Artist of The Month- October- Richard Crawford

 

 

 

The biggest event of the upcoming theatre season is, no doubt, Secret Theatre. First started in New York with a performance in an abandoned factory building in 2008, the immersive theatre experience continues to bring original interactive pieces and to impress its audience all over the world. 

Talking to us is director Richard Crawford, who tells us more about his background and his vision behind his project. 

 

 

1. Name, Birthplace, age:

Richard Crawford - Scotland - 37 

 

2. How does where you were raised affect your work?

It makes me grateful and humble as this isn't a normal career path for someone originally from a small town in Scotland. 

 

 

3. Where did you train? 

LAMDA and the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York.

 

 

4. What is your favourite style of theatre? Why?  

I like all forms of theatre, especially new pieces of work. If it is original, then it's brave. It's exciting to see a new world premiere, to see an artist or company create something completely unique. Recent examples would be the play The Ferryman in London or even our current show which is an original. 

 

 

 

5. What was the best show you EVER saw?

I've seen many great shows but it's often the performance of an actor that stands out as great. Seeing Gillian Anderson's performance playing Blanche in "A Streetcar Named Desire" in London blew me away as did the performance of Richard Hardisty in the cult production playing the title role of Dick Biscuit at the Edinburgh Festival. 

 

 

6. What was the best show in HK you EVER saw? 

I haven't actually seen many shows in Hong Kong as there is not much on. Some of the cast of The House of Dancing Water came to my production of Fight Club in Hong Kong and invited us to see the show in Macau and gave us a backstage tour which was memorable and the show was spectacular. 

 

 

7. What piece of work are you the proudest?

I once wrote a show called Freakazoid about an insane artist who invites a crowd to his gallery where he claims to be living art. It was pretty mad and totally out there. We did it in New York, LA and London and some people loved it and some people walked out in outrage. I'm glad we took those risks creating shows like that. 

 

 

 

 

 

8. What is your process like?

Unorthodox. 

 

 

9. What is your dream project? 

I'd like to do an immersive show in space, where the audience is astronauts - we actually pitched it to Apple to sponsor, but the costs of running that show- well, they raised a few eyebrows. 

 

 

10. What do you think about the arts and theatre scene in Hong Kong?

We are just proud to be a part of it. This is our fourth show and I'm glad all our shows are very different. With the current climate it is more special as audiences are grateful as at least 50 International productions have pulled out of Hong Kong, but I was never put off. These are uncertain times for sure but we hope we are offering something unique, fun and inspiring in the city. 

 

For more information about Secret Theatre click here

 


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