Since its opening in 2018, Tai Kwun has presented two Theatre Seasons and Dance Seasons, creating a new platform and fertile ground for performing arts in Hong Kong. Entering the third year, the essence of the past Theatre Seasons and Dance Seasons will be merged into a multi-genre Performing Arts Season: SPOTLIGHT. True to the title, we will be putting the spotlight on Hong Kong, on Tai Kwun, and on local artists!
Among the array of programmes in each season, we always make sure that at least half of them are original productions by talented local artists. This is our dedication to establishing in-depth and long-term collaborative relationships with local artists. By providing performance and rehearsal spaces for research and development, artists are offered the capacity and freedom to think and explore while developing full-length works with opportunities for re-runs. It is our vision to facilitate a favourable environment for artists to create substantial works with depth while encouraging continuity and progression.
We are also privileged with Tai Kwun’s unique venues and outdoor spaces, which enables us to complement the offerings in Hong Kong’s performing arts scene: producing works that are small to medium in scale, non-conventional in nature, and with emphasis on audience engagement. The experiences and feedback over the past two years proved that we are in the right direction: local audiences have been craving for different forms of performing arts, with “participation” being a key element in curating the best arts experience possible for the audience.
Among our spotlight features is This Victoria Has No Secrets…For Now created by a cappella theatre group Yat Po Singers with composer Ng Cheuk Yin, lyricist Chris Shum and director Yuri Ng. Initially commissioned by Tai Kwun as our Opening Programme in 2018, the work will make its triumphant return this year with an outdoor version at the Parade Ground, inviting the audience to reminisce on the laughter and melancholy of our city together.
Another spotlight is A Poem in Jail, an immersive theatre tailor-made for Tai Kwun by theatre director and playwright Yan Pat To, who collaborates with media installation artist Kingsley Ng and lyricist Chow Yiu Fai. Inspired by a poem found in a woman’s cell at Victoria Prison, the work takes the audience down a memory lane, witnessing the changes of Tai Kwun, Central and the city, then and now.
Shifting the spotlight to our two dance productions, choreographers Wong Pik Kei Rebecca and Joseph Lee will showcase their artistic growth through two full-length works Under∞Line and Unfolding Images : We Are Spectacles respectively, where they will reflect on their understanding of absurdity and boundary in the society. These works are developed from their durational works in The Message behind the Wall in 198491, commissioned by Tai Kwun Dance Season 2018.
In addition to the four productions presented by Tai Kwun, two partnership programmes will enrich this Performing Arts Season, including Virtuosity: A Solo Violin Recital by Patrick Yim and CONG X ROMER: String QuartetS Recital by the Romer and Cong Quartet. More importantly, the two concerts will mark the world premieres of four original compositions by local composers Austin Yip, Chan Kai Young, Daniel Lo and Joyce Tang.
We look forward to you joining us this April and May, as we truly shine the spotlight on Hong Kong, to revel in the here and now of the arts with our exceptional performing arts programmes.
