Reviews
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Review-Not Funny-Hong Kong Stories7-3-14
If a good story must have a beginning, middle and an end, this one must be told. It begins on a chilly evening at 15, Elgin Street, Central inside The Culture Club where a group of story enthusiasts are waiting to listen to some eager story tellers. One by one, each storyteller takes the microphone and pours out their hearts. The stories are real events from their lives; anecdotes of struggles, stitched with humor.
Review-Bullet Catch-Hong Kong Arts Festival7-3-14
It may not be a truth universally acknowledged but it’s one which I myself advocate: that a core function of drama is to allow each onlooker, cocooned in the security of the theatre, to suspend not only their disbelief but also the current cares of their day-to-day lives so they can instead share the more intensely in the jeopardy of those on stage, imagining how they themselves might cope if presented in real life with those same dilemmas.
Review-Amid the Clouds-Hong Kong Arts Festival2-3-14
This show is billed as a ‘powerful drama that turns asylum seekers from cold statistics into human beings, recording their trials and hardships with honesty and great feeling’. I disagree.
Review-Red Chamber in the Concrete Forest-Hong Kong Arts Festival1-3-14
Red Chamber in the Concrete Forest is not a good show. It’s a bad concept for a show, topped off with some terrible execution. It describes itself as “an empathetic view of three ladies of the night.” The show I was subjected to was hardly empathetic toward the female characters in the story.
Shows We're Reviewing in March1-3-14
We're currently knee deep in reviewing productions for Hong Kong Arts Festival. Have you had a chance to check out the shows we've reviewed so far?
Review-Battle of the Divas-Heidi Mak28-2-14
Battle of the Divas is a piece about 4 female singers who sing together in a group, get into a tizzy and then go into the musical-style singing equivalent of a rap battle. Each brings their own personality, background, baggage and style to the mix in the songs they deliver. The musical choices vary in style and tempo, some with audio accompaniment, some performed live on piano.
Review-Last Touch First-Hong Kong Arts Festival27-2-14
Only one word is really needed – mesmerizing.
Review-A Midsummer Night's Dream-Hong Kong Arts Festival25-2-14
Bristol Old Vic and Handspring Puppet Company's A Midsummer Night's Dream is anything but your typical Shakespeare rom-com. They took the focus off the lovers in the story and instead drew our eye to the theatricality of the story and the tapestry of the world that Shakespeare creates. Handspring Puppet Company grew to fame a few years ago for building the stunning equestrian puppets in War Horse. They teamed up with the Old Vic for a small scale, puppet based Midsummer where the actors ended up being called "plankateers". Why, you ask?
Review-Trisha Brown Dance Company-Hong Kong Arts Festival23-2-14
As a mixture of bodies glided on stage, swirled in the air and found their way back on foot, the music surfaced with each repeated tune. Rhythmic hand movements were strung skilfully into foot patterns with both ease and precision.
Review-Mies Julie-Hong Kong Arts Festival22-2-14
This adaptation of the Strindberg classic Miss Julie, re-written and directed by Yael Farber, takes place in a post-apartheid kitchen where the power struggle between “owner and slave” takes place during a single broody Karoo night. There is a storm brewing and squatters on the farm and drinking and dancing, all leading to a deadly battle for Julie and John when the lines between love/hate and passion/power get crossed.
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