Shaw Festival
Through October 5
SNOW IN MIDSUMMER Studio Theatre/Shaw Festival
There’s nothing like a curse to start off an entertaining story.
Here, it’s a curse from an innocent woman about to be executed, refusing sex to the judge delivering the sentence, as a means of escape.
Dou Yi (Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster) says snow and rain will stop in this corner of rural China…and it does.
The area turns to desert.
The story was told seven centuries ago by Guan Hanqing in “The Injustice to Dou E that Moved Heaven and Earth.”
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig took that story, core to Chinese literature, and built “Snow in Midsummer,” one of a series of that mix, part of a series of three old plays.
The Shaw is much more multi-cultural than it used to be, when the two-cultures on stage were England and Scotland.
“Snow” benefits from set and lighting ideal for the story in the tight confines of the Studio Theatre, set from Camellia Koo and lighting from Michelle Ramsay.
There are also fine costumes from Joanna Yu.
Put together, it all helps tell this story of imperial chicanery, environmental disaster and love.
Three years after the execution, the village industry is getting new management.
Handsome Zhang (Michael Man) has been running the plants since his father died and now wants to travel with his lover, Rocket Wu (Jonathan Tan).
Tianyun (Donna Soares) is the new boss, arriving with her young daughter (Eponine Lee), who worries about Ghost Month.
The past and the present can’t be separated in New Harmony.
There are ways to resolve things.
It’s an interesting mix of past and present, industry and the spirits and love.
“Snow at Midsummer” is the sort of mix worth seeing.
Director Nina Lee Aquino does good work with the material she received from the festival, along with several strong acting performances, particularly Ch’ng Lancaster and Soares.
A.W.
© Copyright 2023 - Speakupwny.com
hosted by Online Media, Inc
Buffalo Web Design and Web Hosting
Top of Page
