REVIEW: Love You Long Time (Already)
Review Date: 7th July @Theatre 503
REVIEWS
Kassy Fang
7/9/20263 min read
©️(L-R) Molly Harris, Tuyen Do, Jon Chew, Zheng Xi Yong - photography credit Ikin Yum
Written by Katie Đỗ and directed by Jennifer Tang, Love You Long Time (Already) begins with a familiar family dynamic—a mother and daughter struggling to understand one another. As the story unfolds, it paints a comprehensive portrait of the Vietnamese American diaspora, showing how migration, cultural identity and traditional family values become woven into the rhythms of everyday life, shaping the ways love, duty and belonging are expressed across generations.
At the centre are Mai (Tuyen Do) and her daughter Tâm (Molly Harris), whose relationship carries the emotional weight of the play. Their lives are shaped by a father whose inconsistent presence and reluctance to fully embrace his responsibilities leave emotional gaps that persistently influence the generations that follow. Tâm's aspiration to become a writer becomes the play's central point of tension, clashing with Mai's belief that writing is neither a stable career nor an appropriate way to expose the family's private struggles. However, for Tâm, writing offers a way to make sense of the past and reclaim her own voice. Tuyen Do delivers a performance full of contradictions, while Molly Harris brings nuance to Tâm's struggle for identity amid family expectations. Following Mai's accident and memory loss, the play moves towards a reconciliation as reading and writing become a bridge between them. The ambiguity of whether this occurs in reality or within Tâm's writing gives the ending its lasting power.
One of the play's greatest strengths is the authenticity of its cultural detail. Religion is embedded within the world of the play, with Christianity deeply rooted in the post-war Vietnamese diaspora community portrayed here through everyday conversations, church networks and the characters' understanding of family and duty. Alongside this, Tâm's father turns to Buddhism, seeking meaning and resolution beyond what his family life can offer. Framed by scenes set in the afterlife, these different spiritual worlds coexist naturally as part of the family's lived reality. These details ground the writing, giving the play a strong sense of place.
Jennifer Tang complements the writing with thoughtful theatrical choices that deepen the play's themes. One particularly striking sequence layers the wedding vows of two generations, spoken simultaneously in Vietnamese and English. As the voices overlap and drift in and out of clarity, the scene creates the sense of one generation echoing through another, capturing how inherited expectations continue to shape lives long after their origins have passed. TK Hay's set, formed from paper-like outlines of walls marked by cracks and familiar household objects, suggests both the fragility of memory and the instability of family life. Cheng Keng's lighting carefully distinguishes the play's shifting worlds, moving between intimate domestic interiors, dream sequences and the afterlife, adding visual and emotional depth to the production. Elena Peña's sound design subtly connects these spaces, creating a cohesive atmosphere throughout the production.
Love You Long Time (Already) occasionally asks its audience to navigate multiple layers of memory, identity and family history at once, reflecting the complexity of the world it portrays. Even so, its emotional honesty and cultural specificity make a strong impression. It creates a portrait of the Vietnamese American diaspora that is deeply personal and illuminates broader experiences of migration, inheritance and belonging that are rarely represented on UK stages.
★★★ 1/2
Love You Long Time (Already) is running until 25 July at Theatre 503. For more information, please visit: https://theatre503.com/whats-on/love-you-long-time-already/
Creative Team
Writer: Katie Đỗ
Director: Jennifer Tang
Set & Costume Designer: TK Hay
Lighting Designer: Cheng Keng
Sound Designer: Elena Peña
Casting Director: Polly Jerrold
Costume Supervisor: Ellen Rey de Castro
Movement Director: Dam Van Huynh
Voice and Dialect Coach: Zoe Zimin Ho
Production Manager: Herbe Walmsley
Stage Manager: Phoebe Buckland
Cast
Long: Jon Chew
Mai: Tuyen Do
Tâm: Molly Harris
Huy: Zheng Xi Yong
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