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ED2013 4/5 Reviews ED2013 Theatre Reviews
Overcoat (International Theater Ensemble, Taiwan and USA)
By Melissa Steel | Published on Wednesday 21 August 2013
Gogol’s story comes to the stage thanks to a mixture of Chinese music, physical theatre and computer technology. We follow the impish Bashmachkin (Ai-Cheng Ho), a downtrodden civil servant, on his quest to get a new overcoat in St Petersburg. Ho’s cutesiness can seem a little incongruous though, as her character is meant to feel despair at points. Although the story is simple, Russian-American director Oleg Liptsin manages to create a complex production, thanks to the clever way he melds Russian and Chinese cultures. Aided by some computer animation, the action is almost balletic, adding an element of poetry to the tale, too. It is a curious production, but also a playful and charming one.
C, until 17 Aug, 9.50pm.
tw rating 4/5 | [Melissa Steel]
