REVIEW: Woo Woolf - Full of Sensual Tension

©️Ensemble Not Found

Woo Woolf opens with a playful declaration: “This is not a story about Virginia Woolf.” The “woo” in the title is not a direct reference to the renowned author but an echo that hums throughout her pages, invoking her influence. While the title might suggest a direct link to A Room of One’s Own, the focus here is on something more personal and fragmented. In Woolf's essay, “Mary” is a stand-in for all women, a symbol of the unspoken female experience. Woo Woolf reimagines this idea, using three distinct Marys to embody different aspects of womanhood and identity, each grappling with her own challenges and desires.

Directed by Xiaonan Wang with dramaturgy by Kiki Ye, the performance weaves together these individual stories to explore the complexities of gender, culture, and the struggle for self-definition. The Marys’ journeys highlight the difficulty of asserting one’s identity in a world that often reduces women to simple labels, ultimately offering a layered reflection on how women navigate these complexities.

Francesca Marcolina plays Mary the Oracle, a woman haunted by a mental companion, a “big sister” figure to whom she turns for advice. This figure offers comfort, but is unreliable when Mary faces physical and emotional pain. Marcolina’s portrayal captures the vulnerability and frustration of seeking guidance in a world that doesn’t always offer clear answers.

Wency Lam portrays Mary the Dancer, a character whose dreams spill into reality, offering a surreal escape from the harshness of life. Lam's Mary experiences up to 49 dreams in a single night, but her existence is weighed down by financial stress and a fear of the outside world. Lam’s physicality is striking, as her character seems trapped in a cycle of movement and hesitation, never fully free. When she puts on her shoes, it becomes a metaphor for stepping into a world she’s unsure of—navigating the disorientation of modern life.

Chien-Hui Yen plays Mary the Translator, a multilingual poet who exists between languages and cultures. Yen’s character is a collector of words, capturing the beauty of everyday moments and ancient wisdom in the form of poetry. Yet, as much as she can recite lines from Shakespeare or ancient Chinese poems, she struggles to express herself in the here and now. Yen’s performance is both intellectual and emotional, beautifully balancing the internal and external forces shaping her character.

The physicality of Woo Woolf is one of its most compelling features. The performers use movement as a tool to express the emotional weight of their characters' experiences. From slow, deliberate gestures to frantic, almost desperate jumps, their bodies become the medium through which the story unfolds.

The lighting and set design by Sanli Wang are equally integral to the atmosphere of the piece. In a particularly evocative dream sequence, the stage is bathed in muted greys and blues, with the two other performers moving around Lam’s character in a slow, almost hypnotic dance. The lighting creates an immersive environment that pulls the audience deeper into the characters’ internal worlds. Jovienne Jin’s sound design and composition add another layer of complexity to Woo Woolf. The music reflects the internal turmoil of the characters, echoing their struggle to find a sense of belonging and identity in a fragmented world.

While the performance offers a richly detailed exploration of its characters’ inner lives, the fragmented structure sometimes leaves the audience struggling to connect the dots between scenes and characters. That said, it remains undeniably original, bold, and emotionally resonant. By weaving together humour, poetry, and movement, it crafts an emotional landscape that speaks to the complexities of womanhood, particularly the struggle to define oneself in a world that constantly seeks to label and simplify.

★★★★

This show has one more performance on the 9th of November. For more information, please visit: https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/woo_woolf

Credits

Concept and Direction: Xiaonan Wang
Devised by the company

Performer: Wency Lam (Mary the Dancer), Francesca Marcolina (Mary the Oracle), Chien-Hui Yen (Mary the translator)
Associate Director: Haiqing Liang
Movement Direction: Wency Lam
Dramaturgy: Kiki Ye
Lighting and Set Design: Sanli Wang
Sound Design and Music Composition: Jovienne Jin

Production by Ensemble Not Found
Production General Management: He Zhang
Stage Management: Shuyin Wang
Previous Devising Ensemble: Ting-Ning Wen, Tuesdae Houston, Tiffany Tang, Vivi Wei