Stage Door News
Stage Door News
David Mirvish is delighted to present the Toronto premiere of THE BLUE DRAGON, written by Marie Michaud and Robert Lepage, directed by Lepage and performed by Henri Chassé, Marie Michaud and dancer Tai Wei Foo, THE BLUE DRAGON plays January 10 to February 19, 2012 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. The media performance is on Wednesday, January 11.
THE BLUE DRAGON is the evocative tale of a Canadian in modern day China. Told in Lepage’s mesmerizing and electrifying multi-media performance style, the life of an expat Canadian living in Shanghai is turned upside down by two women — one from his Western past and one from his Asian present.
THE BLUE DRAGON is a sequel to Lepage’s breakthrough work, THE DRAGONS’ TRILOGY (1985), also written by Michaud and Lepage. It was this work that defined the Lepage style. It instantly received international recognition and acclaim, launching the director into a brilliant career in theatre, opera and film.
Lepage’s characters are often travellers drawn to the revealing encounter with the other, the exotic, the unknown. Yet in all the stories Lepage has told since 1985, only one of his characters has ever gone away for good — Pierre Lamontagne, the central figure in THE DRAGONS’ TRILOGY, who departs as that play closes to study art in China.
Pierre resurfaces twenty years later in THE BLUE DRAGON, in Shanghai’s Moganshan 50, a former industrial complex converted into an arts centre, now the heart of the contemporary Chinese art scene.
Here he meets Claire Forêt, a Montreal ad executive, who arrives for a visit to rekindle their friendship and adopt a Chinese baby. Claire, who had known Pierre in another life at art school, casts a decidedly western eye on his current existence. Through the shock of their rediscovery and confrontation, their common past opens an unexpected door to the future for both.
Enter Xiao Ling, a Chinese artist exhibiting at Pierre’s gallery. As she faces wrenching choices, the young woman awakens hopes long buried in Claire.
In the effervescent paradox that is modern China, the collision of these three characters brings about fundamental changes for each.
THE BLUE DRAGON
The Royal Alexandra Theatre, 260 King Street West, Toronto
January 10 - February 1, 2012
Performance Schedule:
Tuesday - Saturday at 8:00 PM
Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2;00 PM
Ticket Prices $25 to $99
Ticketking: 416-872-1212 or 1-800-461-333
Online Sales: www.mirvish.com
Discounts for Groups of 10 or more: 416-593-4142
2012-01-03
Toronto: Robert Lepage returns to the Toronto stage with “The Blue Dragon” January 10-February 19