Being a professional actress as well as a reviewer, I can tell you from my own experience, that life in the industry is one of the hardest you can get into. This is no lie. When people say to us how hard it is when you are starting out, it is easy to fall into the trap of not really believing what is being said. Then the reality hits you and you either fight for success, or let it pass you by. It was this mindset that drew me to a very interesting concept to review this fringe. What if you were an actress who fights for success, but gets fixated on an actress of a similar type to you due to being more successful than you? This is what Open Source Intelligence and Counterinsurgency for the Jobbing Hater explores in an absurdly comic, yet surprisingly moving insightful way in a brand new piece of writing from Gawa Leung of Brava Guava.
(C) Peter Williams 2025This innovative production had a great combination of absurdist comedy, physical theatre, anime cartoons, Chinese culture and hard-hitting drama that lurks under the surface. The latter hit you when we saw the action develop as an existing relationship between Lili and Gurpreet slowly broke down as the obsession with Eve developed. The action was intense with some fun, light moments that added an additional layer of insightfulness and intrigue that enabled us to see into Lili’s angry, broken mind. As she kept saying throughout the piece, she had always been angry and had tried everything to help herself, but it didn’t work. Due to the cleverly broken nature of the play, it was interesting to see that using these different combinations of styles led to the strong possibility that the main thing she needed to do was not to stand in her own way, leading to her own downfall.
The only thing that did slightly disrupt things at the time of watching was the tech going wrong at times and despite all three actors carrying on whilst this was happening, sadly the tech issues did manage to throw them slightly; especially on the sound side of things and occasionally it became unclear whether this was supposed to be part of the play or not. If the tech issues hadn’t happened, this would have been a 5 star review.
Everyone involved from start to finish was extremely engaged, focused and extremely mindful of the harder issues that were explored in Open Source Intelligence. This made the experience more intriguing and had us hooked on Lili’s journey, who was played by the writer herself, Gawa Leung. Leung’s portrayal of a young, angry woman was extremely relatable that you didn’t have to be an actress to fully understand her obsession with Eve. Jealousy and wanting to be like that other person that strangely inspires us is a universal flaw that the majority of the world goes through at some point in life, and depending on how it is shown, can make or break an individual. Leung was so focused on the idea of self-destruction that her character was done in such a way that we did not hate her, but felt for her plight and strangely wanted to succeed. Her acting is like her writing. Authentic, powerful, and extremely detailed, and I hope to see more of her work in the future.
Lorraine Yu’s Eve was such a contrast in the sense that she came from the perspective of some characters we see online who share their stories. It seems like it is being authentic, but the reality is that online, we only see what they want us to see. Lu conveyed a vibrant, positive character, who only wanted to portray her ‘authentic’ journey into acting and gain the sympathy vote through her family not understanding her choices, but with every fake smile, every physical stance she took and certain interactions with Lili on set and at auditions, she portrayed someone who was likewise broken. It was more of a subtle choice, but it worked so well in contrast to Leung that the two women became a Yin and Yang to each other and balanced out their hidden and shown emotional journeys well.
Finally, Amaany Ali portrayed the man in question in the middle of this unusual social triangle, Gurpreet. His approach was a calmer, grounded character who just couldn’t understand Lili’s obsession at all and wanted a more sane, quieter life. Ali’s performance really secured the other performances together in a way that was gentle, kind and yet had his own demons to contend with. His own anger at the way things developed was more through frustration, yet seeing how he channelled what he really wanted to say was more balanced, which in many respects became the key link to the other two opposite portrayals. He was able to represent both worlds by staying grounded and not going too far in his reactions. A strong actor to also watch out for in the future.
Open Source Intelligence and Counterinsurgency for the Jobbing Hater is a play that has sensitivity, heart and soul for all scenarios and show no judgement on either side, which can be tricky to achieve, but Leung’s writing and insight is so relevant to how we see mental health and people’s actions that is becomes the perfect portrayal of mindfulness journeys and moving stories of coping with difficult emotions. This is one that, once the tech issues have been sorted out, will be one of the hidden lights of the fringe.
Sascha Cooper
Cast:
Lili/Lum Wai Mang – Gawa Leung
Eve/Lum Wai Ling – Lorraine Yu
Gurpreet – Amaany Ali
Casting Director (Voiceover) – Tyrone C Miller
Production Team:
Director: Tess Adèle Glinert
Set/lighting designer: Zidi Wu
Sound designer: Morik Liang
Composer: Filippo Galli
An unhinged Chinese actress stalks another Chinese actress because they are the same casting type, accidentally turns both their lives around and achieves spiritual enlightenment.
This hilarious new comedy follows a woman with anger issues as she stalks another woman to feel better about herself. Lili is emotionally over-literate. She’s gone through every single psychiatry textbook, WikiHow page and subreddit dedicated to anger management. Somehow, no amount of reading or talking could tame her urge to undermine people’s self-confidence and break furniture. This unpredictable three hander charts her convoluted journey towards healing with anime, puppetry, mistimed choreography and Muay Thai.