Review: Herstory in History

Herstory in History interweaves the personal story of performer Fiona Zhu with her experience of playing Zhuang Ji, the princess at the centre of the Chinese legend The Orphan of Zhao. The musical moves between actress and historical figure, using Fiona’s own 15 years on stage to ask who gets to author a woman’s story, and what happens when her choices are repeatedly written, interpreted or erased by others.

There is rich material here. Fiona reflects on the difficulties she has encountered throughout her career and the particular pressures placed upon women performers, while Zhuang Ji becomes a historical counterpart: a woman whose voice has been diminished by centuries of retelling, and whose image has at different points been simplified, sexualised or forgotten. Gradually, performer and character begin to overlap, connected by questions of agency, memory and the possibility of leaving a legacy when somebody else controls the narrative.

The difficulty is that Herstory in History identifies considerably more ideas than it currently manages to interrogate. Almost every strand it introduces could sustain a piece in its own right. The anxiety around women, memory and legacy recalls questions explored in works such as Evita Too; the collision of historical women with contemporary perspectives inevitably invites comparison with SIX; while its examination of women being denied agency, repeatedly silenced and made to inhabit narratives imposed upon them finds a particularly recent counterpart in Philosophy of the World. In such a crowded and continually evolving conversation, identifying these questions is only the beginning. A new work also needs to find its own depth, specificity and theatrical argument within them.

Against that landscape, the writing here can feel frustratingly surface-level. Female authorship, historical erasure, misogyny, the pressures of the musical theatre industry, personal ambition and Zhuang Ji’s historical representation are all compelling subjects, but they accumulate rather than deepen or illuminate one another. The parallels between Fiona and Zhuang Ji are stated more often than they are dramatically uncovered, leaving the central relationship between these two women, separated by a millennium, less developed than its premise deserves.

The score offers a surprisingly rich range of instrumental textures; the lyric writing similarly feels in need of another development stage. There are currently phrases whose stresses, breaths and rhythmic structures do not always sit comfortably within the vocal line, occasionally making the material harder to sing than it needs to be.

Elsewhere, the production is simple but effective. Set, costume and lighting work together economically to create a sense of repetition and recurrence, reinforcing the idea of women finding themselves caught within narratives that continue to be rewritten and replayed. One practical issue is the positioning of the suspended white silk, which at points directly obscures the surtitles and may make sections difficult to follow for non-Chinese-speaking audience members reliant upon them.

The strongest reason to see Herstory in History, however, is Fiona herself. Her performance carries an intimacy and commitment that gives the production much of its emotional weight, particularly when the material moves closest to her own lived experience. In these moments, there are glimpses of something considerably more distinctive: small choices, observations and theatrical ideas that suggest Fiona has a thoughtful and deeply personal relationship with the questions the piece is asking. There is also something inherently moving about watching a performer actively participate in reclaiming both her own narrative and that of the woman she has spent years embodying.

Those moments make the production’s shortcomings more frustrating rather than less. There are valuable raw materials here, but they have not yet been sufficiently selected, interrogated or shaped. Herstory in History would benefit enormously from a dramaturg capable of challenging the connections between its many ideas, alongside a skilled lyricist who could give its musical language greater precision and ease.

For now, the stones are there, and some of them genuinely shine. What Herstory in History needs next is not more material, but the confidence to cut, question and polish what it already has.

★★★★

For more information, please visit:https://www.thespaceuk.com/shows/2026/herstory-in-history

Credits

Cast: Fiona Zhu
Playwright & Director: Keyuan Zhang, Fiona Zhu
Composer: Johannes Grosz
Music Programmer: Youchuan Wang, Junhong Lyu
Dramaturge & Script Consultant: Vivi Cheng
Acting Coach: Thomas Van Hulle
Movement Director: Zijun Yan
Set & Costume Designer: Shupin Liu
Lighting Designer: Shu-Ang Yeh
Audiovisual Artist: Ember Wanbo Li
Video Design & Cinematography: Jade Cao
Presented by Fiona Zhu, Xu Han
Lead Producer: Tiantian Xie
Production Consultant: Xu Han
PR & Marketing Consultant: Yunzhi Ge
Associate Producer: Kristy Xueming Wang, Alyssa Tianai Zhou
Production Assistant: Po Hsiang Chang
Photography & Videography: Huang-Shu-Yi
Stage Manager: Kristy Xueming Wang
Production Company: Shanghai FUJIA Cultural Development Co. Ltd.
Media Partner: Nouvelles d'Europe

Herstory in History ©️ Huang-Shu-Yi

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