Fascinating show about the problems faced by club impresario Norman Gosney and his Burlesque artist wife Amelia Kallman when they open a club in Shanghai. They went over with dreams of an exotic hinterland formed by Hollywood movies of the 30s’ but instead found themselves being leaned on by Triads and the Communist Party. Despite the huge popularity of their club with Westerners and locals alike the govt forced stringent checks on their routines stifling their creativity and would invent new ways to interfere with their business. Eventually they had to flee China after a tip off from a police source about their imminent arrest on trumped up charges. Gosney is a charismatic figure and a wonderful raconteur and he tells this story with considerable humour while Kallman’s routines are witty and informed with a love of old movies. As film buffs they should really have known it was tempting fate to call their club CHINATOWN though.
A Scunner Darkly 