From April 12 to 21,  Gateway Theatre, in conjunction with Vertigo Theatre and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre presents Jovanni Sy's Nine Dragons at Gateway Theatre (6500 Gilbert Road, Richmond). On April 15 at 1 pm, Gateway Theatre hosts a free forum, Colonialism at Work: Hong Kong in the 1920s, featuring guest lecturer Dr. Leo K. Shin from UBC. That afternoon's performance will have Traditional Chinese and English surtitles.

Written by Gateway Theatre artistic director Jovanni Sy and directed by Craig Hall, Nine Dragons is a film noir–style murder mystery set in British-occupied Hong Kong in the 1920s.

Scott Bellis, Daniel Chen, Natascha Girgis, Toby Hughes, Duval Lang, and John Ng star in the thriller that CBC calls "a smart exploration of colonialism, racism, assimilation and the clash of cultures”, in which the lead suspect in a murder case, one Victor Fung (Chen), recruits Detective Tommy Lam (Ng) to help clear his name. As he searches for clues in Hong Kong's notorious Kowloon neighbourhood, Detective Lam is fighting not only to find the murderer, but also to prove his worth to his colonial supervisors.

Taking inspiration from classic murder mysteries and hard-boiled detective stories, Jovanni Sy uses the genre form to craft an incisive look at cultural oppression, race and prejudice. “In writing Nine Dragons, I wanted to dramatize the choice that most marginalized people face: assimilate (often through erasing essential aspects of oneself) or be relegated to secondary status. Of course, there is a third way: redefine the rules.” 

Tickets for Nine Dragons start at $29 and are available online or through the box office at 604-270-1812.