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Four local veteran artists are collaborating to give birth to a new multimedia dance theatre production entitled "The Life and Death of Xiao Hong".
Some say Xiao Hong, one of the most gifted female Chinese writers, was a very lonely woman on a constant quest for a family she never had but yearned for, even at the cost of losing her pride. But from a more macro viewpoint, specifically the cultural history of China, she was an orphan of her time. She suffered various kinds of personal strife, loves and losses, and rose to a calling that took her on sojourns all over China during the 1930s, finally arriving in Hong Kong where she came to an untimely end amidst the chaos of the Japanese invasion.
The exceptional star-studded creative team includes Dr Lo Wai-luk (direction and text), Mui Cheuk-yin (choreography and performance), Nancy Loo (piano) and Mark Chan (harmonica and visuals), as well as Kung Chi-shing (music composition and sound design). The production will trace the life of this talented woman of China, explore what kept her going till the end and how she died a helpless death but lives on through her writing.
Xiao Hong was born in Hulan County, Heilongjiang. She first came into contact with the May Fourth Movement and literature while attending school and was influenced by the works of Lu Xun, Mao Dun and American writer Upton Sinclair. She ran away from home at the age of 19 to avoid an arranged marriage and encountered many vicissitudes in life afterwards. Her most famous work, "The Field of Life and Death", which was published in 1935, owed much to Lu Xun's endorsement of her writing talent as well as his actual support. She was misdiagnosed and died in 1942 following unnecessary throat surgery when she was just 30 years old.
"The Life and Death of Xiao Hong" is one of the programmes in the "Footprints of Time - Literary Figures and Their Sojourn in Hong Kong" series presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. It will be performed at 8pm on May 24 and 25 (Friday and Saturday) and at 3pm on May 26 (Sunday) at the Multi-media Theatre of the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity. Tickets priced at $200 are now available at 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 full-time students and CSSA recipients are available on a first-come, first-served basis). A maximum discount of 20 per cent is offered for the group booking package.
In addition, a site-specific performance will be held to tie in with the programme. 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/dance/program_157.html. Ticketing enquiries can be made on 2734 9009 and credit card telephone bookings on 2111 5999. Tickets can also be booked online at www.urbtix.hk.
Ends/Friday, April 12, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:53
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