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The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD)'s Re-run Run Shows series will present Poon Wai-sum's "Spiders in Meditation" for the third time in Hong Kong starting next month. The play has also been staged in Beijing and Taipei to great local acclaim.
"Spiders in Meditation" is the last entry in Poon's insect series, and of his many works it is the one that has successfully travelled the furthest. The play was premiered by Prospects Theatre in 2001, with a re-run the following year. In 2009, at the invitation of the Dˆ¢sseldorfer Schauspielhauses (Dˆ¢sseldorf Theatre Complex), it was taken to the Contemporary Chinese Theatre Festival, where a German version of the script was given a stage reading. Later that year, the play was invited to take part in "Neue Dramatik: China/Deutschland", organised by the Goethe-Institut (Peking) in Beijing, where a Putonghua version of the Chinese script was given a stage reading. The play was also included in the Juben Zazhi, a magazine that publishes scripts, in 2010. Underlining the work's popularity, while Thˆmatre du Rˆ§ve Expˆmrimental was in the process of staging "Spiders in Meditation" in Beijing earlier this year, the Mobius Strip Theatre of Taipei staged it at the International Theatre Festival held in Taipei in June.
Commenting on his work, playwright and director Poon said, "The production was initiated in Hong Kong by Prospects Theatre. It is our pleasure to be one of the presentations of the LCSD's Re-run Run Shows. This year, with perfect timing, we staged the production in Hong Kong, Taipei and Beijing in different Chinese dialects. We always try to do our best!"
The story is centred on an urban forest where tall buildings stand shoulder to shoulder, creating a collage of myriad lights and a sprawling wasteland with their rooftops. Four homeless nobodies find their pied-ˆj-terre on one of them. With the stars above and humanity below, they survive under the most basic living conditions. Their highest aspiration is to fly from one rooftop to another, from this side to the other side. They do their best to offer the mortal world their mortal wishes, leaving a lone spider to meditate on their rooftop realm.
Performing are Li Wing-lui, Chan Wai-chung, Tsang Ho-lam and Wong Tin-yan (from Macau).
"Spiders in Meditation" by Prospects Theatre will be staged in Cantonese at 8pm on August 31 and September 1 (Friday and Saturday), and at 3pm on September 1 and 2 (Saturday and Sunday) at the Theatre, Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre. Tickets priced at $180 and $120 are now available at all URBTIX outlets, on the Internet and by telephone credit card 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 available on a first-come, first-served basis.)
For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7325, or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/theatre/000003b1.html. For ticketing enquiries, please call 2734 9009. For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For Internet bookings, please visit www.urbtix.hk.
Ends/Friday, July 20, 2012
Issued at HKT 13:24
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