The Good Person of Szechwan, Lyric Hammersmith review ★★★★★

Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan is a timely choice for adaptation. The morality play about good and evil asks how one can be ethical in a ruthless economic system which rarely rewards compassion. In this co-production from the Lyric and Sheffield Theatres, Nina Segal (writer of O, Island! and recipient of the 2022 Playwright’s Scheme Award) and Anthony Lau (Associate Artistic Director at Sheffield Theatres) modernise Brecht’s parable into a lively, bold spectacle textured with cultural authenticity and thoughtful interrogations. Packed full with witty bits and campy comedy, The Good Person of Szechwan is entertaining and incisive, but at times over-embellished.

Three clownish gods descend on Szechwan searching for a truly good person. Here they are portrayed as robe-wearing Westernised tourist types who demand luxury amenities and an ‘authentic’ experience. They meet Wang (Leo Wan), a water seller with an inflatable pool, who leads them to Shen Te (Ami Tredrea), a skint sex-worker whose altruism has been so far unappreciated. After the gods give Shen Te money as a reward, she sets up a tobacco shop and tries to acquire financial security while holding on to her values.

The company of The Good Person of Szechwan at Lyric Hammersmith. Photo: Manuel Harlan

Georgia Lowe’s set design is a visual feast. A sort of wondrous skatepark, it has two huge ramps bordered by what look like hanging pool noodles which light up in a dizzying, multi-coloured display that mimics an overly stimulating cityscape. These pool noodles are then cleverly transformed into the cigarettes Shen Te sells to amass her fortune; they then act as the suffocating walls of the factory where she mistreats her workers.

While remaining faithful to the original, Segal and Lau throw an Amazon-warehouse amount of kitschy, modern paraphernalia into the mix. Indeed, an actual Amazon cardboard box makes it onto the stage. There are contemporary references to the climate crisis and to the cost of living crisis, while a large pop art poster of a cigarette-smoking Brecht (Shen Te’s Marlborough Man) hangs above the set. It’s in these details where Segal’s text and Lau’s direction seethe with a contemporary critique of modern capitalism, done through a sharp, carnivalesque lens. In true Brechtian form, Lau keeps many of the devices designed to ‘alienate’ the audience, including text placards and song interludes. The songs are in fact karaoke numbers which, while an ingenious update, feel muted in the cavernous space and slightly sap the energy.

Ami Tredrea and Jon Chew in The Good Person of Szechwan at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. Photo: Manuel Harlan

It’s smart to play this densely plotted play for laughs, but at times the political potency is diluted by one too many gags. The ensemble performs these with total commitment and there are some standout performances (Leo Wan as our narrating water seller is particularly good). But the pacing becomes stilted, particularly in the second act, which means that the final epilogue, here performed by a big Rat (Togo Igawa), loses some of its poignancy. Igawa speaks directly to the audience and denies us a clear moral lesson to be learned. Instead, he asks us not to be good in a bad society, but, at the very least, to try and do better than what we see around us. It’s a salient note to end on, and shows that this Brechtian drama can still provoke us to political action.

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