It’s likely that you are reading this review on a device containing components manufactured in one of the many giant factories that supply electronic components to the world’s major technology companies.

Njo Kong Kie performs I Swallowed a Moon Made of Iron. Photo © Dahlia Katz

I Swallowed a Moon Made of Iron opens with the image of a smartphone on a large screen centre-stage, and the face of the performer, Njo Kong Kie, appears on the phone.

He speaks to the audience in the manner of a friend on a video-call, and he makes clear that the manufacture of our phones and other electronic devices that we use daily comes at an incalculable human cost.

Performed in Mandarin, with Chinese and English surtitles shown on the screen, I Swallowed a Moon Made of Iron is a presentation by Njo Kong Kie of poems by Xu Lizhi, who committed suicide in 2014 at the age of 24.

Over four years before his suicide, Foxconn employee Xu Lizhi wrote some 200 poems, some of which had been published before his death. Canadian composer, director, performer and co-producer Njo has set a selection of Xu’s...