Review: THE LAMB DISAGREES, VAULT Festival

A struggling author is trying to pitch a best-seller crime novel, but his agent is failing to get publishers interested in his lazy plots and predictable twists. When he realises he can add feminism and diversity to make the story more relevant, his new main character starts to gain consciousness and fight back. As Willow tries to understand who murdered her boyfriend's wife, she calls out the shallowness and racism of general creative tropes.

Eratle Wang writes and directs an intriguing piece that challenges woke trends in the entertainment industry. Timelines and fictional worlds intersect seamlessly and sensibly à la City of Angels, creating roles that - whether on purpose or not- unapologetically fit into the notions she wants to condemn. Chih Ling Liu's Willow is a quick, clever woman, while Raphaël Lecat is unabashedly clownish as the comical novelist.

The play is relatively short with its 45-minute running time, but maintains a steady pace that beckons the audience's curiosity. While it doesn't have too much of a solid ending at this stage and the characters could definitely be developed further and more subtly, it's a rather brilliant debut. Wang handles the changes in tone very well, having them co-exist peacefully and concatenate one another to drive the narrative forward.

It's equally funny and stimulating, opening up a broader conversation about people's use of foreign cultures and experiences to further their own goals. Wang only gives a taste of the issue in The Lamb Disagrees, but we hope her budding career will explore the subject in more detail.

The Lamb Disagrees runs at VAULT Festival until 29 January.