I always think that Macau is a very suitable place in which to create dark stories. Think about it: a city that is mesmerized by glamour and decadence, where there is no clear border between black and white and the notion of right or wrong can be easily manipulated… Of course, if you want to write a novel or produce a film about the combination of the above and the different degrees of slacking professionally, you will probably get a Tarantino-mixed-with-Mr-Bean kind of style. However, it is interesting to see that there are actually very few local literal or visual creations in this fashion. That’s why the story collection Clumsy Operation (unofficial translation) (China Writers Publishing House, August 2014) published by Lawrence Lei is that much more special.
In the Macau theatre scene, Lei is a well-known figure. He has written and directed many outstanding theatre works throughout the years, some staged outside Macau. Recently, he started getting involved in writing fiction. In the namesake story of his collection, Lei portrays a group of Macau residents who have no hope of buying their own homes under the current high property prices. They plan to kidnap a local property tycoon in the name of “achieving social justice” and help people buy their dream houses. This is a Robin Hood style story with some Macau characteristics. I think what is so precious about this story is how it depicts a group of nobodies in Macau and the way they strive to survive in this seemingly fascinating and affluent gaming city. Among them is a theatre director who is not doing well in both his relationship and his career; a primary school teacher who has a son with cancer; a vulgar night club manager; a middle-aged musician whose marriage is collapsing and a migrant worker who intends to save money and return to her hometown. The author has taken a snapshot of Macau with his pen – one that shows Macau drifting with the tide of high speed development and a snapshot that records the thoughts of the nobodies who are overwhelmed by the historical torrent of the grand narrative.
Lei neither takes a “politically correct” ideological stance in the story, nor has he lectured the audience. Instead, he focuses on creating one ridiculous scene after another: after the tycoon is kidnapped, the charaters are unable to transport him to the hiding place because of a traffic jam. These scenes may sound absurd, but they are all reasonable when taking place in Macau. This results in local audiences having mixed emotions to the stories. When a society is changing, the changes will inevitably be reflected in the literal creations. While Clumsy Operation has humour and absurdity on the surface, it also discusses different social issues such as self actualization, land justice and racial integration, helping people contemplate matters.