love you long time (already) | Theatre 503

love you long time (already), the debut play by Katie Ðô premieres at the Theatre 503 (a theatre dedicated to producing debut plays). Directed by Jennifer Tang, the 85-minute play is a fast paced drama that confronts the complications of the intergenerational relationship between mother and daughter and how it seeps into a larger conversation.

The play begins with an out of this world experience as Mai finds herself in the 'afterworld', a Heaven-adjacent state, allowing her to revisit and reimagine her life. Dõ immediately throws the play book out of the window with her bold opening, and audiences are not only curious about the unfolding events, but deeply invested. Mai's 'heaven' initially consists of the happiest day of her life; her engagement to Long, before life got in the way and sucked the joy out of her everyday.

The play settles in 1989, in America with the introduction of Tâm, Mai's 15- year old daughter, who then slowly becomes the protagonist. Dô's choice to delve into Mai's life from the perspective of her daughter allows for audiences to be given a dual insight in a staggeringly clever voice. The play then chronicles the lives of both women from 1989 up until 2019, as their lives become increasingly more complicated and entangled.

The characters lie at the heart of the play, with Ðô flawlessly writing these deeply flawed characters with a keen sense of fact. Ðô doesn't shy away from showing audiences the good, the bad and the ugly side of her characters, embracing them for all their humanness and unpredictability, as they accumulate experiences that slowly erode who they set out to be. It's a fascinating character study, well worth an essay and a half of background context to support each character. Yet, Ðô has made the characters feel relatable, and exist outside of the confines of their context and culture, echoing the people in our very own families.

Notably, Ðõ also explores the unique experiences of trying to accommodate bridging the gap between two cultures through Tâm, who is raised in a Vietnamese household, and yet is exposed to America in the 90s. The push and pull of two very different worlds is vividly painted through Tâm and Huy's relationship, and her desire to become a writer. This is further brought up throughout the play with questions pertaining to individuality, family duties, inherited guilt, and immigrant dreams. Long, despite his flaws, is more supportive of Tâm's independence, often reminding her to put herself first. The play opens up windows into just how complex and connected culture and people can be, with a first hand experience that becomes deeply thought provoking. The play manages to tackle a number of issues without allowing the play to sink under the weight age of such prominent topics, and reminds audiences just how truly complicated every person is.

love you long time (already) is lifetime of experiences woven into a short 90 minute play and yet director Jennifer Tang handles it with ease. Montages are used frequently to help not only efficiently handle the passing of time, helping to hone in on the more important details, but also explores the emotions that drive character choices forward. The show references soap operas, taking a cheeky jab at its own melodramatic nature, and yet the performances feel natural so that it never feels exaggerated. Tang's direction pushes the cast to passionately deliver every line of dialogue, ensuring that even a simple conversation feels high stakes, and wonderfully conveys the subtext that the runtime doesn't include. 

Zheng Xi Yong as Huy is a wonderful addition to the family, providing a much needed outsider perspective. A sweet and charming close friend-come-boyfriend to Tâm, Yong's presence on stage is a breath of fresh air. His dorky yet sweet nature as he supports Tâm's writing and frequently encourages her to live life on her own terms is endearing, especially as they reconnect in their later years. However it is Yong's performance when a past mistake comes to light where he really steals the show, with real tears filling his eyes and an unsteady physicality as he is overcome by emotions. It's a well contained masterful portrayal, and results in an almost disappointed sense when he does not return to the stage for quite a while. 

Jon Chew as Long finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place, as his affair and subsequent love child ruins any chance of the perfect dream-like family that Mai had dreamt of. Whilst he seems like a wonderful father to Tâm, as he nearly always takes her side by encouraging her independence and becomes a safe space for her vulnerability whilst offering sage advice, he ultimately falters when he's needed the most. It's a tricky portrayal to be the perfect father on page and yet never quite commit in reality, and does Ðõ's writing credit. Chew manages to bring in effortless humour when he often retreats into his meditation as a way to avoid hard conversations with a certain air of smugness, and manages to be extremely charismatic and sincere in Mai's Heaven. Chew is particularly excellent in his relationship with Mai, as he grows more distant before becoming a mere shadow of his former self. Chew manages to convey this harshness, accompanied with a frosty temper, with an unsettling stillness whilst somewhat still appearing warm and friendly to Tâm. 

