Autumn is settling in nicely in London and Chinatown is getting ready to celebrate. The Autumn Moon Festival is exactly what it sounds like: it is a celebration of autumn harvest, the changing of the seasons and, conveniently, is the time of year when the moon is particularly big and visible. This lends itself well to rolling out the many Chinese myths and legends about the moon and the Autumn Moon Festival is a time for hearing these stories, eating or avoiding the highly divisive moon cakes (it's a lump of sticky sweet bean paste with a dried, salted egg yolk "surprise" in the middle - what side of the fence do you sit on?) and getting together with family for feasting before winter sets in.
Soho Theatre being so close to Chinatown can't help but get involved and a magical walkabout, lantern-lit performance is planned for next week to coincide with the official dates of the Autumn Moon Festival. Moonwalking In Chinatown involves professional theatre folk and volunteers from the local community taking audiences around the streets of Soho, weaving a tale as they walk about three generations of Chinese Londoners crossing paths one night in Chinatown. Rabbits, karaoke and a woman who lives on the moon will feature prominently. A cameo appearance by Michael Jackson is highly unlikely.
Moonwalking In Chinatown, a walkabout performance starting at Soho Theatre, Wednesday 19 September to Saturday 29 September. For more information and to book tickets, go to the Soho Theatre website here.
