Tarragon Theatre serves a whimsical, heart-wrenching slice of life with The Golden Dragon
By Ava Baccari
Written by Roland Schimmelpfennig
Translated by David Tushingham
Directed by Ross Manson
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Lili Francks, Tony Nappo, Anusree Roy, David Yee and David Fox. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann. |
There’s no worse time to see Roland Schimmelpfennig’s The Golden Dragon, now running in Tarragon Theatre’s main space, than on an empty stomach; especially as kitchen staff at the “Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai restaurant” the Golden Dragon repeatedly howl orders of Bangkok-styled duck, pad Thai noodles, red curry and one ill-fated bowl of order Number 6: Thai soup with chicken, coconut milk, Thai ginger, tomatoes, button mushrooms, lemon grass and lemon leaves (hot).
But this bustling eatery offers more than mouthwatering pan-Asian cuisine: it’s the central hub for the international tenants who live in the floors above and Schimmelpfennig is nearly perfect at drawing out the innate similarities connecting them beyond a shared mailing address. Strung together with seemingly disparate vignettes—such as one parallel storyline involving a bullying ant and helpless cricket—Schimmelpfennig exposes the various scales of vulnerability and abuse experienced when navigating unknown terrain, like a rocky relationship or foreign country.
Although playfully evoking elements of magical realism, director Ross Manson consistently achieves harrowing believability throughout the 90-minute run with a cast of Canadian greats. Through self-reflexive dialogue that includes stage directions, the actors boldly hop between characters ultimately unlike themselves.
On the bottom floor nearest to the restaurant lives an old man (played with much conviction by the youngest cast member, David Yee) who’s visited by his young granddaughter (one of Lili Francks searing, emotional displays) and can’t quite work up to sharing her life-changing news. She lives on the top floor with her svelte young boyfriend (a delightful David Fox) whose love for her wanes as her belly swells with the child they can’t afford.
The storylines are woven through the chaos unfolding at the restaurant, where the newest staff member cries out in pain from a rotted tooth. Since healthcare isn’t an option for the boy (Anusree Roy)—an illegal Chinese immigrant who arrived in search of his missing sister—the staff swoops in with vodka and pliers instead, one of the show’s many darkly comical moments.
Teresa Przybylski’s clean set consists of a large table for cooking and serving and where actors nimbly circle around and perform over top. Simple costume changes signal the character’s transition into a different tenant—with a wig, Fox becomes a brunette flight attendant—keeping a fluid momentum as their tangled lives rapidly unveil themselves.
The most poignant storyline to emerge is of the young married couple occupying another floor, where the wife (Tony Nappo in a red dress) tells her husband (Roy) she’s leaving him for another man; the fallout of which has devastating effects on the women he encounters later on.
Even with Schimmelpfennig’s skillfully fleshed-out characters, the progression of the show is often weighted down by the numerous storylines it moves between and some feel slighted by the end. But rarely has such a powerful example of the kitchen as a unifying pillar in daily life—and what happens when there are just too many cooks in it— emerged in Canadian theatre.
The Golden Dragon runs until February 19 at the Tarragon Theatre. Visit tarragontheatre.com for more information and to find tickets.
