Reviews
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Review-Sleeping Beauty-Hong Kong Ballet16-3-13
Settling into my seat at the Sha Tin Town Hall a few minutes before the show started, I got chatting to the two men next to me. This being my first time at a Hong Kong Ballet performance, I was surprised by the lack of an orchestra pit. I wondered if this was normal for the company, so I asked the men if they’d ever been before. I couldn’t have chanced upon two better neighbours for a first-time HK ballet experience, it turned out they were ex-dancers who had retired from the company a year ago.
Review-Smear-Hong Kong Arts Fest16-3-13
A play about a play which is slammed for being (literally and metaphorically) a ‘sell-out’ by a critic (who’s also a playwright) who is then sued for libel by the play’s actor/director/producer – what more explicit warning could this critic have that he pans this particular production at his peril?
Review-Hand Stories-Hong Kong Arts Fest14-3-13
Yeung Fai is a good man with his hands, especially when they’re tucked inside a traditional Chinese glove puppet or two. As was his father, his grandfather, great grandfather, back through 5 generations… And the stories told in this show are of that family, reflecting on how these hand-to-life skills have had to change with the changing times, leading him and his father to leave their native Taiwan looking for new audiences for a new age.
Review-Bothanica-Hong Kong Arts Fest13-3-13
For those of you who haven’t seen a production by the ‘dance-illusionist’ company, MOMIX, make sure you find some time to see them, but buy the cheap seats. There are a few reasons you should buy the cheaper seats:
Review-BLAST-Hong Kong Arts Fest9-3-13
BLAST sets out to be a shit play. Which is to say, it revolves around shit. The shit we put up with from the people we live with. The shit we create. The shit that showers on us from a great height. The shit that just happens.
Review-Einstein on the Beach-Hong Kong Arts Fest9-3-13
Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass is continually voted one of the most prolific pieces of theatre in the past thirty years, but it's an epic experience that you need to prepare yourself for. I've been lectured on this show several times in college and wanted to see the beast. It's been on my bucket list for years so I was quite excited to see it come to Hong Kong. I also really enjoy Robert Wilson's direction and his designs. I saw his Three Penny Opera two years ago and loved it.
Review-Chinglish-Hong Kong Arts Festival7-3-13
Chinglish is a comedy by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang about an Ohio businessman, Daniel Cavanaugh (Alex Moggridge), who went to Guiyang in China to gain a contract for his sign company and all the misadventures of misunderstanding and miscommunication between cultures that he experienced in doing so. The show, directed by Leigh Silverman, opened on Broadway on October 27, 2011 to critical acclaim and was performed in English and Putonghua with smartly placed and translated English surtitles projected.
Review-Accidental Death of an Anarchist-NAIAD Productions6-3-13
Last night, I was allowed a peek behind the curtains, so to speak, as the six ensemble members, led by their Freshman Director and Producer Lara Genovese, were putting the final moments together for their preview performance. It was clear that this group of artists worked collaboratively to bring this farcical political satire to life. This held true throughout their production.
Review-Rian-Hong Kong Arts Fest5-3-13
It’s not clear quite why (for possible reasons, see here), but it’s a cultural imperative of near-biblical power that Irish dancers dance with their arms at their side while their feet are going a mile a minute.
Review-Live Vibe-Live Vibe HK3-3-13
Live Vibe was reverberating with energy tonight. They not only managed to get the entire audience on their feet by the end of the show, they also managed to make us do the robot and dance in slow motion.
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