Since its inception in 1996, Ho Ying-fung’s Theatre Fanatico – the artist’s series of eclectic, ritual-like productions investigating the madness of the human condition – has stood out from the pack. The works of Ho have been described as abstract, intellectual, or, depending on who you asked, flat-out inexplicable. While delicately constructed and artistically accomplished, his lack of desire to tell a linear story and, ahem, entertain has made Ho a rather difficult figure for the theatre-going public to root for.

 

Which is just as well for the director, who prefers to call his productions “cultural events” or “theatrical poems”, rather than “plays”. On a similar note, he is bemused by the label ‘multimedia music theatre’ – or, you get the feeling, any label at all – that promoters have used to categorise his latest Chinese-language production, Heading West 2: The Curious Case of Sānzàng. “People come up with this phrase probably because those working in the drama field don’t think that I’m doing dramas,” says Ho in all seriousness, “and those working in the dance field also don’t think that I’m doing dances. But then life itself is multimedia. To me, theatre is just a platform to vocalise on a [cultural] phenomenon, out of necessity.”

 

Presented as part of the Silk Road Arts Festival, Ho’s latest work is a sequel of sorts to his 2002 production, Heading West, which was staged in response to China’s campaign to ‘Open up the West’. Its story – which takes a backseat to Ho’s intention to immerse his audience in the characters’ experience – revolves around the same four characters that Ho loosely adopted from the Chinese classic Journey to the West for the first production. The year is 2022, and the world is drowning in the madness of corporatisation. After the mysterious disappearance – and supposed murder – of the Monk Sānzàng character (here an archaeologist-turned environmental protection campaigner) in Gaochang, Xinjiang, his three travel companions are arrested. A Hong Kong lawyer, played by veteran actor Chan Chu-hei, is then nonchalantly hired to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses.

 

What follows is a surreal court hearing that progressively merges the seven witnesses with the lawyer’s personal demons – which may in fact be the archetypes commonly seen in a developing Chinese community. Through the use of monologues (instead of dialogues), the show contemplates the effects of economic development and material prosperity on the conditions of modern life, often at the costs of our spiritual wellbeing. “I’m more interested in Sānzàng the historical figure [than the fictional character],” Ho explains. “With his self-determination, he took 17 years to complete the pilgrimage to India in search of the Buddhist scriptures, despite the risk of being punished by death. In Buddhist culture, the name Sānzàng represents historical heritage, natural order, and dialectic enquiry. What do we do if we have none of these in our world?”

 

Being a champion of ‘total theatre’, Ho sees the art form as an ensemble – an organic, constantly evolving whole that relies on interaction between the collaborators to “cultivate a form of cultural energy”. On the evidence of what we’ve seen at their rehearsal session, it’s safe to say that a lot of thought has gone into the production: what looked like a group of people moving around in a trance was followed by a lengthy discussion among the cast members, touching on topics ranging from personal experience, current affairs, to world history. As Ho explains after the rehearsal, he has “broken down” several scenes that his actors have been rehearsing, so they can find out their characters’ respective backgrounds through improvisation.

 

In the director’s opinion, the local theatre scene should be offering more liberty to its actors to act as cultural critics. “I don’t believe that acting is only acting,” says Ho, “that’s meaningless. Through their ‘action research’ on stage, the actors should be dissecting ideologies, and examining life values of the characters in specific situations. I think intellectualism is important. If we cut off our show from the actors’ personal history, the things they read, the lives they lead, it’d be a big problem.”

 

Ho’s current capacities as a freelance lecturer and the organiser of educational art forums have also alerted him to the ways that critical thinking is being undermined in our society. It’s no surprise, then, that his work demands as much independent judgment from each of those in attendance. “The audience is a conglomeration of individuals,” he emphasises, “so why do we often lose our own attitudes when we’re in a mass? In our culture, we’re usually relying on those around us to endorse our thinking. The media hypothesise what the readers want; [but] to me, I never think about what my audience want.”

 

Perhaps aware that he’s just defied the logic of most of his professional counterparts, Ho adds with a smile, “I’m not taking part in a commercial investment here. The audience can decide by themselves whether to choose me.” Now let the thinking begin.

 

Heading West 2: The Curious Case of Sānzàng is at Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium on Friday 16 and Saturday 17. Performed in Cantonese and Putonghua, with English and Chinese surtitles for the singing parts only.