the whisper of the waves

Text and movement dovetail in a fluidly stylized production which asks: If disaster were to strike, what would you do; who could you turn to? A lonely taxi driver shares a bond with a sensitive potted plant. A loving same-sex couple is conflicted about surrogate parenting. A diligent woman accompanies her cat on its last journey. Spirit mediums voice these characters’ innermost thoughts and feelings.

“The work is very, very stylish and has a lovely pace and rhythm. Delivery is largely quiet but somehow that only serves to ramp up the depth and intensity.” SeeingDance/ David Mead

“The Whisper of the Waves asks us to cherish every moment with the people and things we love, to never forget that however strange other people may seem, we are all suffering from the same set of emotions, and that in light of disaster, saying a goodbye the right way matters most to everyone involved.” Binge Fringe/ Jake Mace

The epidemic hits the world like a tsunami in 2020. People appear to be particularly lonely during the disaster. The isolation and interruption of physical contact strengthens the current era’s loneliness. However, just like the wave, people and everything in the world are bound to be implicated, emerging and annihilating one after another. The Whisper of the Waves reveals the interdependence between companions, humans and animals, and humans and plants, emerging in the wave of life. So that they are not lonely despite being alone, even when the flood comes. The script was originally inspired by the 2011 East Japan 311 earthquake, which caused the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident. These events not only shocked Japanese society, but also started a self-examination about their living environment; as for Taiwan, an island sitting on the fault line of the Pacific Island chain, if a disaster of the same level occurs, how much damage will it cause? How long will it take to recover?

“Dedicated in its making and performance, this is an intense, poignant and high-quality work.” The Wee Review/ Robert Dow

Director Chung, Po-Yuan invited Emiko Agatsuma, a Butoh dancer and choreographer, to travel to Mount Osore, one of Japan’s three haunted sites, to visit Itako (a Japanese witch). Like the spirit mediums in Taiwan, “Itako” can tell the dead to possess her and use her as a bridge to communicate with the living. The Chinese translation of the two characters (潮來, Itako) carries the meaning of flooding. The Whisper of the Waves applies the dual meaning of "Itako," possession and the flooding, digging into human nature of "love, loneliness, and existence" through the prediction of disaster. The Whisper of the Waves was translated into English, Japanese, and Korean. Upon its completion, it was then performed during the Korean People Theater Festival in 2020, the Seoul International Environmental Theater Festival 2021, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Taiwan Season in 2022.