Sword of Maximum Damage

In 2005, a young Chinese man named Qiu Chengwei was found guilty of murder after stabbing to death Zhu Caoyuan in a cold-blooded, calculated attack. The dispute was about neither love nor money but because the victim had stolen a virtual sword owned by Mr Qui in the online video game, Legend of Mir III.

For most of the Western media, this was a tale of quirky foreigners taking obsession to its ultimate extreme. However, for comedian Adam Riches, it was the inspiration for his latest theatrical offering, Sword of Maximum Damage. Set around a Dungeons and Dragons-style board game tournament, the play follows two pairs of competitors whose game ends in tragedy.

The script and performances expertly capture the bizarre depths to which the characters have plummeted. All of the production’s elements, from the use medieval speech patterns to the observation of a knight-serf social caste system, set up a particularly well-observed world in which the performance takes place.

While there is originality and imagination in abundance, Sword of Maximum Damage is not an easily accessible play. Anyone unfamiliar with D&D, Pokemon or World of Warcraft will be completely at a loss to understand what is going on. Little explanation is offered as to events and terminology while the density of the writing takes some of time to adjust to. This is remedied to a degree by the referee character, whose disdain for the game acts as an anchor to those new to the D&D format – though not enough for the audience to properly catch up.

This complaint aside, Sword of Maximum Damage is a strong, inventive production which is both funny and well-conceived.