See it if you are interested in some of the best use of technology on stage with an important story
Don't see it if a rather soft (albeit justifiably given that the author is a PRC citizen) show about the neocolonialism of PRC investment does not interest Read more
See it if mixed media staging is your primary interest in theater and storytelling
Don't see it if I don't recommend the show. It's poorly structured with no narrative arc. It covers an esoteric topic academically executed.
See it if love looking down upon other countries. Or interested in stories written by ppl selling out themselves in order to fit in.
Don't see it if have anything else to do
See it if love ass kissing playwrights
Don't see it if are interested to see a play written by someone with their own thoughts.
Worse still so many accents are used by the cast that it is difficult to understand a good deal of what is said. Just as problematic is that all of the action (except for the interruptions by the Ghost of Chinua Achebe) takes place behind a gauze curtain and with Ma Luo always speaking over a microphone, the play is very remote. All of these theatrical devices tend to sabotage what might have been an acceptable update of Conrad’s novel. The minimal setting by Elena Vannoni and the lack of slides or video to establish places undermine the Chinese and African milieux. Except for a moment when the stage is bathed in yellow/orange, and a moment in blue, the lighting by Danielle Elegy is so pale behind the gauze curtain as to washout the live actors.
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"If each moment hadn’t been so beautifully crafted with video, light and sound, it would be easier to discredit the work of Siting Yang and the many collaborators aiming to make meaning from found sources and a deep sense of one’s history. Director Rakesh Palisetty sources such heavy content in a way that is deliberately striking."
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"With intelligence and creative flair, 'Sky of Darkness' works to change our own perspectives by placing before us an important story that we might otherwise fail or even refuse to see."
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