words rachel mok

Dancing metal, digital storms and a blind date – it is all on at the Macau Arts Festival

Not too long ago, arts lovers were given a whole month of world-class performances courtesy of the HK Arts Festival. So why should we bother going to Macau for the same thing all over again? The truth is that even with a more limited budget than its Fragrant Harbour counterpart, the Macau festival attracts shows as sharp as anything on Hong Kong’s programme. We prove it glancing at four of the over 30 performances in store at the Macau Arts Festival.

The open programme of the month-long festival, The Aluminium Show – created and directed by Israeli dancer Ilan Azriel – uniquely mixes a job lot of industrial metal with movement, dance, visual theatre and music. Azriel has always liked to combine movement and materials in his work, so when he put his hands into an aluminium tube from a swag of off-cuts, he was inspired. Recognising aluminium’s flexibility and endless potential, he and special effects wizard Yuval Kedem came up with The Aluminium Show that debuted at the Israel Festival in Jerusalem 2003, and has been touring the world since.

“The Aluminium Show is not a dance show in the conservative way. It is a show that involves dance among other things: dance is just one of the ways I have managed to express my ideas in this show,” shares Azriel. “The dancers are part of the aluminium. Sometimes they are the engine behind the material and sometimes it is the opposite. The show is like nothing you have seen before, as it combines dance, original music, special effects, acrobatics and lots of aluminium.” The performance was hailed by Israeli critics as “a real visual hit performed with creativity and expertise” (Ha’aretz newspaper) and “full of imagination, invention and humour” (Ma’arev newspaper). And if you think cold industrial metal cannot possibly convey energy or personality, Azriel is enigmatically encouraging with a, “Let’s leave some magic to the show itself” injunction – you have to see it to feel it.

Canadian group 4D Art also uses stunning multi-media in its adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Generally considered to be the Bard of Avon’s last work, this play revolves around Prospero, the Duke of Milan, who has been stripped of his seat by his envious brother, Antonio, and forced into exile. After living and developing magical powers on a mysterious island for years, he creates a huge storm when a ship bearing both his enemy, the King of Naples, and his treacherous brother sails past his island. The ship is wrecked, the passengers stranded on the island, and for Prospero the coming revenge appears to be sweet. Or is it? For a play which has been staged so many times by different groups, what will make the 4D Art production stand out? The answer lies in two realities – illusion is a driving element of The Tempest and we are living in the digital age.

Multimedia creators Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, the brains behind Delirium, the Cirque du Soleil live music show, have worked together since the ’80s to create a new form of theatre art – a hybrid of the physical and virtual worlds of stage and cinema. With a maturity of technique built through the years and virtual technology freely at their disposal, they are able to bring spells, visions and poetry to vibrant life in The Tempest, while still maintaining the play’s distinctly humanist component. The show was once proclaimed as “the future of live theatre” – such a compliment should tell us that this is a Shakespeare play as we have never seen the Bard done before.

Talking about unconventional, what if you are asked to ‘see’ a performance – but are blindfolded for its duration? That will be the demand on audiences in Mexican group Sensorama’s Multiperceptual Experiences. The 30-minute ‘performance’ will lead its audiences on a voyage of sensory perception through adventures and atmospheres specifically created by Sensorama at Lou Kau Mansion. You have to put your intellect to rest and let your senses take over. But don’t worry that you’ll lose your touch with reality – when the Sensorama experience is done you can always take time out to ground yourself again by exploring the architectural heritage that is Lou Kau Mansion.

While Macau is famous for its cultural heritage (and casinos, of course) and attracted over 26 million visitors last year, the Macanese language that is derived from Malay, Cantonese, Portuguese and Sinhalese is sadly dying. Now less than 1,000 people in Macau can speak the tongue, which is, in fact, included in UNESCO’s Red Book of Endangered Languages. That’s why local playwright and director Miguel de Senna Fernandes insists on producing an original play in Macanese every year – trying to keep alive people’s interest in this language.

His latest offering, Sweet Luck, focuses on two young men, Maco and Pepito, at the crossroads of their careers in the pervasive casino fever that many Macau residents have faced in the past few years. “When teenagers freshly finished from school can easily earn over $10,000 by working in a casino, will they continue to study and equip themselves?” The play asks the question and the director’s answer is in the negative, for he views the younger generation as no more than a ‘bet’ on the long-term development of the city. The production comes with Chinese and Portuguese surtitles (instead of English), but in any case, the Fernandes’ Dóci Papiáçam di Macau Drama Group is known for its hilarious and sarcastic approach, so audiences should know to expect a glimpse of twisted modern life in Macau.

The Aluminium Show will take place on May 1-2 at Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium. Shows start at 8pm and tickets are MOP$150, 100, 60. 4D Art’s The Tempest will be performed on May 23-24 at the same venue. Tickets are MOP$100, 60, 40. Experience Sensorama’s Multiperceptual Experiences on May 16, 20-23 at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm and May 17, 18, 24 and 25 every hour on the hour from 3-9pm, except 6pm, at Lou Kau Mansion. Admission is MOP$20. Sweet Luck runs at the Macao Cultural Centre’s Small Auditorium on May 10 and 11. Tickets are MOP$150, 100, 60. Go to www.icm.gov.mo/fam for more information on the festival but visit www.macauticket.net to book your tickets.