Twenty years later, Lamontagne resurfaces in Shanghai's Moganshan 50, a former industrial complex converted into an arts centre, now the heart of the contemporary Chinese art scene. Here he meets Claire Forêt, a Montreal ad executive, arrives for a visit to rekindle their friendship and adopt a Chinese baby. Claire, who had known Pierre in another life at art school, casts a decidedly western eye on his current existence. Through the shock of their rediscovery and confrontation, their common past opens an unexpected door to the future for both. Enter Xiao Ling, a Chinese artist exhibiting at Pierre's gallery. As she faces wrenching choices, the young woman awakens hopes long buried in Claire.

In the effervescent paradox that is modern China, the collision of these three characters brings about fundamental changes for each.

Co-written by Robert Lepage, winner of the 2007 Europe Theatre Prize, and his collaborator Marie Michaud (who also co-authored The Dragons' Trilogy), The Blue Dragon bears all the hallmarks of Lepage's original, brilliant, and highly visual style.

As always, Robert Lepage relies on the one inexhaustible resource the theatre possesses-the audience's intelligence.

From Fall 2009, the play was performed by Marie Michaud, Henri Chassé and dencer Tai Wei Foo.

Text: Marie Michaud and Robert Lepage
English translation: Michael Mackenzie
Director :Robert Lepage
Assistant to the director: Félix Dagenais
Performed by Marie Michaud, Henri Chassé, Tai Wei Foo
Set designer: Michel Gauthier
Properties designer: Jeanne Lapierre
Sound designer: Jean-Sébastien Côté
Lighting designer: Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun
Costume designer: François St-Aubin
Assisted by: Jessica Poirier-Chang
Projection designer: David Leclerc
Choreographer: Tai Wei Foo

Production: Ex Machina
Co-production: La Comète - Scène nationale de Châlons-en-Champagne ; La Filature, Scène nationale de Mulhouse ; MC2 : Maison de la Culture de Grenoble ; Le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Montréal ; Festival Internacional de las Artes de Castilla y León, Salamanca 2008 ; Le Théâtre du Trident, Québec ; Simon Fraser University, Vancouver ; UCLA Live ; Le Centre National des Arts du Canada ; Cal Performances, University of California, Berkeley ; barbican bite 10, London ; BITEF Belgrade International Theater Festival ; Le Volcan, Scène nationale du Havre ; TNT - Théâtre national de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées ; Ulster Bank Dublin Festival ; Festival de Otoño de la Comunidad de Madrid ; Théâtre National de Chaillot, Paris ; Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre ; Melbourne International Arts Festival

Producer for Ex Machina Michel Bernatchez
Associate Production - Europe and Japan Richard Castelli - Epidemic
Associate Production - The Americas, Asia (except Japan), Australia, NZ Menno Plukker Theatre Agent

Ex Machina is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Quebec's Arts and Literature Council
and the City of Quebec.