Shanghai Dolls
Performing rights not held by Nick Hern Books
10 Apr 2025Size: 198mm x 129mm
10 Apr 2025
Shanghai Dolls
Paperback
£10.99£8.79
Ebook
£10.99£8.79
Kiln Theatre, London
From Thu 3 Apr 2025 to Sat 10 May 2025
Two penniless actresses meet at auditions for a production of Ibsen's A Doll's House in Shanghai – and they quickly become inseparable.
As political upheaval rips through China, their tumultuous friendship will alter not only the course of their lives, but the course of history. One will become China's first female theatre director. The other, the architect of the Cultural Revolution.
Amy Ng's play Shanghai Dolls tells the untold true story of two of the most influential women in Chinese history – Madame Mao and Sun Weishi – and how the personal truly is political. It opened at Kiln Theatre, London, in 2025, in association with Paines Plough, directed by Katie Posner.
'Stick a woman in fatigues, put a wrench in her hand, an axe, a machine gun – they're just props, unless she can live her life freely – take lovers, have abortions, make art not babies!'
'An astonishing true story... undeniably impressive'
Evening Standard'Original... a story that grips and fascinates'
WhatsOnStage'Fascinating and fast-moving... Ng gives us a last conversation in prison between Jiang and the tormented, battered, near-dying Sun. It's wrenching. All the more because the fleet 80-minute journey of the play telescopes the three decades, and makes you remain aware of the light-spirited comradeship of their early meeting'
TheatreCat'A pacy two-hander that provides a window into a terrifying period of Chinese history'
London Theatre'Dramatic and well-conceived... incredibly gripping and moving... a compelling show'
Theatre & Tonic'Poses disturbing questions about heroes and villains in times of violent political turmoil'
LondonTheatre1Performing rights not held by Nick Hern Books
10 Apr 2025Size: 198mm x 129mm
10 Apr 2025
