While a slightly challenging premise to get your head around, Sun’s intricate performance seems effortless. With a couple of chairs, a mop and apparently boundless energy, Sun weaves a compelling narrative as she switches seamlessly between 16 diverse characters.
Under the direction of Hal Brooks, No Child draws on Sun’s experiences during her eight years of teaching in New York’s toughest schools. It follows her, an out of work and out of money actor, into the hallways and classrooms of the notorious Malcolm X High School.
With an uncanny knack for caricature Sun brings to life teachers, parents, and her class of hapless miscreants. From cool guy Jerome to beauty queen Shondrika to the Star Wars loving, inhaler sucking Chris. The school’s teaching staff range from the inspirational to the ineffectual and Sun’s initial wide-eyed optimism is bound to suffer.
Sun has six weeks to inspire her troublesome teens, labelled the worst class in the school, onto the stage for a performance of Our Country’s Good. Parallels emerge between the plays convict population and the sense of imprisonment felt by a group of teenagers trapped in a cycle of poverty and violence. While at times the task seems overwhelming, Sun uncovers the hidden, or forgotten, potential of each of her students.
There is an honesty to the performance, which jumps from scenes of hilarious classroom banter to domestic devastation. The school’s elderly janitor come storyteller anchors the play, providing wry and at times poignant narration.
That one woman, in just over an hour can invest so much as a teacher, but also as an actor is incredible to watch. No Child is at once uplifting and tragic. It reminds its audience that injustice must not be tolerated and provides renewed hope in the power of education.
Unsurprisingly, it received eight standing ovations and almost sold out its entire season at the recent Melbourne Festival. Happily, it has returned for a second season at Theatreworks.
