ffl r73 urn y IS w HONKG GCOINI G PLAYWDOTING IM ENGLIS H Edited by Mike Ingham and Xu Xi # m *. 9 £ i & *t HONG KON G UNIVERSIT Y PRES S Hong Kong University Press 14/F Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen Hong Kong © Hong Kong University Press 2005 ISBN 96 2 209 747 2 (Hardback ) ISBN 96 2 209 748 0 (Paperback ) All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storag e or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The works included in this book are reprinted by permission; copyrights remain with the individual authors unless otherwise indicated. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Dat a A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Secure On-line Ordering http ://w w w.hkupress. org Printed and boond by Liang Yu Printing Factory Ltd., Hong Kong, China. Contents Foreword vi i Dino MAHONEY Hong Kong-based English-language Theatre 1 Mike INGHAM There Are No Innocents Here 1 1 XUXi About the Playwrights 1 9 SECTION ONE: HON G KONG IDENTITY 2 3 Face 2 4 Veronica NEEDA Looking for Stones 3 8 Simon WU Chi-kuen and Dino MAHONEY The Life an d Times of Ng Chung Yin: A Hong Kong Story 7 1 MOK Chiu-yu and Evans CHAN Back to the Wall 9 4 Teresa NORTON and Nury VITTACHI Two Girls from Nga u Tau Kok 10 7 Amy CHAN and Janet TAM SECTION TWO: EXPATRIAT E IDENTITY 12 1 Gymnopedy 12 2 Dino MAHONEY The MacLehose Trail (extract) 17 6 Tom HOPE and Dave ANDERSON Amah Drama (extract) 19 5 Rob MCBRIDE vi Content s SECTION THREE: CHINES E IDENTITY 20 7 The Seventh Drawer (extract) 20 8 Hoyingfung The Naked Earth (extract) 21 5 Evans CHAN Millennium Autopsy 22 8 TANG Shu-wing and Peter SUART SECTION FOUR: LOSIN G IDENTITY 23 7 The Overcoat (extract) 23 8 Sean CURRAN and Bonni CHAN The Ivor Gurney Sho w 24 5 Piers GRAY The Yellow Wallpaper 25 6 Mike INGHAM and Jessica YEUNG Hong Kong: One Woman 26 5 Vicki OOI Hong Kong-based English-language Theatre Mike Ingham English-language Theatre in Perspectiv e It is intended here to provide an introduction to the topic of English-language theatre in Hong Kong as a general phenomenon, before introducing the selected plays for the present anthology. Since the late 1980 s there has been a tendency away from the hitherto exclusively expatriat e and British amateu r dramati c etho s towards a n arguably riche r an d more culturally divers e environment. In this more plural context, some English-language theatre in Hong Kong fro m the 1990 s onwards appears to be positioning itself within the site of Hong Kong-cultural and cross-cultural discourse. In a postmodern and post-colonial society this phenomenon is not in itself remarkable. But what is perhaps worthy o f note is the proliferation o f splinter group s and marginal, experimental companies employing mixed language and multimedia theatrical communication techniques, mostly within the last ten to twelve years. The present co-existenc e o f a clearly identifiabl e English-languag e mainstrea m an d a n increasingly exuberan t fring e theatre , in which language is not necessarily the predominan t medium of communication, affords som e exciting opportunities for development. At the same time, such diversity is a cause for concern in the battle for financial survival and viability, given the rapid socia l and cultural changes that are occurring in Hong Kong. More theatre groups appear to be competing for a shrinking audience. Furthermore, the existing audience base for theatre in general is being enticed away by an increasingly sophisticated array of entertainment choices to suit the convenience of the increasingly busy Hong Kong citizen. One of the main questions we wish to address by showcasing these plays must be this: How is Hong Kong English-language theatre reinventing itself in order to retain its audience base? And a second perhaps even more elemental question: Is its survival important or indeed necessary? Other questions that come to mind in connection with this anthology are as follows: Is there an y place fo r conventiona l play text-base d performanc e i n the current climat e o f devised an d heavily adapte d theatre work? Will contemporary audience s who are becoming increasingly accustome d t o professional, genre-base d actin g an d production style s tolerat e amateur or semi-professional theatre? Finally, to what extent is theatre discourse in Hong Kong a reflection o f a meaningful bilingua l