The Pants’ latest production Whatever Che, Whosoever Guevara is Man Do’s one-man show starring veteran actor Chow Wai Keung on the life and times of Che Guevara. It marks the 40th year since the death of the Argentine-born revolutionary. Film critic and writer Man Do had been fascinated by Guevara from a very young age, but only on seeing The Motorcycle Diaries, a movie which follows the young Che’s life-transforming travels through the social divides of South America, was he inspired to put pen to paper. But the more he researched the revolutionary and his history, the more uncomfortable the playwright became. Wander down any street and a dollar or two secures you a Che t-shirt, poster or coffee mug. You can put a flame to your favourite cheroot with a Guevara lighter, while the hero’s famous portrait gazes from the peak of your cap. Last century’s most implacable revolutionary now rests in the albums of stamp collectors. Man Do says Che Guevara has become a label without substance – or even worse, merely functional. “Now, if I want to say I am a rebel, I simply wear a t-shirt with Che’s face on it.” He questions how many people know and understand the history of the man he has come to regard as a great hero who fought and died single-mindedly for his ideals.

Rather than manipulating conceptions about Guevara, Man Do set out to enrich people’s knowledge of the man and his times, so that when the screen-print of Alberto Korda’s photo ripples over their chests they have some idea of what it stands for. The writer compares Guevara to Don Quixote, or Vincent van Gogh – not that the revolutionary was a tilter at windmills or a dabbler in expressionism, but that like Quixote and van Gogh, he was the extreme idealist, eventually destroying even himself in his quest for a socialist utopia. Nevertheless, Che was a multi-dimensional man in a particular history and that is essentially what Man Do has tried to bring out in his play. Even while he realizes his work may ask a lot from its audience and, consequently, may not be a great box-office draw. “It will be difficult to sell,” he acknowledges, “because of its political elements. And, though people have heard of Che Guevara, they may not know who he really was. It is not a purpose of the play to explain who Che was, but if you don’t explain, people just won’t get it.”

When he applied for a government grant to write and stage Whatever Che, Whosoever Guevara, Man Do thought he would be able to relate the Che Guevara story to current revolutions in Hong Kong politics. But his research convinced him otherwise. “To deliberately compare the circumstances Che Guevara faced at that time to the current situation in Hong Kong is like putting a great man together with a midget,” he says bitterly. “It is just not up to standard.”

Which may be the case for Whatever Che, Whosoever Guevara, but another Hong Kong creation has not been slow with a direct, unambiguous leap into local politics. The austere face of the Cuban revolution may be half a world away from Asia’s most frenetic island, but Zuni Icosahedron have a local revolution going all of their own – though it can hardly be described as austere or something to die for. The long-running political satire East Wing West Wing started in 2003 and continues this year with a not-so-Che glance back over the 10 years since the handover of Hong Kong to China. Zuni have called the retrospective 2097 Back to the Qing Chiu.
Actors Cedric Chan and Carson Chung are part of the East Wing West Wing creative team and have their own ideas of the SAR’s last decade. Chung suggests that the axiom “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong” as stated in the Basic Law is not working as well as it could. “The shallow and shortsighted values of Hong Kong people were exposed after 1997. Politically and economically, as well as in our living environment, we went backwards instead of moving forwards,” he says.

But Chan is more positive. He thinks before the handover, fewer Hong Kong people treated the city as their home. That has changed – as witnessed by the furore created by the recent demolition of the Star Pier and the proposed bringing down of the Queen’s Pier and Yau Ma Tei police station. “It shows the growth of a sense of belonging by Hong Kong people to the city,’ he says. “But it still stays on an emotional level. People still haven’t realized how they can use their power to change the administration’s policy and the importance of the environment for the community.”

Inspired by Steven Spielberg’s Back to the Future, Zuni’s show – which they claim will be the first celebratory event of the decennial anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong – will feature an extravagant banquet in 2097, the centenary of the handover, and lots of singing and dancing. To keep the performance rivetingly topical, the script will not be finalized until the last minutes before the cast goes on stage. Some of the scenes will be inspired by the Star Pier and GST issues and others by the persistent problems of the Ngong Ping 360 and, of course, the election of the Chief Executive.

However, whether you call 2097 Back to the Qing Chiu political comedy or a performance of absurdity, Chan and Chung agree that the aim is not to specifically lampoon the government. Rather it is to reflect the current Hong Kong reality and empower their audience. The crowds that first ventured into Zuni Icosahedron’s theatre in 2003 during the SARS scare might have been happy to relieve their anger at the government with laughter at some well-placed barbs, but what does the theatre company expect from the audience in this the fifth episode of the series? Chan implies entertainment with political wisdom: “The audience expects us to present facts in an interesting way,” he says. An intensive class in Hong Kong politics, then? “Civil education, I’d say.” Che Guevara might sniff in his grave.

Whatever Che, Whosoever Guevara will be performed from Jan 19-22 at the HKRep Blackbox. East Wing West Wing – 2097 Back to the Qing Chiu will be performed from Jan 20-22, 26-27 at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Center. Both in Cantonese. Ticket are available through URBTIX. Check the bc listings for show times and details.