Review: (Toronto) carried away on the crest of a wave

Richard Zeppieri, Mayko Nguyenn (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Brought Together by What Tears us Apart
carried away on the crest of a wave is a stunning new addition to the list of great Canadian plays
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

“I am the one who pulled you out of the water. And you can call me if you ever need that again.”

These two sentences, spoken towards the end of Act I of David Yee’s new play, carried away on the crest of a wave, sum up everything this new Canadian work is hoping to express. The brilliance of it is that it is only at the play’s end that one is fully able to put the pieces together and realize why. Simultaneously, Yee’s first work as Tarragon’s playwright-in-residence cements his position as a voice worth listening to, not just now, but over the years to come.

Inspired by the 2004 Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami, the play is no simple retelling of the events of that tragic day. Rather, it explores its aftermath – sometimes in the hours immediately after, sometimes years later – in the hopes of answering one question: “what happens when the events that tie us together are the same that tear us apart?” This is no simple question, and there is no simple answer.