Preview- Love's Labour's Lost- Shax Theatre
23-3-17
The buzzing team of Shax Theatre is back on stage with their first production of 2017. They decided to remain faithful to their love of Shakespeare by presenting another comedy by The Bard, Love's Labour's Lost, which they have reset in the Swinging Sixties.
The decision to stage this particular play came from artistic director Rosalind Wong. "We have decided to produce one of The Bard’s lesser-known plays last year (The Two Gentlemen of Verona). This year's choice came organically; we thought of staging another of his not-as-famous comedies and bring it to the attention of the youth here in Hong Kong." she says "LLL's story is also very entertaining itself - the courtship between four guys and four girls is always going to be amusing. The plot itself makes it very different from his other plays when usually one hero and heroine are the primary focus in the story".
The young theatre company decided to set the play in the Swinging Sixties because of its fun and party-like atmosphere. The 1960's were a period when the entire world was crazy about music and fashion, and everyone was united by visual culture mainly through television. "The production is a celebration of how far we all got since the world wars: finding a common connection through a shared love of music and play."
Shax has begun its Shakespearean tradition out of love for literature; the students that are now actively contributing to this dramatic scene have continued the company's custom by offering plays written by The Bard. "We have considered doing non-Shakespearean scripts," the group says "but the decisions are mostly not premeditated and so subject to whim as much as planning".
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Love's Labour's Lost promises to be incredibly groovy and entertaining: together with funky settings and colourful costumes, the group is also featuring two bands, Beatles for Sale and Riana Doss. "The arrangements were composed by the musical groups themselves in collaboration with our music directors Hillary Leung and Tang Ho Fung, who also came up with two original compositions. We also owe credit to seasoned dance choreographer Mandy Petty for the multiple dance numbers in our play".
The play is co-directed by Rosalind Wong, producer and artistic director of the company, together with a new addition to the group, Stephanie Lau. Returning to the world of the theatre after a short hiatus, Stephanie joined Shax upon her return to Hong Kong from Canada. "We have a primarily fresh cast as well as crew this year, with some returning from last year".
As a group based in HKU, Shax celebrated the beginning of 2017 (which is also the second academic term for some of them) by chopping a roast pig and having “Semester Opening” dinner. According to their tradition, the inability to make a clean cut would result in a bad GPA at the end of the semester or simply bad luck in the coming year. Their post-productions bloopers will show who is destined to pass and who is not.
We can't wait to check out their show and adaptation! To find out more details about this production click here.
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