What
unites these very different characters, whether it be a young
woman in the fifties emigrating to Canada or the last Ming
Emperor confronted with a victorious peasant rebellion, is
their total commitment to their own fateful decisions. As
the first speaker puts it:
“A certain stage exists when
one can still withdraw, This stage is long since
past, the forward movement now Is much more urgent
and one feels oneself somehow The plaything of
events, subjected to some law One
scarcely understands at all….”
Share the final thoughts of Chong Chen before he hangs
himself in the Palace Gardens, or those of Amy Johnson as
she runs out of petrol on her last solo flight in 1941. Other
personages that make their appearance on the stage are ancient
Greek mathematicians, Sixties hippies, Alan Turing (the pioneer
computer scientist), a contemporary rent boy and many many
more...
What
unites these very different characters, whether it be a young
woman in the fifties emigrating to Canada or the last Ming
Emperor confronted with a victorious peasant rebellion, is
their total commitment to their own fateful decisions. As
the first speaker puts it: