Hongkongshima
Here “I” am, in this isolation ward in Hong Kong. There is no ‘if’. Everything that needs to happen, happened. I try to hold onto serenity and peace, remembering the past, piecing together, or conjuring an imaginary home with my fragmented memory: I’m home when I close my eyes.
There “He” is, a Hongkonger who left for Japan. He is always on the move, calling himself Hongkongshima, the guide, touring Japan in the stead of Hongkongers, walking the distance, taking the scenery in with his own eyes and broadcasting it all live from his phone. He is thinking of a home that has yet to be born. He can never get there and thus he can never leave.
I light the lamp and meet Hongkongshima.
Connected through the camera, they are on the same journey in search of Hongkongshima.
Hongkongshima maintains the multiple narrative structure of interwoven plot lines, the forte of Wu King-yeung. Written as a narrative, the script tells the story of a Hong Kong on an imaginary timeline that is plagued by an epidemic, where patients suffer from memory lapses. Both stranded in the isolation ward, “Sum” and “I” reach out to Hongkongshima, who is residing in Japan, and through his services of broadcasting trips he takes for clients on his phone, they revisit their lost past and memories, traversing between Japan and Hong Kong, dreams and reality, the truth and the false.
Distinct from The Phenomenon of Man: REVOLVER, the script of Hongkongshima adopts a multiple narrative structure, with the two narrators, Wong Hin-yan and Anson Chan, light-heartedly telling the story. Together with Lau Tsz-bun, they are also performing live music for the show. Through elements of Japanese culture, it presents the Eastern world view, and through leaping from dimension to dimension, it invites the audience to take on other points of view. Laying bare the inner landscape of Hongkongers in changing times, it is a search for refuge and sanctuary after chaos and a contemplation of the interrelationship between the external reality and our inner truth.
Creation and Production Team
* With kind permission of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
There “He” is, a Hongkonger who left for Japan. He is always on the move, calling himself Hongkongshima, the guide, touring Japan in the stead of Hongkongers, walking the distance, taking the scenery in with his own eyes and broadcasting it all live from his phone. He is thinking of a home that has yet to be born. He can never get there and thus he can never leave.
I light the lamp and meet Hongkongshima.
Connected through the camera, they are on the same journey in search of Hongkongshima.
Hongkongshima maintains the multiple narrative structure of interwoven plot lines, the forte of Wu King-yeung. Written as a narrative, the script tells the story of a Hong Kong on an imaginary timeline that is plagued by an epidemic, where patients suffer from memory lapses. Both stranded in the isolation ward, “Sum” and “I” reach out to Hongkongshima, who is residing in Japan, and through his services of broadcasting trips he takes for clients on his phone, they revisit their lost past and memories, traversing between Japan and Hong Kong, dreams and reality, the truth and the false.
Distinct from The Phenomenon of Man: REVOLVER, the script of Hongkongshima adopts a multiple narrative structure, with the two narrators, Wong Hin-yan and Anson Chan, light-heartedly telling the story. Together with Lau Tsz-bun, they are also performing live music for the show. Through elements of Japanese culture, it presents the Eastern world view, and through leaping from dimension to dimension, it invites the audience to take on other points of view. Laying bare the inner landscape of Hongkongers in changing times, it is a search for refuge and sanctuary after chaos and a contemplation of the interrelationship between the external reality and our inner truth.
Creation and Production Team
Script and Director
Wu King Yeung
Co-Director
Santayana Li
Dramaturg
Alex Cheung*
Cast
Sunny Yuen, Chau Ka Lun, Pearlmi Tam, Kong Ho Yin, Anson Chan, Wong Hin Yan
Live Music
Lau Tsz Bun, Anson Chan, Wong Hin Yan
Set and Costume Design
Suen Wing Kwan
Music and Sound Design
Wong Hin Yan
Lighting Design
Lau Ming Hang
Video Design
REMU
Lighting Design and Operator
Hui Wing Yan
Sound Operator
Cha Hin Ho
Stage Manager
Leung Hei Wa
Deputy Stage Manager
Lai Kam Shan
Assistant Stage Manager
Yeung Yi Ching
Producers
Emi Chai, Lai Yuk Lun
Promotion
Olivia Chan, Cheung Chi Ling
Ticketing
Lai Yuk Lun
* With kind permission of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
