Shakespeare in Our Time: “King Lear” X “The Rape of Lucrece”

EVENT DESCRIPTION

SHAKESPEARE IN OUR TIME

The 1st Hong Kong International Shakespeare Festival (HKISF) originally scheduled for 2020 had to be postponed to 2022 due to pandemic. Thus, Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio brings a special presentation to you all, Shakespeare in Our Time, as the prelude of HKISF. It consists of two brand new Shakespeare’s productions: King Lear directed by Tang Shu-wing, a nonverbal theatre of gesture with whole female cast and Ng Wai Shek’s one-man show, The Rape of Lucrece (adapted for the stage based on the Bard’s poem).

?Shakespeare in Our Time: “King Lear”

King Lear decides to retire and asks his daughters to express their love in words in order to see who deserves the kingdom the most. Sincerity cannot be expressed through mouth while pretence is full of lies and beautiful words. A story starts on speech, inducing an exploration on theatrical arts.

Director Tang Shu-wing accidentally reads Tolstoy’s article – A Critical Essay on Shakespeare, a severe criticism on Shakespeare and King Lear. He feels excited because he can think and feel from another angle, and he is convinced that the greatest human pleasure is to keep learning under any circumstance.
If everything can start afresh, would the world be different? Although Tang cannot predict that, he knows: directing Shakespeare’s plays is always an unknown journey.

One day, he saw an old woman ready to cross the road with two bright little girls. He decided to have a whole female cast on this play.

**Nonverbal Theatre of Gesture**
**The running time of the performance is approximately 1 hour 30 minutes.**

?Shakespeare in Our Time: “The Rape of Lucrece”

One-man show performed by actor Ng Wai Shek, turning The Bard’s narrative poem into a highly concise performance!

Collatine, a Roman General, describes his wife, Lucrece, in glowing terms—she is beautiful and chaste, that Prince Tarquin’s passions were aroused. Tarquin goes to Lucrece’s chamber at night; rapes her and sneaks away. Lucrece named her rapist in front of her husband and father then immediately drew a knife from her bosom and stabbed herself.

The poem is not telling a story but the language of the rapist as well as the feeling of the victim. In collaboration with young musician, lighting and sound designers, Ng adapted the text into a one-man show, exploring what desire and reason is with the audience.

**The performance is conducted in Cantonese.**
**The running time of the performance is approximately 1 hour 15 minutes.**

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio
Founded in 2011 with a former name as No Man’s Land that was registered in 1997, Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio is a centre for theatrical research and creation. We believe that art is a platform for feeling and expression. The internal transformation within ourselves created by theatre is the most mysterious experience. Our minimalist body aesthetics is not confined by any single theory because the most joyful part of being an artist is to realise when to insist and when to open up. We create our works with specific artistic propositions through exploration of related practice. Until now, we have created 16 productions including “Titus Andronicus”, “Titus Andronicus 2.0”, “Detention”, “Thunderstorm”, “Why Aren’t You Steve Jobs?”, “Macbeth” (later renamed as “The Tragedy of Macbeth”), “Dead Man’s Cell Phone”, "Scenes from a Marriage" and "Larger Than Life". As a team, we support each other and purposely develop the younger generation in order to continue our mission. Apart from creation, we are consciously concerned about the next generation as well as the community. In 2014, we initiated “Physical Theatre Youth Training Programme", which has established a brand of theatre training. We launched the “Jockey Club Drama for Correctional Service Pilot Programme” in 2019, which is the first community theatre programme in Hong Kong facilitating rehabilitation of persons in custody through systematic and professional method.

As a recognition of its contribution and leading role in contemporary arts and culture, the Studio is named an "Eminent Arts Group" by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2019.