A new play opens the doors of the International Arts Carnival to teens and 20-somethings

In a sun-filled studio near the Lok Fu MTR station, five rows of young dancers are perfecting their Michael Jackson impressions. As the King of Pop’s 1988 hit Smooth Criminal blasts from a boom box near the front of the room, the group of some 30 teens and youths in their early 20s simultaneously point their toes, shrug their shoulders and touch the brims of imaginary hats. They move together, some grinning widely, some frowning slightly as they concentrate on their shimmying and fancy footwork. When the song ends and their instructor shuts off the music, the group erupts into cheers and clapping – an unusually enthusiastic response, especially considering how physically gruelling the dancing has been.

Impersonating Jacko is fun, clearly, but it also requires a lot of hard work. After she finishes dancing, Remex Wu grabs a bottle of water and starts to fan herself furiously with her free hand. ‘Wow, wow, wow!’ she exclaims, stepping outside to get a breath of fresh air, then returning directly after finding the air-conditioned studio is exponentially cooler than the heavy outdoor climate.

Wu is one of the principal actors in Teen Wave, a play being put together and performed by the Class 7a Drama Group. The show features secondary school and university student actors rather than professional thespians – they signed up for a drama class and were subsequently cast in the play rather than first auditioning. Nevertheless, Teen Wave has the important distinction of being the show selected by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department to close the International Arts Carnival.

The fact that Teen Wave is the carnival’s finale indicates that the LCSD is serious about supporting and creating theatre targeting an oft-neglected age group. The show would not exist if not for the IAC’s just-minted New Generations series, a special set of performances meant to appeal to a demographic not typically found in a theatre’s audience. As Karen Lee, manager of the LCSD’s Festivals Office, explains, ‘The IAC has been attempting to present tailor-made thematic performances, workshops, and exhibitions to suit the taste and culture of local youngsters and to get them acquainted with the performing arts.’

This year, teenagers and university students could ponder the meaning of patriotism at Aroma in the Dust, a new adaptation of a play from the Ming Dynasty staged in mid-July. They’ll be able to tap their toes to the gravity-defying moves of South Korea’s Gorilla Crew in B-Boyz & Ballerina, a hip-hop dance show on August 7 and 8.

And they’ll also have the option of attending Teen Wave, a show that explores what it means to be young and confused in the digital age. The play follows Ben, a young man who is ‘very social and active on the internet and in online games, but quite the opposite in real life,’ says Freddy Wong, Teen Wave’s baby-faced playwright and director. Ben prefers hiding behind a cyber identity to actually engaging with the real world. When his virtual weapons are stolen during a game, Ben gets upset, argues with his mother, and runs away from home. As he’s leaving, he remembers his father, an enigmatic man who abandoned Ben and his mother years ago. Ben compares his absent dad to ‘Robinson Crusoe, being very strong and going out to sea,’ according to Wong. As soon as this thought strikes, Ben enters a dream world where he is marooned on an island – just like Crusoe and his father before him.

As Ben explores the island, he comes across a number of people consumed with the idea of escaping reality: ‘people who sleep, people who are vain and wannabe models, people who are obsessed with karaoke,’ Wong lists. Speaking with these characters shows Ben that shielding himself from the real world is no way to truly live. He also meets three people – B1, B2 and B3 – who represent different aspects of his own personality. As his journey of self-discovery comes to its end, he finally finds himself able to face the world again – and, more importantly, reconcile with his long-suffering mother.

Wong, a teacher, was inspired to write the play after watching how his students interacted with one another. ‘Young people are very different from myself,’ he says. ‘I don’t see it as good or bad, but they’re just very self-centered; that’s my biggest observation. The play mostly explores how they deal with themselves.’ Wong used Robinson Crusoe as a springboard because he liked the idea of incorporating a story ‘that many would know from their childhood’ into the play. Teen Wave is truly a story about being suspended: between reality and virtual reality, childhood and adulthood, dreams and waking.