and bicultural heritage? A Brief Historical Overvie w The history of British expatriate theatre in Hong Kong bears all the hallmarks of what is now termed cultural and linguistic imperialism. That is the assumption that the language and culture of the ruling political power , the colonizer, i s inherently superio r t o that o f the colonized . Throughout the British Empire in India and Africa, bu t interestingly muc h less s o in Hong Kong, the literary canon, with Shakespeare at its epicentre, was perceived by administrator s as an appropriate vehicle for promoting specifically Britis h cultural and linguistic values and 2 Mik e Ingham 'improving the minds' o f receptive locals, to make them more amenable to cultural influence. For colonial administrators the arts in general and theatre in particular were to be encouraged only insofar a s they maintained the status quo. Any challenge to existing power relations in the best subversive traditions o f Western theatre from Euripide s to John Osborne and Sara h Kane was unthinkable. In Hong Kong from the mid-nineteenth century onwards the formative role of the military in the development o f amateur English theatre as a form o f entertainment and diversion fro m the routine o f arm y lif e i s significant. Th e roots o f English-language theatr e in Hong Kon g can be traced back t o entertainments an d burlesques fo r arm y entertainment wit h a strong element of officer an d army wife participation. Much of the early theatre consisted o f circus- type acts fo r th e recreation o f the military stage d i n rudimentary an d temporary premises , 'matshed theatres' as they were known. As early as 1850s there are records of play productions by the Garrison Theatricals, including unname d farce s an d operettas. In 185 9 the Garriso n Theatricals gav e a performance o f a piece entitled Medea — or the Best of Mothers with a Brute of a Husband, which went ahead despite part of the ad hoc theatre catching fire! 1 From th e mid-1860s onwards , i t was als o common fo r visitin g Britis h nav y ship s t o entertain the Hong Kong British community wit h comic revues, burlesques an d short plays. These would be performed either at the City Hall or in military barracks in makeshift theatres. However, there appears to have been little indication from the cosy, safe an d fundamentall y nostalgic form s o f entertainmen t tha t a theatrical revolution, spearheade d b y controversia l iconoclasts lik e Ibsen an d Shaw , was occurrin g i n the motherland. Othe r Shakespearea n burlesques an d theatrica l entertainment s fo r th e English-speaking communit y include d productions o f comedies, such as a locally acclaime d 191 3 production o f Twelfth Night an d the 192 3 production o f The Tempest, both b y the Amateur Dramatic Club. The attention t o visual effects, detail s of costume, set and lighting, which are referred t o in the contemporary China Mail reviews, as well as the tendency to include cameo ballet sequences, attest to lavish expense and abundant financial and manpower resources. Moreover, such grandiose large-scale productions wer e i n keeping wit h Edwardia n Shakespeare , whic h retrospectivel y seem s nostalgically sentimental , jejune an d romantically precious . This focus o n form an d look at the expense of content and ideas in the plays has been the curse of Hong Kong Shakespeare, both Chinese an d English, right up to the present time, reinforcing Pete r Brook's argumen t in his book, The Empty Space, that nowhere does Deadly Theatre (i.e. stale, cliched theatre ) insinuate itself more than in Shakespeare productions. It seems that what expatriate amateur theatre in Hong Kong from th e mid-eighteenth t o mid-nineteenth century , as in other outposts o f the Empire, excelled i n was presenting ligh t entertainment to while away the dull routine of military and administrative duty. Not only did military officers an d their wives form the nucleus of performers an d backstage crew but also civil servants . The unlikely even t o f an y director s o r actors wishin g t o make politicall y sensitive commen t o n the colonial statu s qu o i n Hong Kon g through Englis h theatr e wa s prevented by the restrictions enshrined in the code of conduct for Crown officers. Durin g the Japanese incursions int o China i n the 1930s , agitprop companies an d productions i n Hong Kong proliferated.