The Tao of the World
iPhoto caption: Michael Man as Dr. Wilson Wong in 'The Tao of the World.' Stratford Festival 2026. Photo by David Hou.
Meet Michael Man, the versatile actor playing Gollum at the Stratford Festival
Dr. Wong and Gollum are just two of the three roles Man is playing in his second consecutive season at Stratford. He also appears in a smaller role as Robin Starveling, one of the mechanicals, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, giving him the opportunity to move between wildly different theatrical worlds over the course of a single season.
iPhoto caption: Members of the company in 'The Tao of the World.' Stratford Festival 2026. Photo by David Hou.
Set in an opulent world of Singaporean elites, writer-director Jovanni Sy 施崇梵’s world premiere work at the Tom Patterson Theatre is a bubbly, Crazy Rich Asians-style romcom that sweetens the palate before releasing a poignant pop of acidic social commentary, arguing that the concept of restoration is laughable to those who suffered most in the interim and returned to a status quo little better than the disruption.