Faerie Tales: 香港話劇團 :: 鄭國偉的《最後晚餐》

Still from the Facebook page of Hong Kong Repertory Theatre (香港話劇團).

One final play from the M1 Chinese Theatre Festival (M1 華文小劇場節). Another depressing number- Hong Kong Repertory Theatre's 'The Last Supper', written by Matthew Cheng (鄭國偉). The sole reason of watching this play was because it was performed in Cantonese. With English and Chinese surtitles lah. Although the humor would be best appreciated in Cantonese. Watch enough Hong Kong drama serials, and it's that similar emotional tugging mixed with disbelief that people's fortunes can be so terrible. 似港劇，劇情能有多慘就被写得多慘。所謂荒唐之中的現實並不是那麼不可思議的。往往現實更荒謬。

It was the mother and son's reunion after years of estrangement, and a last supper before thoughts of a joint suicide, depicting the struggle of the Hong Kong people who live in poverty, and through the play, explore mother and son's rocky relationship. In the end, they decided that they shouldn't be killing themselves, and it was the root of their troubles they should eliminate, i.e. the father/husband. Woohoo. This 'evil man' arrived at the end. I thought he would be killed. But naaah. The son used the knife to violently cut an orange instead. Back to square one. The pain.

香港話劇團編劇鄭國偉的《最後晚餐》－事業、家庭、愛情皆失意的青年周國雄，在找不到出路之下，決定燒炭自殺，在最後一次與母親共進晚飯期間，發現母親亦有自殺跡象，二人抑壓了多年的苦衷，就在這晚傾吐出來。輕柔淡塑的母子之間极細緻卻濃烈的感情，更道出香港現代草根階層的滄桑和無奈。

Directed by Fong Chun Kit (方俊杰), curated by Fung Wai Hang (冯蔚衡) and produced by Marble Leung (梁子麒), the 110-minute play was peppered with black humor. Like 爛gag笑話。The two actors were fantastic! Acting together since 2011 in so many shows, they had wonderful chemistry. The son was played by Lau Shau Ching (劉守正); the mother was played by Lui Si Lan (雷思蘭). The writers and producers believed that that it would be easy for audiences from different countries to identify with the struggles and problems faced as these are universal issues as people slip between the cracks of society, In an interview, Curator Fung Wai Hang said,

此剧的本质仍属于写实风格，所以观众看上去与一般写实主义的戏剧看似相近，然而全剧却布满了黑色荒诞的幽默和尖刻的讽刺。剧中的停顿，欲言又止的张力，两母子之间极为微妙的关系，真实得过于细致的布景，都是邀请观众用细腻的触觉去欣赏和经历。像剥洋葱一样，层层剖开后，带出一阵阵荒诞又荒凉的人生片段，故事也有出人意表的结局，提供给观众强大的共鸣感之余，也开放一个思考的空间。

Apparently that pot of pork and carrot soup (青紅蘿蔔煲豬骨湯) was for real. Like someone boiled it up backstage. Wahhh. The play concluded with a song by deceased Cantopop superstar Leslie Cheung which roughly translates into 'Who Understands/Empathizes'. 張國榮的《有誰共鳴》 SO EMO LAH. So if you were the mother or son, would you rather kill the husband/father? Such is the harshness of life. We, who have everything, and many who have nothing. In comparison, we live in a privileged world, emotional baggage notwithstanding.

We left the play with so much sadness in our hearts. Opted not to go for drinks. Piled into F's car since she was dropping all of us home. On the slow drive to the first stop, she put on the same Leslie Cheung song. Ahhh. Memories. Considering we came from different secondary schools (and different types, if you will) somehow, unsurprisingly, we all know the lyrics.