Misterman
When: Oct 22 and 23, 7:30 pm
Where: Shanghai Grand Theater
Enda Walsh's play Misterman, written for a solo performer, is a study of one man's descent into religious mania in small-town Ireland.
The play's action is set in "an abandoned depot and dilapidated factory" in Inishfree, where loner Thomas Magill lives out his days, interacting with the people of the town via tape-recordings he has made of their voices, or by impersonating them himself. Magill is a fierce evangelist, disgusted by the ungodliness of the townspeople. He knows that jovial Dwain Flynn is a miserable drunk, that Timmy O'Leary enslaves his lovely mother, and that sweet Mrs Cleary is a blasphemous flirt. He is convinced that it's up to him to save the sinful place, but his deranged mental state leads to dire consequences for him and the town.
Songs of Lear
When: Oct 19 and 20, 7:30 pm
Where: Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, Beijing
Polish director Grzegorz Bral and Song of the Goat Theater will bring their award-winning show to Beijing.
With 12 women and men performers wearing simple, black outfits while chanting and weaving raw physicality and emotion, Songs of Lear is based on William Shakespeare's tragedy, King Lear, and composed by Jean-Claude Acquaviva and Maciej Rychly.
With the performers using folk instruments, cappella singing in Latin, English and Polish, and choreography, the performance showcases the madness, despair, disappointment, love of the characters.
Since it premiered at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it received three awards, including a UK Musical Theater Matters Special Award, Songs of Lear is a constantly evolving creative research project in which audience may witness a very intimate artistic process.
