REVIEW: Mountains and Seas - Song of Today - A Vivid Meeting

The performance established its atmosphere before it even began. As the audience settled in, birdsong, whispering wind, and lingering echoes delicately filled the space, first shaped by Chinese flautist Chen Yu Xiao. Percussionist Beibei Wang then expanded the soundscape with deeper, textured layers that stretched the sense of time in multiple directions. Lighting designers Danni Zheng and Ao Lei worked with the same openness. Thin, dark blue beams cut through a gentle haze and formed brief shapes for the performers to enter, so the light acted like terrain rather than decoration. This subtly shifted the scale of the long, corridor-like stage, with the audience seated on both sides.

At one end stood painter-performer Xie Rong beside Daniel York Loh with guitar and harmonica. At the other stood narrator Jennifer Lim and vocalist He Song Yuan. Behind them rose a tall structure of dried branches woven with fresh flowers, reaching toward the ceiling. Costumes and jewellery by Yiran Duan of Yi Craft Studio used earthy textures and simple silhouettes that blended naturally with the installation; they felt fully integrated into the onstage world.

Several hanging voiles carried animated projections that drifted across their surfaces like half-formed memories. Dancers Tash Tung and Fan Jiayi moved with clear expansiveness. Their long lines, rounded arcs, and sculptural gestures created images that suggested myth and ritual. The influence of the Classic of Mountains and Seas (《山海經》) emerged through an atmosphere of boundless landscape.

The spoken text rose in fragments of ancient tales about emperors, temples, mountains, and seas. It worked as an act of summoning. As it unfolded, old worlds overlapped with present ones. Ancient geographies merged with contemporary ones, including Palestine’s “from the river to the sea.” References to migration policies, Western diversity discourse, and postcolonial tensions followed. Loh’s writing addressed climate anxiety, activism, and rising authoritarianism, accompanied by understated guitar. The piece placed the philosophical past and the political present side by side, allowing them to interact.

One of the most striking sequences came from Xie Rong. She knelt, letting drops of ink fall onto her white-painted face and calligraphy-covered clothing. She then pressed a bundle of tulips to her skin, striking her face and body repeatedly while still holding the stems. Petals broke and scattered, leaving smudges and debris across both surfaces. The action held the room in uneasy, suspended stillness.

Overall, Mountains and Seas – Song of Today functions like an immersive installation in motion. Sound, light, myth, and political urgency circulate without settling into a single narrative. At times, the mist and sonic density made it easy to drift away from the spoken words, creating moments where the sensory field demanded more than could be fully absorbed. What remains is a vivid meeting of ancient imagination and contemporary crisis, each impacting the other in lasting ways.

★★★ 1/2

For more information about this production, please check: https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/mountains-and-seas/ orhttps://www.kakilang.org.uk/mountains-and-seas

©️Mountains and Seas - Song of Today, photo by Jamie Baker

Credits

Performer & Artistic Director: Xie Rong
Writer, Musician (guitar, harmonica) & Performer: Daniel York Loh
Composer: Beibei Wang
Narrator & Performer: Jennifer Lim
Dancer & Performer: Tash Tung, Fan Jiayi
Xun/Xiao Player (Chinese flutes): Chen Yu Xiao
Beijing Opera vocals, Percussion & Performer: He Song Yuan
Lighting, Visuals & Set Design: Danni Zheng & Ao Lei

Design Collaborators: Yiran Duan (Yi Craft Studio) — Costumes & Jewellery

PRESENTED BY Xie Rong, Daniel York Loh and Beibei Wang, Commissioned and co-produced with Kakilang