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English arts talent and former Hong Kong resident Peter Suart tells a story about Hong Kong in his multi-media show "Fragile", a one-man performance that is not to be missed.
"Fragile" is the fifth production in Peter Suart's "Eternity Cabaret" series, which started in Hong Kong in the 1990s. Suart is an illustrator, writer, musician and theatre actor from the UK, and was raised in Hong Kong and has spent half of his life here. He co-founded the Box, a theatrical music ensemble, with Kung Chi-shing in Hong Kong in 1987, and the group has presented numerous works including "Lockheadjig", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Bludbeard". Suart performs his own music and poetry in England with the Vaguely Stoat-like Intermediates. He also writes and illustrates the "Tik and Tok" books in Hong Kong, and illustrates classic fiction for the Folio Society in London.
In the summer of 1894, De Alexandre Yersin from Vietnam and Professor Shibasaburo Kitasato from Japan came to Hong Kong to assist the government in fighting an outbreak of the plague - an outbreak that was to spread across the world. Which one of them made the discovery of the bacillus was a matter of dispute at the time, but nonetheless the microbe was seen through the microscope. It was the first time anywhere in the world that the tiny organism, which for centuries had brought death and horror to millions of people around the globe, had yielded its identity to humanity's advancing technologies, thus opening the way to vaccines and an understanding of the disease's transmission.
"Fragile" considers the story of Dr Yersin, Professor Kitasato and the Hong Kong plague of 1894 in the wider context of disease, medical and optical science and religion, through poetic and theatrical imagery, text and recorded music. The result is grim, eerie and comic.
The one-man show "Fragile" by Peter Suart is performed in English with a little Cantonese and French, and is one of the attractions of the Boundless Multi-Media Series. It is being presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department at 8pm on September 30 and October 1 (Friday and Saturday) at the Shouson Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre. Tickets priced at $200 and $160 are available at all URBTIX outlets, on the Internet and by credit card telephone booking. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (limited tickets for CSSA recipients on a first-come, first-served basis). Group booking discount is available for the Boundless Multi-Media Series; please refer to the programme leaflet for details.
For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7323, or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/multi_arts/000002b9.html. For ticketing enquiries, please call 2734 9009. For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999. For Internet bookings, please visit www.urbtix.hk.
A post-performance talk (conducted in English and Cantonese) will be held after the show on September 30. Patrons are welcome to stay and join in.
Ends/Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Issued at HKT 16:24
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