华艺节 :: 《13・67》

I made it to watch one show at Esplanade's Huayi (华艺节). That's 《13・67》, a multimedia theatre production in Cantonese staged by Hong Kong experimental theatre group Zuni Icosahedron (進念・二十體面). The theatre group's funding comes mainly from the HKSAR government. (Wow. Not a surprise there. It means their programming and content is scrutinized and uhhh... approved.)

The play is directed by the company's co-Artistic Director Mathias Woo (胡恩威), and the main storyline has been adapted from author Chan Ho-Kei's (陳浩基) crime novel 'The Borrowed' (originally published in Chinese in 2014 titled '13・67'). 

The English version titled 'The Borrowed' is translated by Jeremy Tiang and published in 2017. It's a collection of six short stories (or novellas) following the exploits of Chief Inspector and Detective Kwan Chun-dok from 1967 to 2013 and his protege Detective Sonny Lok. Kwan's impressive and legendary prowess and career spanned 50 historic years in Hong Kong, against the backdrop of the 1967 riots, the 1977 HK Police and ICAC clashes, 1989 Tiananmen protests and massacre, the 1997 handover, SARS 2003 and beyond. 

This is a new-to-me book, and thankfully I managed to read it in time before watching the play. I was on the NLB waitlist for the book and only got a digital copy the night before the play. I sped-read through it to at least get a sense of the cases and the author's intentions. Thank gawwd it's in English. I can't speed-read in Chinese. Wow. The English translation is impressive. I think I'm just going to read all the books if they've been translated by Jeremy Tiang. Hehehehe. I intend to read it in its original Chinese too, when Kinokuniya has processed my order and delivers it. (Reviews of the book here, here and here.)

Zuni invited audiences to their The 1hr 45min play/musical/show that showcased 20 venues in Hong Kong following two main routes in the book — the kidnapping route and the bombing route. If I had known this earlier, or watched the show's September 2022 premiere in Hong Kong, I'd be able to explore the actual venues in person. In Singapore, all we could do was to check out the links, notes and photos of the actual venues mentioned. 

The set and the backdrop were the huge projector screen. Videos, clips, surtitles and its English translation, explanatory notes, graphics, etc. It was a multi-sensory show. multimedia, sound, projection and lighting effects made this a multi-sensory show.

Six cases, six murders. Notable years in Hong Kong history. This theater production didn't do these cases chronologically either, and switched up some of the scenes for brevity and ease of production. In the book, the cases begin with the one in 2013. These cases are titled 〈黑與白之間的真實〉 2013, 〈囚徒道義〉 2003, 〈最長的一日．The Longest Day〉 June 1997, 〈泰美斯的天秤．The Balance of Themis〉 1989, 〈Borrowed Place〉 1977, and 〈Borrowed Time〉 1967. 

I thought that the theatre production was done pretty well. Director Mathias Woo spoke in both Mandarin and English before the start of the show and at the end of the show — he addressed the audiences to explain why and how the production came to be, and he was very surprised but happy that such a small production got invited to perform in Singapore. I'm thankful too, that the Esplanade Huayi programming team chose this! He was very proud that arttech (defined as the coming together of art and technology) has been pretty successfully incorporated into this production. I agree. He did say that this production was initially done for school kids and teenaged students, to help them understand more about Hong Kong history and the underbelly of society. However, I thought it translates well to older audiences too, save for one case - 〈黑與白之間的真實〉.

The 2013 case 〈黑與白之間的真實〉 was done entirely as illustrated panels as though it's a graphic novel. No actors were onstage. Just music. The only problem I had with the panels being flashed one by one — I forgot what the previous panel said. I wanted to see four panels together on a screen! I bet you half the audience who didn't read the book didn't know what the case was beyond some rich family's fight over the will when patriarch was injured and comatose in hospital, and his subconscious brainwaves could only answer YES or NO to Detective Lok's questions. After the show, as we were strolling out of the theatre, I heard many people asking one another what was this case about. LOL For this specific adaptation that's done like a comic, only those who have read the book would know.