★★★★☆
Upon entering the whimsical world of RAT RAT RAT at Camden People’s Theatre, we were shuffled into a small basement room where audiences came face to face with two striking fluffy white rats (Costume Design by Freya Yuejie Li) who observed you closely, before reaching into the crowd and seemingly selecting an audience member to join them. They strip her down and put her into a rat costume, making it known to audiences that any one of us could be the victim of this story.
RAT RAT RAT was produced by Zoe Yingying Xie and presented by EggGen and Selene Mingyue Hu. The performance is a haunting one; a story unfolds without words detailed only by its chilling characters, atmospheric scenic design (Scenography by Selene Mingyue Hu and lighting design by Luka Xuan Ge) and utterly brilliant music (Compositions by Jade Leamcharaskul). This has been one of my favorite pieces of the year.
The story follows a trio of rats in attendance at a selective school training them in movement, literature and sciences (from what I could tell). The choice to tell a story, without any words, was a bold one; I have not seen a piece do it quite as well as this one. It was easy to be catapulted into the world that director Yaqi Sun had built.
RAT RAT RAT opens with a beautiful ballet sequence where a single rat, played by Tiffany Yeung, stands out in an almost unruly manner. She is childlike in nature, with moments of awe and empathy characterizing her. She seems to notice details around her that others are less willing to. It was easy to see myself in this character, just on the outside of the group, just two beats behind the dance sequence, eager to succumb to the music, but held back by a strict enforcement of rules. Tutu Ching, movement director, did an excellent job establishing movement with the cast, as all three characters had very distinct characteristics allowing us to tell them apart (even in large rat costumes).
The piece follows Tiffany Teung through her relationship to school, to the other rats, to loud noises and music, and her caring nature for a small (abandoned) baby rat. The piece, though containing the elegant aesthetic of ballet, has an air of punk mentality to it. What does it mean to stand out? What do we sacrifice in standardized systems? The emotional depth to the piece was astonishing. I felt the urge to cry, to laugh, and found myself almost reaching out to comfort the characters at several points.
It could be about any number of issues, the rise of generative AI and anxieties about art disappearing, assimilating to a new culture, the treatment of neurodiversity in education systems or at its most literal sense drawing inspiration from animal testing and cruel practices in unregulated laboratories. It questioned authority, herd mentality and the destructive consequences of a hive mind.
One of the most notable themes reflected here was also presented in Flowers for Algernon, a short story turned novelette critiquing the compulsive, and destructive, demand for more information. To me, the most pressing themes in both stories are about where kindness and ingenuity intersect. In both stories, there is a distinct lack of empathy that arises in individuals who have a desire for more knowledge, often leading to destruction around them. In this piece, spoilers lie ahead, the smallest rat (left abandoned) is murdered in a lesson taken too far. They then go on to cut open the protagonist of the story and feast on their insides. As they drag the lifeless rat off stage, a projection screen opens to show audiences during the pre-show watching a rat be selected and the piece ends how it began, enforcing the cycle of obedience, shame and conformity.
I was blown away at this piece of theatre and truly believe it has the roots and foundation to continue to new heights.
There were small moments that needed extra polishing to elevate it to a new level. I noticed small moments of transition to have a lack of clarity between characters, potentially encumbered by the smaller stage setting, where transitions felt clunky and out of place in the elegant air of the school. I felt some reactions from the actors fell into similar physical tropes, for example, repeated flailing of the hands to express frustration from all three characters. I would be curious to see how characters can be differentiated, workshopped and made more distinctive despite their costumes. These moments stood out to me when evaluating the show with a deeply critical, eye and it was small enough to not alter my viewpoint on the production as a whole.
Finally, there was a distinct lack of gore, making the show truly reminiscent of early theatre and puppetry. I would be curious if gore could be explored in this production, even just red juice staining the pure white rat costumes.
RAT RAT RAT is a profound and haunting piece with complex thoughts on conformity, pursuit of knowledge and empathy. It was brilliant in dozens of ways, leaving me in awe of their production company. This is a production and creative team to keep an eye on. I give my highest compliments to the performances of Levenka Andrea, Tiffany Yeung and Rebecca Fangnan Zhao, and to the creative team for their brilliance in creating this piece. I truly hope this production continues to create, to question and develop onwards, I could watch entire ballets with this concept in mind. Thank you to EggGen for your excellent hospitality and Zoe Yingying Xie for their help on the night.
RAT RAT RAT runs at Camden People’s Theatre until October 31 – but it is sold out!
