Preview: Bubblelands by Renee Liang

A man in a pink crayfish costume meditates while a woman in a blue cod costume looks on. She is confused.A Blue­cod has been in the tank of a Chi­nese restau­rant for an inde­ter­mi­nate amount of time. She’s not sure how she got there or what life was like before the tank. Then a Cray­fish arrives. He’s ener­getic and she starts to think about life again. Mean­while there’s always the pos­si­bil­i­ty that one of them will be tak­en away by the eager faces that look through the tank walls…
This will be the fourth play Renee Liang has had per­formed at BATS this year.  From a Chi­nese folk­tale relo­cat­ed to Levin (The Two Fart­ing Sis­ters) to an escapee grand­moth­er vis­it­ing her fam­i­ly in New Zealand (Under the same moon) to an evoca­tive sto­ry of a young woman liv­ing with can­cer (The qui­et room) her work has been con­sis­tent­ly enter­tain­ing while explor­ing seri­ous themes of fam­i­ly, love, belong­ing and self-deter­mi­na­tion. This absur­dist com­e­dy was inspired by Liang’s family’s love for fresh fish at restau­rants. She start­ed to think about the culi­nary habits of her cul­ture and the choic­es we make about what we eat. Hweil­ing Ow and Ben­jamin Teh per­form the play in pup­pet style cos­tumes designed by Sarah Bur­ren. Aman­da Grace Leo directs.