Tuyen Do as Mai brings a regal quality to a character who appears to always be either having a breakdown or on the verge of one. Whilst introduced in her Afterworld, where she was finally released from the shackles of her shame and sorrow, audiences meet a happy and zestful woman, making the reality of her paranoid and biting nature all the more heartbreaking. Do manages to sidestep Mai being a tyrant of a mother who reinforces her experiences on her daughter and is vehemently against her desire to be a writer by bringing in a clear motherly love and bond, with a sense of tired humour. Do's pitiful state as she is terrified to let anyone into her life other than Mai, is a slow reckoning that audiences get to see develop over the show, with a performance that will stay with you. Do's fire as she goes toe to toe with Long, Mai and Huy makes her seem large and formidable and yet this is quickly and quietly extinguished when she's crouched into the chair, awaiting Mai. 

Molly Harris takes on the role of Tâm, displaying her immense talent. Harris' innocence as a child is slowly drained away by watching her parents fight, the rigid rules that she must live by, the disconnect between her and her mother, and ultimately the hurt from Huy. Harris manages to convey these subtle changes well, as audiences can quite literally see the her excitement for life slowly whittle away as she slowly becomes her mother's keeper as well. Her efforts as a writer, and her determination to succeed are soon sucked away by the need to work to make ends meet, and it's a heartbreaking but accurate portrayal about the reality of modern-day young creatives, especially those from under represented communities without a solid support system. Harris holds Tâm with grace throughout, allowing audiences to resonate with the character even when she becomes everything she doesn't want to be. Harris ramps up the emotion at every turn, often delivering dialogues with more gusto that one would expect, and yet this works as the fizzing of emotions that escapes her writing.

TK Hay's set is a work of art, immediately making it a stand out piece that should immediately be preserved or exhibited. The set is made up entirely of an unusual materials, resembling paper-mache, with the wrinkles prominent throughout. The house furnishings are integrated into this material, with a 3D like element to denote the frames, clock, fireplace and more. The set covers the floor and walls of the stage, with the occasional deliberate tears, that really reinforce the open ended interpretation of this play being Mai's written story, with ripped out portions a metaphor for the censored details. Despite this paper-like material, a video project is still used to place the time period and location, and a small moment of the flickering of the TV screen that is nestled into the set.

Elena Peña's sound design is striking with a hollow and echoing tonality that sets up the Afterworld scene well. This attention to detail continues with the hums of various sounds in the background, but is most prominent during Mai's own montage; with the psychedelic sound quality that both distorted and enhances Yong's voice as his dream like persona came into play. This was a surprisingly trippy moment in a play that is otherwise rooted so fully in authenticity, yet worked wonders to denote the flooding of emotions.

This montage would not be complete of course without Cheng Keng's lighting design that provides this dream-like element, placing the scene in an alternative world. Keng's lighting design between its coloured highlights, strobe lighting, spotlights and flickering of lights, truly made this montage one of the strongest technical led scenes in theatre. Keng's brilliant designs continue throughout the piece, most notably when Mai and Long both fight over the lights in the Afterworld, injecting humour into the piece.

Dam Van Huynh's movement direction keeps the static scenes feel alive, yet it's during the montage sequence again where it really shines, as the cast adopt a more refined physicality that felt both magnetic and hypnotic. Haruka Kuroda serves as both intimacy coordinator and fight director and has beautifully choreographed both, showing the rawness of young love between Huy and Tâm, and the futility between Mai and Long. Zoe Zimin Ho, as voice and dialect coach, manages to show the growing difference between Mai and Tâm, as the American upbringing slowly sneaks it's way into even the more orthodox of households.

The show partners with The Sông Collective as a cultural consultant, to ensure that whilst the play and the characters felt universal and relatable to all demographics, the characters themselves carry their culture, and how this community driven life informed their decisions in the more individual based society.

love you long time (already) may have already had an extremely strong foundation and guiding hand with Katie Ðô's debut script, but it is the careful attention to detail, the commitment to the vision and the talents of everyone working on the piece (creatives and cast alike) that make this piece so incredibly special. A must watch for anyone who wants to find solace in the never ending complexity of being alive.

love you long time (already) is currently playing at Theatre 503 until 25th July 2026 - tickets and more information can be found here. 

★★★★★ (5*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Ikin Yum