By Beverly Andrews
How do you comment on a world that appears to be spinning out of control? With so many crises at play globally, one might well ask: where do we start? That is why this new, genre-defying production, created by acclaimed artist Xie Rong and writer–director–musician Daniel York Loh, feels so timely. It is a mammoth work that explores many of our current crises — climate change, activism, rising global fascism, and a collective existential dread — through a startlingly original fusion of poetry, movement, music, and visual art. It is a production that, in many ways, defies description.
Xie Rong describes the origins of this work as follows: “This piece was born from grief and urgency. Over the past two years we have witnessed relentless violence in Gaza, the rise of fascism, and chants of ‘send them back’ echoing across the UK, the US, and beyond. When Dr Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian academic, writer, poet, and activist, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on December 6, 2023, his poem If I Must Die stayed with me — a reminder that when reality offers no hope, we loosen our flesh and only ideas remain.”
She goes on to say: “In that silence, I found myself returning to the Classic of Mountains and Seas — a text of mythical creatures and imagined worlds where all beings coexist. Its ancient vision helped me hold the brokenness of today. Sharing these stories with Daniel York Loh, he shaped them into a script both poetic and politically fierce.”
Presented as a fusion of music, poetry, and dance, Mountains and Seas – Song of Today takes us from past to present, from myth to our troubling daily reality, viewed through Asian eyes. It reminded me how often we see the world primarily through a Western lens; rarely are these global events presented from non-Western perspectives.
The beautiful music by composer Beibei Wang plays almost continuously, at times accompanying two stunning dancers who seem to control time itself, creating an otherworldly atmosphere whenever they appear on stage. The narrative draws heavily on ancient Chinese texts, giving the production an ethereal feel, while our present-day, nightmarish reality periodically intrudes — through references to daily anti-immigrant rhetoric or continual warnings of climate apocalypse. These contemporary moments serve as chilling reminders of where many Western countries now stand, with immigrant and minority communities increasingly demonised.
This stands in stark contrast to some of the most fertile periods in history, when civilisations sought to learn from one another, understanding that the exchange of ideas was essential to survival. When such exchanges break down, the world inevitably descends into conflict.
The lighting and design of Mountains and Seas – Song of Today are truly unique, with the use of lasers lending the set a strikingly otherworldly appearance. Overall, this is a stunning and deeply ambitious show. If there is a criticism, it is that with so many current crises addressed, the production occasionally feels almost too ambitious for its own good. That, however, is a very small criticism of an otherwise bold, groundbreaking work.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of FORM-Idea.
