Ziye Hu, Robert Lee, George Chiang, and Renée Wong in Bachelor Man | Photo by Lyon Smith

I applaud Renaissance Canadian Theatre Company for riviving a play that addresses a very specific, dark time in Canadian history—honouring not just playwright Winston Kam’s efforts, but also paying tribute to the Chinese community of then and now. The theatre scene of 1987 didn’t quite know how to embrace Bachelor Man. Set in a teahouse in Toronto’s Chinatown, on Dominion Day of 1929, and featuring six Chinese men huddled together while the “Humiliation Day” parade passes by outside, it confronts the legacy of the Exclusion Act and the Canadian government’s ill treatment of immigrants. Continue Reading