Preview- The Light Dragon- Shakespeare 4 All

  5-4-17

 

By Orielle Jose

 

Shakespeare4all is proud to present The Light Dragon which will show at the Yuen Long Theatre from April 28 to April 30. Directed by resident artist Joshua Wolper, The Light Dragon brings together the past and the present, fantasy and reality, theatre and motion pictures. Through a chance encounter in the Kowloon Walled City Memorial Park, a local teenaged school student and a middle-aged foreign visitor share their connection to the neighbourhood and embark on an adventure that bends time and space, enabling them to explore the history and mythology around the Kowloon Walled City.

 

The Light Dragon is a fun and heartwarming story that explores friendship, perseverance, and the power of storytelling – all the while honouring the significance of our cultural heritage, and reminding us that the past is not always as distant as it seems.

 

Joshua Wolper’s approach has been grounded in research while playing with the boundaries of fantasy and non-fiction.  He also exhorted the actors to contribute ideas and share their thoughts. As well as being the director, Josh is also the playwright, which allowed the story to evolve in the workshopping and rehearsal process.

 

 

 

The cast involves a mixture of actors of different ages and background,  with an outstanding experience in education and a strong cultural understanding of Hong Kong. Because of the nature of the production that indeed mixes local culture and teaching, the production couldn't have a better-suited cast.  Mike Brooks, playing the part of Henry, has been seen in countless AFTEC and S4A productions over the last few years. Local talent Minna Cheung is also involved as Jenny, together with Samantha Yeung playing the part of Ho Je.

 

 

 

 

S4A’s latest project is a part of their on-going mission to bring enriching theatre into the lives of children. The theatre company is working to ensure that children in Hong Kong have the opportunity to experience dramatic arts that are created with them in mind, rather than giving them the theatre that adults think they should have. S4A don't see themselves as an educational theatre company, but they prefer to identify themselves as a children's theatre group.

"When working with and for children, education is a fundamental element because childhood is a time of learning!  We know that even the experience of watching a performance is beneficial to brain development, so we create fantastic, immersive work that stimulates the imagination as well as more traditional 'theatre in education' where our shows explicitly teach skills and concepts or English language."

 

 

Spending so much time with youngsters, at S4A there are lots of stories to share. "Part of the joy of working with children is that they are so full of surprises! Do you know what 'mondegreens' are? It's a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of hearing similar sounding words in the context- so we had a hilarious example of this in our recent Peer to Peer performance of Macbeth! Our Peer to Peer production involved kids performing Macbeth in a lavish professional produced show. We cast some wonderful young girls as the Witches, and their energetic and hypnotic chant of " Double, double toil and trouble" was soon picked up by other cast members who would sing along with the witches during the rehearsal.  Of course, the off-stage kids had not learned the words in the script and were just joining in the chant for the fun of it.  After a few sessions, we realised that they were in fact loudly and proudly shouting 'Double, double TOILET trouble.' I am sure Shakespeare wishes he had come up with that version of the spell himself!"

 

S4As The Light Dragon is open for bookings. Take your pick, as it promises to blend live action and cinema on stage, and history and fantasy in the story, and just as sensational for each show!

 
For order enquiries, please feel free to contact us at 2520-6232 or info@s4a.org.hk.

Public shows: April 28, 7:30pm, April 29, 2:30pm, April 30, 2:30pm

Ticket prices: $160, $80 (full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above and people with disabilities)


Comments

  • Raymond Lowe
    24 April 2017

    I'd really like to see this, I need to get organised enough to take the familiy along!

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