• Stage Home
• What's On
• Features
• 
• 
• Bookmark this site

Hong Kong theatre is getting a timely boost from an unlikely source. Bourree Lam reports.

A monumental event is coming to the Hong Kong theatre scene: Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG)’s full-blown production of Art, the Molière award-winning play by Yasmina Reza. This marks the black comedy’s third run in Hong Kong – the first two were produced by the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre. Now the play returns with the same director, Weigo Lee, and a whole new cast, including TV star and celebrity stand-up comedian Dayo Wong, as well as theatre powerhouses Tang Wai-kit and Chan Suk-yee.

But let’s not forget that the EEG is best known for taking wide-eyed teenagers and turning them into billion dollar cotton candy pop stars (such as Twins, Edison Chen, and Joey Yung, to name but a few). So what the hell is going on? Now the entertainment giant has taken to theatre? What did the Cantopop star factory have in mind when it decided to take on this high-brow French play about the virtues of friendship and the definition of art in our post-modern world?

After calling Emperor Entertainment for some answers, it seems the explanation lies with a young man by the name of Alex Fung. The general manager of the Emperor Concert and Show Division is an Academy for Performing Arts alum, and a closet theatre buff. He explains this seemingly mind boggling situation: “Dayo and I have been friends for a long time, we’ve always wanted to collaborate, and this time it all came together.”

Dayo Wong, the edgy comedian with a theatrical past, is an unusual Hong Kong celebrity armed with a degree in philosophy and classic theatre training; he was even part of the HK Rep back in the days before he starred in TVB series, films, and stand-up shows. Standing like a lone cowboy in a fedora, face covered by retro black horn-rimmed glasses, with a cup of Starbucks joe in hand, the actor stands out in the Kowloon Bay rehearsal space where the gang has set up shop for the past month and a half. “I’ve wanted to do this production for a while,” he reveals. “Alex wanted me to do my stand-up, but I didn’t want to re-run my show. So I suggested this.”

Though Art has seen two runs already by HK Rep, Fung and Wong’s vision is that they can do it better by adding some commercial elements and star power to the cast. Tang and Chan are both well respected theatre actors, and Lee has not only won numerous awards but he was also the director both of HK Rep’s previous productions of the play. Fung and Wong bought the rights to the script and a reinterpretation was in order, adding Hong Kong elements to give HK Rep a run for their money.

Tang is confident that the formula will work: “It’s not easy to do a show in Hong Kong,” says the actor. “We have a dream team here. From the investors to the actors, it’s all in place.”

And it seems that there’s little beef with HK Rep that EEG is putting on the play that they’ve already done – twice. Anthony Chan, artistic director of HK Rep, predicts that the play will do well due to EEG’s foolproof formula of star power plus big venue plus huge promotion campaign. “HK people love stars,” says Chan. “I have no idea what approach [EEG] will take, but Wong and the others are really great performers.”

Right now, all signs point towards the show’s success; Art has 13 performances slotted at the APA’s Lyric Theatre and all low to mid-price tickets have already sold out. “No one is trying this in the market,” points out Fung. “We’re giving the people something new and it will draw attention to theatre.”

Is theatre really the new pot of gold for the Cantopop empire? Maybe so, as one extra element adds up to help this serendipitous production come together: for the past two months and until the end of the year, the Hung Hom Coliseum has been under construction, forcing entertainment groups such as EEG to think of new ways of making money as the venue for big cash cow pop concerts hangs up its out-of-service sign. “People are bored with the same concerts with the same stars anyway,” says Fung.  “Theatre is coming up all over the world and in Hong Kong, too,” adds Weigo Lee. “Everyone is seeing the opportunity. If we do it right [this time], it’ll really change the theatre world. It’s a great thing, if we succeed, it will open a lot of gateways.”

Amen to that. The conditions are ripe; let’s hope that Hong Kong will take the bait and cause investors and stars to finally take theatre seriously in this town.

Art opens Wed 3 at the APA Lyric Theatre and runs until Sat 13. Visit www.hkticketing.com for tickets and details.