Mountains and Seas – Song of Today – Omnibus Theatre, London

Mountains and Seas – Song of Today 山海 · 今日之歌 is a new multidisciplinary work co-produced by Kakilang. A visually impressive if somewhat impenetrable world of ancient creatures becomes a tool to confront the challenges we face today.

Mountains and Seas – Song of Today

Despite the frequency with which I go to evening performances of one kind or another, it’s not often that these performances bleed into my dreams.  But such was the case last night, after I saw Mountains and Seas – Song of Today 山海 · 今日之歌 at the Omnibus Theatre, Clapham.  Had I unwittingly stepped into its world of mystical geography and beasts?  Or was there just a lot left that my brain still had to work out?  Hard to say.

Mountains and Seas – Song of Today 山海 · 今日之歌 is presented by Xie Rong, Daniel York Loh and Beibei Wang, and is commissioned and co-produced with Kakilang. We’ve encountered this latter organisation before.  Kakilang promote East and Southeast Asian voices across a range of different artistic disciplines.    Today’s work is similarly multidisciplinary, and is rooted in East Asian myths and culture.  Daniel York Loh we have also met before, in his work The Dao of Unrepresentative British Chinese Experience.

The germ of the work is the Classic of Mountains and Seas, a compendium of landscapes and mythical beasts that took its current form during the early Han Dynasty, but has roots as far back as the 4th century BCE.  The work itself sounds as if it’s more formulaic than gripping as far as reading material goes, but it’s the idea of a far-off time and place, of blurring boundaries between imagination and reality, of a panacea to our contemporary woes, that’s important here.

From this germ, a creative performance emerges, combining poetry, music, movement and visual art. Jennifer Lim is our narrator, guiding us through a meta-narrative about the mind’s wandering during a long-haul flight, as well as through scenes with ancient creatures. Dancers Tash Tung and Fan Jiayi portray these creatures, as do He Song Yuan (who also provides Beijing Opera vocals and percussion), York Loh (who is writer and plays guitar and harmonica) and Rong (who is also art director). To round it out, we have Chen Yu Xiao on Chinese flutes.

Did I Mention There are Lasers?

If this sounds like a lot, it is. The usual raked seating at the Omnibus Theatre is transformed into a long catwalk with seating on either side. With musicians at either end and performers in the middle, our attention constantly shifts from one spot to another. I did find it hard in this configuration to catch all the narrative and lyrics, which probably hindered my overall comprehension of what was going on. There are threads of racism, rising fascism, activism, and an emotional journey of self-discovery. There’s humour, live painting, and AI animation. Did I mention there are lasers? No wonder my brain took the opportunity overnight to sort through it all. I’m not sure the task is yet complete.

All this is not to say that I didn’t appreciate Mountains and Seas – Song of Today 山海 · 今日之歌. I like it when people try something different. How boring would our lives be otherwise? And this is a visually impressive work, from the movement to the costumes (Yiran Duan – Yi Craft Studio) to the lighting, visuals and set design (Danni Zheng and Ao Lei). I just didn’t quite grasp what I was meant to be taking away from it. The work confronts the multiple crises we face today. But I didn’t get a feeling of coherence regarding what else it was telling me. Should there have been one? Or maybe that’s the point? The fact that I’m unsure either means that an avant-garde performance has successfully shaken me from my assumptions, or that some revisions to the work might help to create a bit more clarity.

Should you wish to immerse yourself in this experience, you have until 6 December. Make sure you arrive a little early to take a look at the visual exhibition in the theatre cafe. And perhaps the post-show discussion on the 5th might be a good idea. While I wait to see if ancient creatures inhabit my dreams again tonight, I am glad I saw this work. Kakilang continue to be a breath of fresh air with their approach to multi-disciplinary arts and different perspectives. And watching ancient beings discuss David Attenborough and the definition of woke is surely a unique experience in life

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3/5

Mountains and Seas – Song of Today 山海 · 今日之歌 on until 6 December 2025 at the Omnibus Theatre, Clapham. More info and tickets here.