Every Dollar is a Soldier / With Money You’re a Dragon

We are thrilled that our digital co-production with Chinese Arts Now, Every Dollar is a Soldier/With Money You’re a Dragon has been selected as part of Horizon: Performance Created in England, a vibrant new showcase connected to this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It will be one of 16 showcases from artists and companies out of a total of 398 applications, taking place from 24 – 29 August, across the UK and online.Performances are at 1 pm and 7 pm every day – get your tickets HERE.

A virtual promenade performance, mixing gaming and 3D technology, this experimental production fuses original music, virtual performances and a new script exploring the migrant experience from the poorest of Chinese sailors who jumped ship in the East End, to the richest of men like William Waldorf Astor, the eccentric founder of Two Temple Place who migrated to the UK from the USA.

Set ‘after hours’ in a digital art gallery inspired by Two Temple Place, the neo-Gothic mansion founded by Astor, with multiple online players, audiences are visible to each other as their chosen avatar, exploring the performance and the gallery in their own ways.

As we travel through, we meet choreographer and dancer Si Rawlinson, musicians Wang Xiao and Cheng Yu playing An-Ting Chang’s contemporary new score that mixes Chinese instruments with the electronic style, and meet Astor himself, played by Daniel York Loh, whose poetic and powerful narration runs throughout the performance.

The gallery is created in response to the dazzling Two Temple Place. Not only surprise and engage; the artists ask new questions about the building, history and the people who commissioned, crafted and built this extraordinary architectural fantasia in central London.

Performances are at 1 pm and 7 pm every day – get your tickets HERE – while the gallery will be open 24/7 for anyone to explore throughout the showcase. https://chineseartsnow.org.uk/two-temple-place-exhibition-no-film/

Writer & Performer: Daniel York Loh
Director & Composer: An-Ting Chang
Designer: Christine Ting–Huan 挺欢 Urquhart
Creative Technologist: Ian Gallagher
Choreographer/Dancer: Si Rawlinson
Musicians: Wang Xiao (erhu), Cheng Yu (pipa)
Performer/Artist: Chloe Wing
Director of Photography: Zhou Ning (original production), Adam Ryzman
Interface Designer: Rich Brown @ rvlvagency
Co-produced by Chinese Arts Now and Two Temple Place

CAN X TWO TEMPLE PLACE Digital Exhibition
Exhibition artists: Chloe Wing, Donald Shek, Jasmin Kent Rodgman, Daniel York Loh
Photographer: Johan Persson
Curators: Rebecca Hone, Jodie Gilliam

The UK’s leading platform for British Chinese artists working across artforms, Chinese Arts Now commissions, produces and presents high-quality art that is diverse, vibrant and tells Chinese stories in contemporary and innovative ways.

In 2019, CAN launched CAN Festival, the first arts festival across London dedicated to showcasing contemporary Chinese performing arts with performances at venues such as LSO St Luke’s, Rich Mix, Soho Theatre and Southbank Centre. CAN Productions have toured around the UK and internationally. Augmented Chinatown 2.0, CAN’s augmented reality app combining music and drama, is available on App Store and Google Play.

Horizon has been commissioned by Arts Council England, and delivered by a consortium made of Battersea Arts Centre, Dance4, Fierce Festival, GIFT, MAYK and Transform. It is a new approach to build deep and sustainable collaborations. This pilot year of Horizon showcases a programme of presentations and residencies that connects new work and ideas with international partners during the Edinburgh festivals in August 2021.