Eighteen Lives
BY ZONGXI LI
(Eighteen Lives) is a comedy about the people we keep meeting, lifetime after lifetime.
Three performers move between six eras of Chinese history, shifting character, body and rhythm in moments. With no elaborate set and no costume changes, the actors transform time and space using only voice, gesture and the collective imagination of the room. Past lives echo into the present; private longing slips into something mythic; a single look can feel like déjà vu.
The work follows three souls who are always drawn back to one another. In one life, they are lovers. In the next, strangers. In another, rivals. They try again, fail again, find each other again — sometimes hilariously, sometimes heartbreakingly. And through the looping of lives, the same question quietly asks to be heard:
If this is not the first time we’ve met, why does it still feel so difficult to say the truth?
Funny, intimate and gently devastating, Eighteen Lives combines physical theatre, comedy and poetic storytelling to explore why some relationships never really end — even when we think they have.
Performed in Chinese and English. No prior knowledge of Chinese history required — just an open heart.
Feedback/Comments
Great depiction of traditional Chinese culture in a modern era. Actors were amazing!
The show is so much better if you understand both English & Chinese. Better still if you have some “Chinese background”. The story is quite cool nevertheless. The actors are funny. I enjoyed it.
Funny and touching. The cast and crew put in a lot of effort to make it a good show. I think people who don't understand Mandarin will have difficulties enjoying the show despite the English subtitles. My friend and I think that the show should have both Chinese and English subtitles. We both know Mandarin but have lived in Western countries for a long time so our Mandarin isn't as good.