Review: Book of Mountains and Seas, Royal Lyceum Theatre

Book of Mountains and Seas is a modern adaptation of four ancient Chinese tales by composer and librettist Huang Ruo. It draws on the traditional themes of the stories, which connect ideas of landscape, folklore, mythology and a human presence within that. 

The piece is sung in Mandarin but with additional made-up language, so it’s not easily accessible to primarily Anglophone audiences like the one in Edinburgh. From the very beginning, it exudes mystery and evokes that which is more than human – universal and elemental. The huge cast of singers appears cloaked in black, giving the impression of disembodied heads spotlighted against the darkness. They sing bewitchingly, at times discordant but always with precision and clarity, accompanied only by limited but resonant percussion that adds an almost spiritual level to the piece. You’re compelled to embrace the sound instead of trying to follow a more literal narrative, and it’s evocative and ethereal – sympathetic to a time or plane beyond human existence. Occasional surtitles in both English and Mandarin guide us through the four segments of the story, telling of spirit birds taking revenge on a river, suns being picked off by an archer, and giants and peach trees.

To enhance the telling, objects are manipulated and puppets created, sometimes drawing together pieces resembling driftwood, which links the tale to the Chinese landscape. Basil Twist‘s puppetry design is elegant and synchronised, engaging time and space to speak of the elemental and timeless. It sees traditional red Chinese lanterns, representing ten moons, elevated over the stage, moving incrementally; a huge humanoid figure formed from the driftwood pieces becomes a giant who chases after the sun to find out where it goes each night. A large team of puppeteers excel in controlling this massive being, at other times creating impressive rivers from enormous sheets of undulating silk, or giving fluid presence to a spirit bird using fabric waved through the air.

The whole is haunting but rather impenetrable and also generally static, becoming, after a while, soporific. The lady next to me dozed off quite rapidly, only awakened by a rapid energy shift in the third part of the show.

Without question, Book of Mountains and Seas is a polished and well-performed piece – a beautiful and epic work in a number of ways – but its natural energies seem somewhat out of place in the ornamental grandeur of the Lyceum, and it felt like it was bound by the proscenium. It would be interesting to see it performed in a less constrained space where it could perhaps be more actively sensory and tangible, allowing it to augment its inherent dynamism and potency and reach its audience more successfully.

Composer & Librettist: Huang Ruo
Director & Production Designer: Basil Twist
Lighting Designer: Ayumu “Poe” Saegusa
Creative Producer: Beth Morrison
Director of Production: Roderick Murray
Music Director & Conductor: Miles Lallemant
Co-Produced by Beth Morrison Projects, The Big Sing, Ars Nova Copenhagen, and Soundstreams

 You can read more about the show in our recent interview with Basil Twist.

Book of Mountains and Seas has now completed its run at the Lyceum Theatre
as part of the Edinburgh International Festival