2026 TCAF-Community：Monster and Its Shadow

★ Inspired by French composer Maruice Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite”
★ A multisensory performance co-starring hearing and deaf actors
★ A show that combines sign language, music, and body movement

One day, a soul called the “Monster” appears in the dream. His appearance is extremely ugly, and he cannot speak, but nevertheless, he has a wish hidden in his heart – he wants to look presentable and be seen just like others. Therefore, layer by layer the dream begins to stack up…
In the dream, the Monster puts on some dashing clothes and works like a gentleman, spinning in the air to the rhythm of the waltz like dancing at the party in a palace.  He longs to leave his vulgar body behind and walk into the seemingly civilized and beautiful world.
The dream is inspired by Maurice Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite”, which is full of childlike charm. When the music softly comes on, it feels like the sound of opening a story book. Monster and Its Shadow combines sign language with music, and through the collaboration between the hearing and the deaf actors, the performance feels like a delicate music picture book since the body movements not only interpretate but turn getting lost in the forest and the Monster’s inner thoughts into visible shapes.
When shadow grows bigger like the forest and the music flows like the wind, the hands sign the invisible words in the air. The harder the Monster tries to “look like others,” the more clearly he hears his own inner voice – is the self that he keeps hiding away really that terrible? While listening to the shadow and observing the music movements, both adults and children are invited to roam in the dream, allowing the melody to become the map that goes through the layers of the dream. Deep in the dream, can the existence of the so-called “Monster” be finally seen?

The Double Theatre
Founded in 2014, the name “The Double Theatre” came from the book, Theatre and Its Double by Antonin Artaud. The company aims to turn theatre into the refraction of life and concerns itself with the relations between people and society, showing the audiences the reality that they take for granted in different angles. Their production, The Way Back, was selected for the Taishin Arts Awards and was performed in Taiwan and abroad. In recent years, they have continued to develop productions that mix sign language with spoken language such as The Voice (scheduled to be presented in 2026) and explore more possibilities for theatre to be noticed.