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Plays, comedy shows and dance in Hong Kong
Did you chain yourself to Queen’s Pier when it was being torn down by the government? Or are you a property tycoon hoping to make another multimillion-dollar deal? Perhaps you’re a proud Hongkonger watching the gradual shrinking nature of our harbour with a feeling of silent dread. Whoever you are, the frantic construction and destruction of our cityscape has become one of the most hotly debated issues of our times – so it is with impeccable timing and relevance that the closing show of the New Vision Arts Festival hits the stage this month.
The Will to Build is a piece of verbatim theatre by Hong Kong’s very own Theatre Du Pif in collaboration with Scottish dramaturge Liam Hurley and award-winning British multimedia collective Burst TV. The bilingual drama weaves together fragments of actual interviews with 27 groups and individuals who have been involved in the past and present of Hong Kong’s changing landscape, from former colonial ruler Sir David Akers-Jones, to property tycoon Shih Wing-ching, feng shui masters, cage men and bar-benders. “It’s the Hong Kong story, from the barren rock to the most densely populated place on Earth,” explains cast member Morgan Gadd. “What does it mean to live in a place like this? What are the forces that are active?”
This is the first time that verbatim theatre has been staged in the city. The form originates in the UK, where it has become popular in recent years for its use of people’s actual spoken testimonies, often giving a voice to the powerless. David Hare’s 2003 work The Permanent Way was a critical success for the way it tackled the controversial topic of the British government’s privatisation of railways – which was leading to increasing accidents – by interviewing all the parties involved and bringing light to the debate. More recently, Robin Soans’ stellar 2005 Talking to Terrorists brought an array of angles to the controversial topic, and instead of offering a moral conclusion the play was left open for the audience to cast their own judgements.
What makes The Will to Build so compelling? We have seen head-on clashes of opinion in Hong Kong when it comes to the question of tearing down heritage sites and building new roads, yet this drama creates a space in which the various perspectives can converge without an enforced conclusion. It also offers audiences an intriguing education on how Hong Kong has come to be the way it is. Sean Curran, a co-founder of Theatre Du Pif, points out that, while we may be very aware of our own views on the destruction of heritage sites, not everyone thinks alike. “You ask me, do you want a nice harbour?” he says. “We say yes, of course we do. But there are also other voices who say why not build another road, if you build a road, I can get a job and it can bring money into my family.”
These perspectives are brought to life by a cast of seven in intense physical theatre, with the progressive multimedia effects of British Burst TV, whose work has ranged from Pet Shop Boys tours to the English National Opera. Having spent close to a year collecting the spoken testimonies of 27 groups and individuals, writer and director Bonnie Chan has worked closely with Glasgow-based Hurley in weaving the many viewpoints into a narrative that winds through five themes: space, pace, functionality, spirituality, and identity.
“You could attempt to come to a logical conclusion in terms of writing a paper on the subject, but I think the role of a piece of art is to not come to any closed off perspective,” argues Hurley, who says he aims “to open up the box of all the different perspectives and confront the audience.” If he succeeds, The Will to Build promises to be one of the most enlightening plays of the year.