Hard-hitting solo play about China and the West coming to West Berkshire

A thrilling tale from Chinese history, the solo theatre show Chinese Boxing rounds off the Goring Gap Festival on June 12 with a punch.

Is there going to be a clash between China and the West? Ukraine is the crisis of the moment, but it is China’s rise that will dominate the 21st century. How might it happen? Why? ‘Chinese Boxing’ by actor, writer and China expert Mark Kitto is a bold, innovative and entertaining piece of theatre that tackles the question from both sides, with no pulled punches.

Turning to the past to talk about the present – a traditional Chinese way of addressing difficult questions – the play is set in 1912, a lecture to the Goring branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. The speaker is Sir Claude MacDonald, former British Minister – ambassador – to Peking in 1900 during the famous Boxer Uprising. Sir Claude commanded the defence of the Foreign Legations – diplomatic quarter – when they were besieged by the peasant rebel ‘Boxer’ army. The siege lasted 55 days until it was lifted by a multinational force and was described in the newspapers of the day as ‘the most exciting episode ever known to civilization’. (It was also the subject of the 1963 epic film, '55 Days at Peking', with Charlton Heston and David Niven.)

Sir Claude wants to discuss China and the West ‘today’ – that’s 1912 for him, today for us. 1912 was the year of the foundation of the Republic of China; a new country, a rising power the world must accommodate. Sound familiar? But he starts by ‘taking you back to Peking in 1900’ and accidentally does just that, to the Imperial Palace, where you hear the story from the Chinese side. It is not straightforward and will challenge your view of the past… and the present.

Mark Kitto lived in China for 18 years. He performed with the Shanghai People’s Arts Theatre and others. He has written two books about the country and countless articles. After the show he hosts a Q&A that can be quite lively.

For tickets: www.thegapfestival.org More info: www.chineseboxing.co.uk

The Morrell Room in Streatley, just across the river from Goring, is the perfect venue for the show. A wood panelled hall, built in 1896 (the year Sir Claude took up his post in China), it is exactly the place where Sir Claude would have given a lecture on his return and retirement. It is highly likely that he actually did.