When Life Gives You Risk, Make Risk Theatre

Theatre expert Edwin Wong continues exploring risk, chance and the unexpected in his newest book, When Life Gives You Risk, Make Risk Theatre (Friesen Press, June 7, 2022).

Wong’s first book upended our understanding of theatre by arguing that risk is the dramatic fulcrum of the action. It also launched a major international playwriting competition, now in its fourth year. In his second book, Wong argues that chance is a powerful and misunderstood force that directs the action, both on and off the stage. Inside readers will find three risk theatre tragedies by acclaimed playwrights Gabriel Jason Dean, Nicholas Dunn and Emily McClain.

From the poppy fields of Afghanistan to the motel rooms and doctors’ offices lining interstate expressways, these plays, by simulating risk, will show how theatre is a dress rehearsal for life. Six risk theatre essays round off the volume. In a dazzling display from Aeschylus to Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, and Arthur Miller, Wong reinterprets theatre through chance and probability theory. After risk theatre, you will never look at literature in the same way.