{"id":113745,"date":"2025-04-21T16:08:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T20:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=113745"},"modified":"2025-04-22T08:00:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T12:00:02","slug":"scrutiny-kevin-matthew-wongs-benevolence-enlightening-captivating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/04\/21\/scrutiny-kevin-matthew-wongs-benevolence-enlightening-captivating\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Kevin Matthew Wong\u2019s Benevolence Is As Enlightening As It Is Captivating"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kevin
Kevin Matthew Wong performs in Tarragon Theatre\u2019s Benevolence (Photo: Jae Yang)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tarragon Theatre in association with Why Not Theatre and Broadleaf Creative\/Benevolence, created and performed by Kevin Matthew Wong, consulting direction by Mike Payette, Tarragon Extraspace, closes May 4. Tickets here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes a performer is so engaging that they could be reading a telephone directory and still captivate an audience.<\/p>\n

Such a one is Kevin Matthew Wong<\/strong> whose world premiere \u201ctheatre play\u201d Benevolence, currently running at the Tarragon, is an absolute delight on every level. (Wong calls his show a theatre play, hence the quotation marks.)<\/p>\n

Wong is something of a polymath.<\/p>\n

His credits for Benevolence include performer, creator, director, writer, and video and projection designer. The only things he didn\u2019t do directly are set and lighting (Echo Zhou<\/strong>) and sound (Chris Ross-Ewart<\/strong>). Yizhou Zhang is credited as dramaturg and Tarragon artistic director Mike Payette<\/strong> as consulting director. Nonetheless, we have to regard Wong as a very talented one-man band.<\/p>\n

\"Kevin
Kevin Matthew Wong performs in Tarragon Theatre\u2019s Benevolence (Photo: Jae Yang)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Background<\/h3>\n

Benevolence is about Wong connecting to his Hakka roots.<\/p>\n

The wellspring is his being asked to create a play for seniors about the Hakka experience by a very persistent Jamaican Hakka called Sonja. This play will be performed in front of the thousands of Hakka from all over the world who will gather for a Hakka conference.<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s more, Wong has only a couple of weeks to pull the show together. (The actor also plays Sonja along with all the other characters we meet during his journey.)<\/p>\n

The Hakka<\/h3>\n

The Hakka were a nomadic tribe who were the last to migrate south into mainline China. Even though they are closely related to the majority Han Chinese, the Hakka have their own language and culture. As a result of their late arrival, they had to live on the margins of society because the good agricultural land was already taken.<\/p>\n

They call themselves \u201cguest people\u201d because they had to keep migrating, both because of poor living conditions and periodic massacres inflicted on them by the Cantonese and other Southern Han. Thus, the Hakka can be found literally all over the world.<\/p>\n

As Wong discovers through a series of encounters with elderly Hakka, including his grandmother, as a people the Hakka are considered to be hard-working, egalitarian (particularly in the case of women), fiercely independent, and most of all joyous. The Hakka love a good time.<\/p>\n

The Show<\/h3>\n

Wong\u2019s main fact-finding contacts are Sonja, Peter Wong, head of the Vancouver Tsung Tsin Benevolent Association, and an elderly keeper of the Victoria Hakka temple.<\/p>\n

As stated before, Wong\u2019s ability to manifest himself, both physically and vocally, within these characters is simply marvellous. Wong\u2019s imitation skills are uncanny.<\/p>\n

The concept of the Tsung Tsin Benevolent Association is very important. Not only does it give Benevolence its title, but it also represents a very important Hakka trait, namely, the firm belief in helping each other in time of need.<\/p>\n

Finding out about the Hakka for Wong is a profound journey of self-discovery. He always used to say his background is Chinese, but by the end of Benevolence, he is able to firmly declare that he is Hakka.<\/p>\n

The Production<\/h3>\n

What makes Benevolence such an enjoyable experience is the surprising way Wong uses props, which literally festoon the stage. Props that look like one thing can suddenly transform into something else, and I hesitate to give away any of these very amusing images.<\/p>\n

There are also some very startling scenic effects which add to the imaginative nature of the play, in particular, the ending Lion Dance. As well, the projections and videos which are so important to Wong\u2019s chronicle, are deftly chosen. Humour plays a big part in the show.<\/p>\n

\"Kevin
Kevin Matthew Wong performs in Tarragon Theatre\u2019s Benevolence (Photo: Jae Yang)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Performer<\/h3>\n

Wong is a charmer. His smile is entrancing and his rapport with the audience is truly a gift. He also is a beautiful mover with a dancer\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n

As Wong speaks, he uses his very expressive arms, which are a very attractive component to his stage presence.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n

In short, Wong has given us a much-needed life-affirming theatre play as an antidote against a troubled world. Benevolence is serious, touching, and amusing all at the same time, and should not be missed.<\/p>\n

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In Tarragon Theatre’s Benevolence, performer\/creator Kevin Matthew Wong is so engaging that they could be reading a telephone directory and still captivate an audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":113751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41660,52,62,63],"tags":[41902,13714],"yst_prominent_words":[11181,31578,8973,21486],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/Copy-of-REVIEW-2025-04-21T160433.181.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-tAB","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113745"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113745"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113763,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113745\/revisions\/113763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113745"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=113745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}