Around the World, My Journey Continued After You Left

Despite having the most unwieldy title of the Fringe, Around The World..., a musical by Chinese physical theatre company Theatre SanTuoQi, is a twee and breezy affair. A couple go on cruises around the world, exploring forests as they do. The husband dies, the wife goes on without him. 

Forbidden by the two guitarists from using English, the cast deliver songs through nonsense words and vowel sounds. There’s a ten minute scene using just the word "olay". 

Because of the absence of lyrics, meaning has to come from the sound of the songs and from gestures on stage. They rely on familiarity with musical norms—it’s in a minor key so it’s a sad song, a major key so it’s a happy song—but this throws up two problems. Firstly, because it’s easy to work out the mood and purpose of each song in the first 30 seconds, there’s not really any point in the following seven or eight minutes. Secondly, the songs too often sound like mawkish imitations rather than offering anything particularly interesting musically.

The bath towel and bedsheet aesthetic is great, and looks like something lovingly created in a bedroom by children on a rainy day. There are deely boppers and makeshift mermaid costumes, plenty of colour and a sense of humour. Just when the story gets a bit too schmaltzy, something silly happens. 

But the childish charm, the geriatric characters and the theme of exploration makes it hard to shake the feeling that this is the opening montage of the Pixar hit Up, expanded—unnecessarily—to over an hour.