MELBOURNE FRINGE FESTIVAL

DANCE

14 Oct

Recently landed: On the Fringes

Gracia’s written response to Weichen Cui’s In Green, In White—Metamorphosis of The White Snake and Joyce Liu’s INTERLINK_SYSTEM — Transcend the human, especially for Fjord Review.

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Upon arrival, two tall screens reveal a kaleidoscopic, fluid slither of serpents, as I find a seat in the downstairs Sylvia Staehli Theatre at Danceshouse, for Weichen Cui’s In Green, In White—Metamorphosis of The White Snake, presented as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival 2026. A visual design work by Haocheng Zhang, colourful forms mutate and cluster, sliding from one shape into the next. Part viscous substance, part snake, the “ambiguity and change” signposted in the synopsis in this reinvention of “a well-known Chinese folklore recounting a story of love and revenge”[i] is already in play. An illuminated cluster of smooth egg-like forms appear, elongated and flexible; are they about to hatch or is this a detail upon the skin, magnified and exaggerated? In the puzzle, anything is possible, and by that means, of course the screens shed their digital skins and transform into translucent theatre windows for silhouettes.

With light projected from behind, the paper screens are now ripe for shadow puppetry. Jiawen Feng materialises as a silhouette. With a pheasant’s long tail feather atop their crown, Feng plays with the supple plume. Feng curls the extension, and allows it to tickle the top of the frame, highlighting their confinement. In visual contrast to the upwards stroke, their long hair draws wriggly lines akin to ink on the page. Designed by Fengfeng Wang, the suggestion of the traditional costumes is beguiling. Feng slowly articulates the joints of their lower body, alluded to transparent garments. Feng’s barefoot momentarily breaks free, revealing the human form responsible for the silhouette, hinting at what might follow.

[i] Weichen Cui’s In Green, In White—Metamorphosis of The White Snake synopsis, Dancehouse website, https://www.dancehouse.com.au/whats-on/in-green-in-white/, accessed 1st October, 2026.