Better Life? is a documentary theater piece based on the same research as Home Away From Home. On a two-year interview journey, Fang Yun Lo and the artists Ngô Thanh Phương and Cheng-Ting Chen interviewed over one hundred people from the Vietnamese community in Germany and Taiwan.
The conversations they had about concepts such as home, identity, and family developed into touching miniatures that the audience can experience on a tour of the stage. In contrast to Home Away From Home, Better Life? is performed exclusively by four Vietnamese immigrants living in Taiwan.
Better Life? was commissioned for the Iron Rose Festival in Taoyuan, Taiwan. In 2021, Better Life? was shortlisted from among several hundred proposals for Taiwan’s renowned Taishin Arts Award, the most highly endowed art prize in Taiwan.
Better Life? has done a great job of showing the individuality of the four performers, giving them space to freely share memories and using a clear design to bring the four stories together into one narrative, a complete work that resonates. A good theater piece can both touch reality and open the hearts of the audience. Better Life? is such a piece.
Team
Direction
Fang Yun LoPerformers
Artistic collaboration
Ngo Thanh PhuongStage design, Technical lead, Lighting design
Music
André SchallenbergProduction management
Stage manager
Chiao Yu ChenVideo technician
Hung Hsien YuSound technician
Wei Chi ChenTechnical implementation
Wan Yu LoZhi Yun YuMarketing
Bunny HuYa Chun ChangGraphic design
Ya Zhen Xiao
Information
Production
Polymer DMTEssen, DECoproduced with
Taoyuan Iron Rose Arts FestivalTaoyuan, TWProject funding
Goethe-Institut TaipehTaipei, TWLanguages
Taiwanese Mandarin, VietnameseDuration
60 min
Performances
Nov 6 2021 - Nov 7 2021
National Tainan Living Arts CenterTainan, TWAug 16 2020
Taoyuan Iron Rose Arts FestivalTaoyuan Arts CenterTaoyuan, TWAug 15 2020