The Bridal Lament

Riverside Theatres and the Contemporary Asian Australian Performance, supported by Sydney Festival, is excited to present The Bridal Lament by award-winning vocalist, producer and multi- disciplinary artist Rainbow Chan at the Riverside Theatres. Rainbow Chan’s music and performances are celebrated as 'genre-bending art pop' (NME), drawing comparisons to iconic innovators like Björk for their enchanting and avant-garde qualities (The Music). Her debut solo theatre work, The Bridal Lament, named after her highly anticipated forthcoming album, promises to immerse audiences in a lush, pop-infused audio-visual experience, blending the boundary- pushing artistry of contemporary pop with striking theatricality. Drawing on her Weitou ancestry (first settlers of Hong Kong), Chan reimagines a Weitou ritual known as the bridal lament, a public performance of grief in which a bride wept and sang in front of family and friends. In this liminal space, brides expressed bitterness towards their arranged marriages and the prevailing patriarchal rule.