Review-Contempt 2014-Zuni Icosahedron
27-9-14
By: Lynn Gong
I walked into Grand Theatre expecting to rate Contempt 2014 by asking whether it was worth the money and time to attend and whether it would entertain the audience, as this is what most shows strive to achieve. It turns out, however, that this show refuses to be audience-oriented. Consistent with the director, Danny Yung’s previous experimental pieces, Contempt 2014 is almost all about theatre artists or actors. It was about showcasing the artists’ talent and about an artists’ reflections over politics, theatre and love.
At the beginning of the show, Danny Yung made a brief speech in which he said he would offer neither plots nor truth. Indeed, in this show, the audience loses their claim on forcing an actor into a certain role doing ‘authentic’ dialogues in a plausible plot. Artists are personifying artists themselves. This is most evident in a scene when an actor recounts his habit of writing in a notebook. He asks a series of questions: What is the relationship between content and form? I am in Hong Kong Cultural Theatre, what is culture? What is theatre? What is Hong Kong?
The whole production brings together many art forms. While theatre pieces tend to combine together various types of visual and aural devices to achieve the most powerful effect, Contempt 2014 seemed to deliberately dismantle art forms into constituent elements.
The breathtaking beginning of the show features a few scenes with almost no sound except really tiny ones, like the actors’ footsteps or the flapping of costumes against the breeze. In all the silence, the actors executed beautiful Kun Opera moves in perfection and precision without speaking a word. Towards the end, there were moments when only multimedia was presented with a line slowly moving forwards to form a screen frame. When singing parts and acting parts co-existed on stage they were usually not unified in one artists’ body. So you would hear one actress singing mesmerizing Kun Opera while you were watching another actor perform corresponding gestures in a feminine way.
I am most amazed to see that even separate, each element was completed with professional standards. For example, the Kun Opera singing, either in solo form or by several artists was accompanied by no background music. Yet, I felt all the Opera aficionados would have been greatly satiated by the performances in Contempt. This rather novel dismantling of art forms seems to symbolize the artists’ struggle with the content and the form while they seek out different ways of expression. The theatrical effect might be reduced but the overall effect was still very beautiful.
Experimental as it is, Contempt 2014 has simple yet beautiful staging. If you randomly took a shot of the stage, it would have made a remarkable photo. I liked the use of fog, which made the actors’ entrances totally unexpected. When the stage lighting (by Alice Kwong) hit the actor, it was stunning to see him/her surrounded by a dreamy mist; their stylized pose showing every fine detail of the costumes.
However, a serious issue is that the English surtitles were not working well. The screen with the surtitles only showed up a few times, leaving many monologues un-translated, and there was often a mismatch between the surtitle and scene on stage. I felt sorry for Non-Chinese speakers who were faced with screens showing irrelevant surtitles or who listened to Chinese monologues without being able to understand them.
Also, by having a production so artist-centered, the audience might find themselves too detached, distanced or impatient. There were many confusing parts regarding the setting and ‘real’ locations, something I didn’t really understand. That being said, I personally enjoyed the show and many of its experimental ideas.
Contempt 2014 is a theatre piece that asks many questions, especially about what everything is supposed to be like. If you fancy to take some slow but quality reflection time in Grand Theatre, or if you enjoy a bit of Kun opera, Contempt 2014 is definitely worth checking out.
Contempt 2014 is playing through September 27th. For more information, click here.
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