Hung Chein-Han is the director of Taiwanese theatre company Co-coism. Ever Never is a semi-autobiographical story from the perspective of the director and her experiences after the death of her father. Air travel and airports play a big part in the story, where drama, dance, music, props and physical theatre are all employed to take the audience on a bizarre and surreal journey.
Airports can be intimidating and strange places. They tend to be big, stark and unappealing locations. In Ever Never Hung Chein-Han uses airports and air travel as a metaphor for memory. Here planes and airports are places where thoughts collide and strange things happen. The performance begins where the players construct a large section of the set. They fold out a white sheet on the stage and set out chairs. They are constructing the bizarre world of Never Ever and setting out their own rules. During the performance the story jumps back and forth in time and plays with the audience. At times this can be difficult to follow. We know we are in an airport and we know we are about to go on a journey, but the location and the purpose of this trip is never explicit. The effect is at times mesmerising, as characters come and go and dance and physical theatre is employed to convey this transfixing mystery.
Overall the performance is a strange one that asks the audience to keep up with the drama. Ever Never is performed almost entirely in Taiwanese with English super-titles projected to the back of the stage. This could add to the confusion, but actually aids in underlining the drama, where the text gives added weight to the dialogue. Ever Never is part of the Taiwan Season during the Edinburgh Fringe. The programme covers dance, theatre and circus performances at various venues throughout the city.