project. The rest were just logistics – getting to Perth, the accommodation (which Russell both skilfully sorted for me) and getting time off from work. I was excited when I got on the plane on Sunday to get ready for the workshop on Monday.

A quick synopsis about the play – it is about a group of Chinese migrant who came to Bendigo Creek near Melbourne in the 1850s to look for gold. They thought that was the Big Gold Mountain where gold is readily available and they could live a good life without the turmoil in China. Little did they know that something less attractive and more sinister was waiting for them. It is a story about settling in a foreign land, adapting, identity crisis, and of course inevitably racism during that period of time. My character owns a soup shop where workers, when they have money, come to visit for some home flavours to quench their thirst for home. My character also was in a serious relationship with a British woman but the family was torn apart because of racial disapproval. As a result my daughter, who is mixed kid, found it hard to fit into the society because she was neither regarded as Chinese nor British.

By reading the play you knew that Russell had done extensive research about that period of time. He is very precise about the etiquette and customs that different groups of people had at that time. This is expressed both in the play and in the staging requirements in the rehearsal room. Although I knew that I a lot of people do not like to have the playwright in the room during rehearsals, but for me the benefit of having Russell in the room was that he knows exactly what is right and what is wrong.  He managed to balance vision with theatrical and background requirements of the piece. He was determined to make it right.

Another aspect of the production that I have great respect for was the fact that Russell and John, our director, specifically requested us not to consciously put on a Chinese accent for the production. They insisted that as this is a story about Chinese migrants who had lived in Australia for different periods of time, the accent should be as natural as possible to reflect that. So it is best not to consciously putting any accent to ruin the authenticity of the characters. This is something that I applauded to. There were so many occasions that people asked me to speak like a Chinese with a specific accent, which in my whole life, had never sounded like that. With both the playwright and the director giving us this bit of creative freedom it means a lot to me and I believe the whole cast thought so too.

The workshop ended with a move reading for potential funders. So far the responses were good. I had a chance to talk to some of the potential funders at the drinks afterwards and they seemed to be very keen to tell this part of the Australian history. I sincerely hope that the project could go ahead with additional funding as this is not just because it is a potential job, but it has become something that holds dear to me and have a special place in my heart.

I wish everyone at the Big Gold Mountain Productions all the best with the project. I am very proud of you all.