4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane
A kaleidoscopic meditation on the unbearable intensity of life.

20% discount if purchased before April 1.

Speculated by many to be the greatest of all American musicals, Gypsy tells the story of the dreams and efforts of one hungry, powerhouse of a woman to get her two daughters into show business. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoir of famous striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, entitled Gypsy: Memoirs of America's Most Celebrated Stripper. The memoir and the musical focus on the story of Gypsy Rose Lee's mother, Rose, and earned Rose a place in the theatrical and literary canon as the quintessential, archetypal "Stage Mother."

The musical features songs that have become standards of the musical theatre canon, including "Some People," "Let Me Entertain You," "Rose's Turn," and the show-stopping, "Everything's Coming Up Roses".

Memory is incomplete. A puzzle. Every experience, every treasured relationship, they’re pieces. And throughout our lives, we search for missing pieces – in ourselves, in those we love, in nowhere.  Maybe we’re lucky – maybe we recover these pieces. But there is still a long way to go, a long journey until we complete our own puzzle.

In Little Pieces, celebrated choreographer Dominic Wong with his creation team, stage designer Yuen Hon-wai and lighting designer Low See Hoe, explore possibilities – in costume, stage design, lighting, choreography – guiding the audience, encouraging them to complete their own puzzle.

Rachmaninov’s darkly romantic second concerto is at the heart of this programme, which also features the best-loved good cheer of Glinka’s romantic couple Ruslan and Ludmila. Then Jun Märkl conducts a different kind of concerto, composed by Bartók to showcase the whole orchestra.

Hailed as “the theatrical event of the century” in 1985, The Mahabharata was a nine-hour epic based on the world’s longest poem. Its compilation of myths, legends and folklore told the history of ancestral India, thrilling audiences around the world for four years.

30 years on, Brook and his original collaborators return to The Mahabharata in this adaptation for contemporary audiences. With its multi-ethnic cast and based on the same rich language and astonishing stories, Battlefield gives theatrical expression to mankind’s greatest dramas and deepest struggles. It shows how today’s harsh conflicts reflect ancient history, and promises to be a landmark event for the HKAF, and for Hong Kong.

The power of words links two hit shows from Belgium’s SKaGeN company, performed by the astonishing Valentijn Dhaenens.
 
BigMouth is a crash-course in the art of rhetoric, interweaving fragments of speeches by famous figures from ancient Greeks to Hitler, from the Grand Inquisitor to Martin Luther King, Osama Bin Laden, Mohammad Ali and George W. Bush, into one frightening whole. Dhaenens employs not just his voice but his entire body to show the good, bad, and downright ugly sides of mankind through the ages, revealing the magic of oratory as an irresistible force of persuasion. Songs by Nirvana and others tell their own stories as BigMouth examines justice, war, racism and retribution in a monodrama where past and present are in a constant dialogue.

A topical new play commissioned by the HKAF, Chinese Lesson looks at Hong Kong students and their responses to issues of the day.

This is a classroom drama about a Chinese language teacher and his six final year students who are about to take their university entrance exams. The production draws its materials from workshops and interviews with secondary school and university students. Co-playwrights Tang Chi-kin and Chan Kwun-fee create a no holds barred portrayal of youth and how they see the future of our city, history, literature, cultural confrontations and authority.

From Italy, a show that explores (with its audience) the slow metamorphosis which transforms a chrysalis into a butterfly.

Performed in English, partly with Chinese subtitles

Choreographers’ Showcase serves as a platform for The Hong Kong Ballet dancers to present their creativity, ideas and accumulated dance experience. This tradition dates back to the early 1980s. This year, this platform extends to other emerging choreographers, providing a fresh experience, intended to celebrate and embrace their views about our home – Hong Kong.

This year's choreographers include Kenneth Hui Ka Chun, Li Jia-bo, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Jonathan Spigner, Yui Sugawara, John Utans and Yang Hao.

Three Eureka Moments in One Show!

Now in their thirties, Victor Fung, Lai Tak-wai and Bruce Wong demonstrate their ideas in a series of new works. Three completely different choreographers share their eureka moment in diverse styles of contemporary dance.