Tai Kwun, Disney Style Heritage

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The former Central Police Station, prison and court opens today after a $3.8bn renovation and transformation into Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts.

Tai Kwun, The Chinese name for the Central Police Station, is an impressive low rise space – a full city block in American parlance – in the centre of modern high-rise Central. As with many renovations and restorations it’s very sterile, the shells of the buildings remain but the character and identity have disappeared. Will the Jockey Club administrators allow the area to organically establish a new identity and character or will political correctness and ‘rules’ keep the area ‘old’ but sterile?

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The $ums spent mean that it will not be allowed to ‘fail’ a-la PMQ but there seems to be a lack of understanding, as evidenced by the convoluted name, as to what the space is. Is it a tourist attraction, a living museum, a centre for the arts, a shopping area or a community space? It’s big enough to be all of them but the objectives and needs of each are not always mutually compatible.

There are multiple shops and restaurants scheduled to open in the next few months and the stated intent is for the commercial tenants to fund the cultural programmes and ongoing costs. This seems unrealistic given the size of the space and the ambitions of the cultural side.

A Tai Kwun pass is needed to enter the area. The prison history of the space means there are only a few small and narrow entrances and exits and nervous government bean counters have limited Tai Kwun to 5,000 people at a time. After the novelty of the area wears off entrance should be easy, but for now expect to queue.

The undoubted ‘stars’ of Tai Kwun are the courtyard and the parade ground surrounded as they are by colonial style buildings themselves imprisoned within modern steel and glass. With land so valuable, there simple isn’t this style of space in modern Hong Kong – the current high temperatures and blue skies make it even more precious to be able to see and feel the clear blue sky, much as the previous tenants of yearned to be able to do.

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Take a wander around there is a lot to see, much of which feels contrived and sterile – the prison block is the only area left almost ‘au natural’. There are exhibition spaces, performance art areas, shows, shops… A mini Hong Kong themed Disneyland in heart of Central.

Tai Kwun is unique in Hong Kong, whether the various stakeholders allow it to evolve organically or keep it sterile and ‘faux’ Hong Kong we will have to wait and see.

Tai Kwun Opening Hours: 11am – 11pm
Apply for your free Tai Kwun entry pass: https://www.taikwun.hk/en/visit/taikwun_pass

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I, Wu Song – A One-man Chinese Opera

Chinese opera has often been seen as an art form that tells historical tales, and that of Wu Song’s is one of the classics. Yet in this new production by The Gong Strikes One, Wu is no longer the protagonist, nor does Chinese opera take up the task to tell his story.

Instead, Wu’s story is transformed into a medium for Chinese opera to explore itself as a theatrical form of body movements and musical gestures. All utterances have been removed and Wu now becomes no more than an anonymous man on stage, called “I”.

I, Wu Song – A One-man Chinese Opera
The Gong Strikes One
Date: 8pm, 10-11 June, 2017
Venue: HK Cultural Centre, Studio Theatre
Tickets: $180, $160 from Urbtix

The Blue Bird @ HKAPA: Drama Theatre – 29 April-2 May, 2015

The Blue Bird @ HKAPA: Drama Theatre - 29 April-2 May, 2015

Once upon a time Tyltyl and Mytyl, the son and daughter of a poor woodcutter, are sent out by the Fairy Bérylune to search the world for the Blue Bird of Happiness. She needs it to rescue her daughter. So the two children embark upon an adventurous journey to find the elusive Blue Bird. On the way they encounter a variety of crises – they have to face the dark night; meet again dead loved ones; overcome the challenges of trees and animals; and to understand the harsh cruelty of time. After almost a year they return to the home from which they set out and discover that everything has been a dream. And after so many adventures they find that the Blue Bird has been around all the time … in their own backyard.

The Blue Bird
Date: 29 April – 2 May, 2015
Venue:  HKAPA: Drama Theatre
Tickets: $105, $70 from HKTicketing
More info:
29 Apr 2015 (Wed) at 7:30pm
30 Apr 2015 (Thu) at 7:30pm
1 May 2015 (Fri) at 7:30pm
2 May 2015 (Sat) at 2:30pm & 7:30pm

Cast: Chan Wing-shuen, Mok Ka-yan, Ng Lok-wai, Ko Ki-yan, Ng Ka-yee, Sze Shuk-ting, Wan Tsz-leung, Lau Yuk-shing, Lai Chai-ming and Academy Drama students
Playwright: Maurice Maeterlinck
Director: Chan Chu-hei*
Translator: Dr Wong Kwok-kui
Set Designer: Jan Wong
Costume Designer: Mak Tsz-kwan
Lighting Designer: Pui Leung
Sound Designer: Joyce Chung
Movement Coach: Julia Mok*

Forest of Truth @ Fringe Club – 8pm, 29-30 May, 2015

Forest of Truth @ Fringe Club - 8pm, 29-30 May, 2015

A comedy of crazy Japanese lovers who are influenced by their individual views about distorted love!

The residents of “The Forest of Truth” are waiting to reveal the lies found in the human world. One day, a Man and a Woman step into the forest and immediately fall in love. However, the residents of the forest then reveal the hidden aspects of the lovers’ hearts. The couple now know each other’s true selves, and the story of their world takes some amazing, unexpected twists and turns.

Forest of Truth
Theatre Group GUMBO
Date: 8pm, 29-30 May, 2015
Venue: Fringe Club: Fringe Underground
Tickets: $200 form HKTicketing