REVIEW: Legends (of the Golden Arches) by Joe Paradise Lui and Merlynn Tong - Rising/Melbourne Theatre Company

After a funeral, Merlynn is sitting by a fire, folding paper as part of a Chinese ritual to send riches into the next life for the departed. Joe has agreed to sit with her while she folds the paper, but refuses to be involved. He can't condone this ceremony that feeds the idea that the recently deceased need to bribe their way out of Hell.

Besides, he’s two generations and several personal decisions removed from China. His grandfather was in love with McDonald’s, for one thing. And once Joe moved to Perth, he did not return to Singapore, in part to avoid national service. Besides, he also found theatre in Australia; it’s the thing that bonds he and Merlynn together, apart from their love of delicious food.

Merlynn Tong and Joe Paradise Lui co-created, co-wrote, co-directed and perform Legends (of the Golden Arches), first developed by Performing Lines in Perth. Marcel Dorney is outside eye and rehearsal director for the production, to help Merlynn and Joe as performers as they craft a show that’s fully about their friendship, their creativity and their relationship with Chinese tradition.

Tong’s earlier play, Golden Blood, was part of MTC’s 2024 season and it explored her early childhood, while also drawing in stories of Singaporean gangs. Her family trauma is the basis for a lot of her work, which Joe continually jokes about here, while wondering why she cannot find more joy. But given the stories of Chinese Hell, scaring children into behaving, and sending money and cars and cats into the afterlife, no wonder Merlynn would rather follow old ritual than ignore it and end up cursed to be reborn as an animal.

With their combined experience in making theatre, Legends is a theatrical delight. The play starts simply enough, with the two of them playing against a large white backdrop, hung like a sheet for a child’s bedroom performance. Projected onto the backdrop is beautifully intricate illustrations (by video artist Wendy Yuu) of Chinese Gods and Hell and half-remembered stories that Merlynn and Joe learned as children.

When Joe gets bored and hungry, he orders McDonald’s from UberEats and when they accidentally burn his food in the ceremonial fire, Merlynn and Joe are sent to Chinese Hell and then everything is turned up several notches. It feels out-of-control, but the choices of where things go from moment to moment are sublime. We are in the hands of deliciously smart and creative theatre-makers.

The projected art work remains, but now there is a temple with a striking LED border, karaoke music and some gorgeous neon-coloured costumes by Nicole Marrington. They need to be seen to be believed. The photos accompanying this review don’t quite do them justice.

For all the talk of death and torture and trying to reconcile tradition with modern life, Legends (of the Golden Arches) is uproariously funny. The details are both informative and fun. I’ve always known that 8 was a lucky number in Chinese culture, but did you know it’s because the Chinese word for eight sounds like the Chinese word for “becoming rich”? As Joe laments, it’s just a pun!

Both of these multi-hyphenate creators’ previous works have delved into their heritage and the juxtaposition of that history with living and working in Australia. This show has a lot of fun pulling apart that history (personal and cultural), with the creators figuring out what they do and don’t believe about how they were raised and what they think about the afterlife.

Legends (of the Golden Arches) is a colourful ride through heart and Hell. Merlynn and Joe are a delight to watch as they navigate complicated layers of belief in their personal history and themselves.

- Keith Gow, Theatre First

The show is playing as part of Rising until June 28

Photos: Jessica Wyld