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Drama Canadian

cockroach (曱甴)

by (author) Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)

Publisher
Playwrights Canada Press
Initial publish date
Jun 2024
Category
Canadian
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780369104953
    Publish Date
    Jun 2024
    List Price
    $18.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780369104977
    Publish Date
    Jun 2024
    List Price
    $13.99

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Description

You can call him Cockroach, or Roach for short. He’s a catnip-smoking city slicker living in the dark corners of our homes. A bard (yes, that one) longs for rest as he contends with his legacy. In their crosshairs lies a boy, caught in their collision of linguistics, longing, and lobsters (who sometimes burp). A unique exploration of survival and the dynamics of language erosion, cockroach (曱甴) is a coming-of-age play about the stories we tell ourselves to comfort, to persevere, to resist, to overcome, and to be.

About the author

Jeff Ho is a theatre artist, originally from Hong Kong. As an actor, he has toured as Ophelia in Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet across Canada and the US for over five years. As a playwright, his works include Cockroach, Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land), Antigone: , and trace. Jeff is a recipient of the LAMBDA Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Drama, Toronto Theatre Critics’ Award for Best New Canadian Play, the Jon Kaplan Legacy Fund Award, has been a finalist for the Playwright’s Guild of Canada Drama Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award, and has been nominated for four Dora Mavor Moore Awards. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and currently lives in Toronto.

Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)'s profile page

Awards

  • Nominated, Playwrights Guild of Canada Drama Award

Editorial Reviews

“Ho has found a powerful and disturbing metaphor for xenophobia and intolerance.”

Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine

Cockroach is a confident, thoughtful and compelling show that will make you think twice about what (or who) we might be crushing under our feet.”

Ilana Lucas, Broadway World

“Shimmering with rich language [and] colourful characters . . . Cockroach delves deep into a deceptively simple story . . . Ho’s text, which is dense and layered, [is] peppered with sharp humour and an idiosyncratic style that leaves lines flying off the stage and bouncing between characters.”

Joshua Chong, Toronto Star

“A vibrant, often-funny examination of what it means to be an immigrant, a playwright, and even a human: as far as I’m concerned, it should be mandatory viewing for Toronto audiences, a play unlike any other this year.”

Aisling Murphy, Intermission

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