Award-winning playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig is one of the most exciting voices in European drama. He has worked as a journalist, translator and dramaturg, and his plays have been successfully produced in over forty countries. The Golden Dragon was the German critics’ Play of the Year in 2010 and is published by Oberon Books. Oberon also publishes Schimmelpfennig’s Arabian Night and The Woman Before, while his other works include Push Up 1 – 3, The Child Who Could Fly, Here I Am and Winter Solstice.

Number 6: Thai soup with chicken, coconut milk, Thai ginger, tomatoes, button mushrooms, lemon grass and lemon leaves (hot).

On a typical evening, anywhere in Europe, you walk into your local Thai/Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant, and the whole world is there. Everyone connected to everyone else, through this one place… The Golden Dragon is a funny and theatrical fable of modern life and migration, whisking you from your local takeaway to East Asia and back, revealing what really goes into that bowl of spicy soup. Are you hungry yet?

Reviews

"Dramatically focused and unobtrusively intelligent" - Financial Times

“Compelling… this play challenges the audience… recommended.” – Public Reviews

“Schimmelpfennig's slow burn of a play offers another way of seeing… The beauty of the piece, and Ramin Gray's production, is that it reveals itself quietly and gradually… its intelligence and thoughtfulness is apparent” 4 stars – The Guardian

"Schimmelpfennig succeeds in making abstract notions about globalisation - and immigration - grippingly tangible… served up with copious helpings of inventive wit.., superb” - Telegraph

"Provocative and playful… the surreal theatricality of this distinctive piece is vigorously conveyed" – Evening Standard

"The play works by restraint – weaving its spell slowly but surely, with a spider’s web delicacy… There are strong elements of folk tale to this story of exploitation in a globalised economy. Schimmelpfennig uncovers the nasty things that get shoved out of the sight of well-fed Westerners." – Metro