Live and in person at the Tarragon Theatre, Extra Space, Toronto, Ont. A Tarragon Theatre production, in association with Why Not Theatre and Broadleaf Creative. Playing until May 4, 2025.
Creator, writer, video and projection designer, Kevin Matthew Wong
Directing consultant, Mike Payette
Set and lighting designer, Echo Zhou
Sound designer, Chris Ross-Ewart
Cast: Kevin Matthew Wong
Designer, Echo Zhou has created a set composed of props, each illuminated in her soft lighting, of things that will factor in Kevin Matthew Wong’s thoughtful, joyful play. There is a red telephone on a short table; a bamboo steamer with red ‘poppies’ stuck in it, sitting on a round structure; there is a standing fan; and other props placed around the space.
Kevin Matthew Wong makes an exuberant entrance banging Chinese cymbals together, circling the stage and welcoming us to the space. He asked for folks from the audience to come up and join him in banging cymbals and doing a Lion Dance. The Lion Dance is part of the ceremony of welcome. People gladly volunteer. This adds to the exuberance of the moment. It is all about being a good host and Kevin Matthew Wong prides himself on being a good host. Tea and red packets of thanks are offered to the volunteers.
A cell phone goes off during the performance as Kevin Matthew Wong is telling his story. It rings loudly. It sounds like it came from my row at the end. So annoying when it rang a few times. Kevin Matthew Wong looks in that direction and politely asks for the phone to be turned off as it is so distracting to him and to the audience. So true—we are on edge hearing that annoying disturbance. The noise stops. Then it rings again. Only this time the ringing sounds like it is coming from the stage. It is the red phone on stage. Kevin Matthew Wong sheepishly answers it when he realizes the ringing is coming from his phone. (Kudos to sound designer Chris Ross-Ewart for manipulating the sound so that it sounds like it’s coming from various places in the theatre (in the audience, on the stage).
It is Sonia calling—she left a message—she is a Hakka-Chinese-Jamaican-Canadian woman and she wants Kevin Matthew Wong to write a play about being Hakka for a seniors home in Markham for the upcoming Hakka conference. In two months!
A suggestion before we continue… please cut the cell phone going off in the audience. It’s a long way to go for a laugh. It’s been done before (it’s really the storyteller’s phone). It unnecessarily interrupts the flow of the story. Cut the ringing in the audience and just keep the call coming from the stage where Kevin answers it. Finess the moment and make it work there so the audience gets to hear what Sonia suggests, without the angst of the interruption. Please.
Here Kevin Matthew Wong shows his dexterity with characters, different voices, body language, stances etc. As Kevin Matthew Wong plays her, Sonia is diminutive, hunched a bit, has a lilting Jamaican accent and a sparkling sense of humour. She is lively, positive thinking and engaging.
Kevin Matthew Wong listens to the suggestion of a play about being Hakka. He knows he is Chinese-Canadian but not much about being Hakka except for listening to his ancient grandmother talking in the ‘mysterious’ Hakka language to relatives on the phone. He goes on a journey to find out about being Hakka.
He talks to his 100-year-old grandmother for some inspiration—the videos here are touching. Kevin Matthew Wong experiences the best welcome he’s ever had from visiting the Hakka center in Vancouver and learning so much about the history. This leads him to Victoria, B.C and more information. He learns of the racism Hakka endure when coming to Canada, incarceration, being ostracized, being lonely, without the comfort of friends and family.
“Hakka” in Chinese means “guest families” and the connotation is not welcoming. To be Hakka is to be China’s nomadic people, who wandered over the globe for two thousand years. They were looking for safe haven from persecution and often did not find it. So, there are Hakka Chinese-Canadians, Hakka Chinese-Indians, and in the case of Sonia, Hakka Chinese-Jamaican-Canadian. The Hakka in various countries formed their own societies-groups-centers where they could gather together and be comfortable in each other’s company. These centers were called “Benevolence” (noun: the quality of being well meaning; kindness; gracious).
One learns from the play Benevolence how important it is for Kevin Matthew Wong to be considered a good host, since often ‘guest families’ were not always welcome. He welcomes everybody with the same grace, kindness and charm. And his respect for elders who had so much wisdom to impart to him with such generosity, is heart-bursting.
Kevin Matthew Wong is also bursting with theatrical invention—the set and the creation of puppets and a surprise appearance of a lion are just some examples. He is creative, a nuanced writer and communicator and a fine, generous storyteller.
In his programme note he illuminates his prescience about the power of theatre to communicate. He says: “I chose to create Benevolence because I had a conviction that my experience was similar to that of many Canadians.…I hope that sharing part of my journey of self-discovery resonates with your own questions about identity and being here in Canada. I hope also that the benevolence at the heart of this story finds its way into yours.”
By telling us his story we can apply it to our story.
A Tarragon Theatre production, in association with Why Not Theatre and Broadleaf Creative presents:
Plays until May 4, 2025.
Running time: 70-80 minutes (No intermission)
{ 0 comments }