carried away on the crest of a wave

by David Yee

From the shore of Ko Phi Phi in Thailand to a suburb in Utah to a mysterious Kafkaesque hole in the ground, carried away on the crest of a wave gives us brief glimpses into the lives of a sphinx-like escort, a grieving father, a conflicted priest, brothers of legend, a felonious housewife, an accountant of time, an orphaned boy, a radio shock jock and a man who finds things. Each are connected, primarily, by the cataclysmic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed the lives of over a quarter million people. In a series of vignettes, carried away on the crest of a wave illustrates the ripple effect of one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history and ponders what happens when the events that bind us together are the same events that tear us apart.

Genres: Plays, Read For School, Canada

137 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2015

About the author

David Yee is a mixed race (half Chinese, half Scottish) playwright and actor, born and raised in Toronto. He is the co-founding Artistic Director of fu-GEN Theatre Company, Canada’s premiere professional Asian Canadian theatre company. A Dora Mavor Moore Award nominated actor and playwright, his work has been produced internationally and at home. He is a two-time Governor General’s Literary Award nominee for his plays lady in the red dress and carried away on the crest of a wave, which won the award in 2015 along with the Carol Bolt Award in 2013. In 2023 he was named Laureate of the prestigious Siminovitch Prize in Theatre for his groundbreaking work in playwriting. He currently teaches playwriting at the University of Toronto and works extensively in the Asian Canadian community as an artist and an advocate.

Reviews

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most scripts, I wish I could have seen it preformed.

Carried Away on the Crest of a Wave tries to capture the myriad of impacts felt in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami that killed almost a quarter of a million people in south and southeast Asia--from locals who lost entire families to people displaced by the aftermath, to tourists who were there at the time, to media personalities looking at the damage from an ocean away, to a scientist who failed to treat the quakes seriously enough to save lives.

The stories were genuinely touching and/or delved into themes of faith, loss, mourning, public opinion and more. This mostly lost points for me because, for all that human connectivity was supposed to be one of the main points of the production, the skits themselves felt a little episodic.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the type of play that leaves you empty,, a hole was carved out of my stomach for this

[Sam - Spines in a Line · Rating 4 out of 5]

2022 review: Finally got that copy for myself, this is such a good read.

2018 review: So good! I wish I could’ve seen this performed. I read a library copy but I think I’m gonna need to pick up a copy for myself.

This collection of plays is inspired by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The playwright talks about his process in the introduction as he interviewed a number of people who were survived the disaster, though the stories and characters in his plays are fictional. All of the characters have been affected in some way by the tsunami, whether directly or indirectly. Some of their stories look at how they are preparing or facing the aftermath, while others focus more on the characters' daily lives, using the tsunami as more of a background event.

I saved my favourite passage from one of the plays:

"Pretend you are in a hospital. Or a busy street. Or in a theatre. Pretend you are in a theatre and you're sitting next to people you haven't met. Now, maybe someone asks the time, and you tell him it's almost 8:00, the show should be starting soon. He nods and you go back to your lives. And you don't even notice that this man bears a striking resemblance to your father. Even to you. You will never know that the man was born in the same hospital you were. You won't know if he has children at home, waiting for him ... or if he lives alone, or what he watches on television before he goes to sleep. You won't know this man contracted a rare blood disease on vacation in Maldives. You will never know that the hospital he goes to will experience a shortage of his blood type for transfusion. And so you won't know when this man dies. And then it will truly be of no consequence that the blood he needed courses in your veins. Because he only ever asked you the time. And you only ever told him it was 8:00. The show should be starting soon." (p. 59)

[Sarah Pitman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful surprise! A play I checked out of the library on a whim. Carried Away On The Crest Of A Wave is a series of short vignettes spanning the globe and various genres of storytelling. We have direct-address monologue at a press conference, we have a snippet of a realism in an Indian church between a priest and a scientist, we have a Mamet-sequence stand-off in a Canadian radio station, a gunpoint drama on a Thai beach, an utterly surreal conversation between two men literally falling through time and space. Every single one of these holds up on its own and at the same time becomes so much more when taken with the others. The prose within the dialogue really impressed me. Flowing and rich without sounding too contrived out of the mouths of he characters. A rare play that probably reads almost as well as it would be staged—definitely getting lots out just from the story and the language. Staging would be the very crest of perfection.

[Emma M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would interested to see this performed. I liked the interconnectedness of the different lives and the common themes of waves/water, love and religion that ran through it. I also liked how cyclical it felt, as though I could start reading it over again without issue. I think I'd pick this up and read it again sometime to see if I notice more connections.

[Andromeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is absurd, heavy, and emotional. It hit me hard... I felt weird and I like it. It deals with grief, love, and the comfort AND discomfort of grief. It is written about the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in India, and how parents, siblings, families, and even workers deal with the guilt, shame, and trauma of a natural disaster. The stories told in this play show the impact of natural disasters around the world on all walks of life and are relatable for anyone who has felt grief, shame, helplessness, and all those big feelings.
------
5/5 would read again. I actually cried reading this. The dialogue is so surreal too, I felt so immersed even though I was reading a play with stage directions.

[Aaron Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this about 10 hours ago. 10 hours ago I would have given it a 3, but I thought about the play for much of my evening, re-read 3 of the vignettes, and thought a little more. This was a great book. I think it could be powerful with the right director. Certainly worth the hard earned dollars I spent to buy the book.

[Paris Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

for some reason i have always squirmed and cringed at the sight of chinese myths narrated in anglicized tongues and witnessing beautiful chinese names flattened by european phonetics.
however, the way this play strings stories along like a crescent of delicate beads washes away tthat discomfort insignificant in comparison.

[Anna Marie Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just read this play for the second time. David Yee is a writer with brilliant ideas (some of which I believe challenge the realm of the stage). Definitely a playwright to keep an eye out for. His diverse characters, worlds, and themes leave the reader wanting more and grappling for answers.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this! Re-read after I saw it produced at NAC. Each scene so different from the last, and yet they all went together.

[Zippity do Dah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the most beautiful play I’ve ever read.

[Anny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
read it for school

[aliyah :] · Rating 5 out of 5]

GOOD PLAY GOOD PLAY GOOD PLAY OMG I LOVED THE SURREALISM THIS WAS AMAZING

[Sterling Wesson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun, bit all over the place and some of the stories are more impactful then others but it was a nice quick read overall.

[delaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

read for technique class! loved analyzing this, made my heart drop many a time.

[Gareth Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the short stories that are only vaguely connected.
Beautiful story, turning tragedy into small hopes.

[Emery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as expected but provocative and interesting. Hard to put down. A quick yet moving read.