Karen Chung plays B1, the entity that represents Ben’s emotional and innocent side. She feels that Teen Wave is an accurate representation of what it’s like to be young and unsure about the future. ‘I think Ben feels lost, and at this age you ask yourself who you are a lot,’ she says. ‘Everyone dreams a bit, or wonders about what kind of person they might become.’

Remex Wu, who plays Ben’s mother, sees things a bit differently. She thinks that the crux of the play is actually about navigating life in an increasingly alienating modern age. ‘I think it’s an issue of things changing too quickly nowadays,’ she explains. ‘As the mother in the play, I don’t understand anything about online gaming. So I think there’s a generation gap and problems of communication.’

Escape, too, is a major theme in Teen Wave. ‘Besides the internet, there are lots of other ways that people use to escape,’ says Wong. ‘People who take drugs, for example. It’s a similar situation. They become more and more self-absorbed. Whether you’re spending your days gaming or taking drugs or listening to music, it’s all to mask real life. So I think it is a serious thing. You can lose out on a lot. Not only in studies, but relationships with your family and people around you.’

Confusion, generational conflict and escape are all well and good – but where exactly does Michael Jackson fit in? Wong laughs. ‘It’s in a scene where Ben is playing a game where he pretends to be a superstar like MJ.’ Developers should take note – this fictional diversion sounds like it could be a major bestseller.

Seafood Sin, the actor who plays Ben, doesn’t have to stretch very far to get into character. ‘From grade 10 to 11 in middle school I didn’t study, I just gamed,’ he confesses, grinning sheepishly. ‘I would just sleep in class.’ Wong, too, has a bit of a history when it comes to gaming. ‘In the past, I would get quite absorbed in it, think about it when I was awake and when I was asleep,’ he recalls.

But the three girls who play B1, B2, and B3 – Chung, Fanny Shum, and Ava Yu, respectively – found embodying their stage personas more difficult. Wong chose female actors to play aspects of his male protagonist’s personality because he felt that Bs 1-3 ‘were more sensitive sides of Ben, ones that came closer to his childhood self. Choosing girls seemed to be appropriate.’ Even so, says Shum, ‘It can be hard to imagine what’s going on in his head. Sometimes I really don’t know what he would be thinking about. Just the fact that he wakes up on a deserted island: I can’t imagine what my own reaction would be.’ ‘You would cry,’ jokes Sin, and the rest of the cast laughs.

Yu has also felt the strain. ‘We all represent Ben’s identity but each of us shows different sides of him. It’s hard to know what he’ll be thinking and sometimes the performance doesn’t feel very effective,’ she says. Chung sums it succinctly with, ‘The three of us have to be the same but also different.’

Wu, too, has found acting in the play to be a challenge. ‘Trying to feel a mother’s love is the hardest part,’ she says – especially since she and Sin, her onstage son, are, in reality, the same age. At least Wu can always think of her own mother, who ‘cares about me no matter how much I talk back or whatever,’ to put herself in the mindset of her character.

The cast of Teen Wave agree, though, that working on this play has been a satisfying experience, even if at times emotionally and physically demanding. Interacting with other young people on stage is the perfect antidote to the kind of escapism Ben falls victim to at the beginning of the play. ‘[Assistant director] Emily [Chan] told us earlier that acting is living. The experiences and emotions in acting can be applied to your own life to help you with problems,’ says Yu.

Sin especially feels that playing Ben has helped him embark on his own voyage of self-discovery. ‘Doing this show has caused me to reflect on my own identity and life. I think I was like Ben a lot, running away from myself and my family,’ he says thoughtfully. ‘So now I’m slowly giving myself time and space to evaluate and rediscover myself.’ Who could know that a play featuring a synchronized Michael Jackson-style dance could delve so deeply?

Teen Wave will be staged at the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity Multi-media Arts Theatre on August 7 and 8 at 7:30pm and on August 9 at 3:30pm. Tickets are $80 for adults and $40 for full-time students, senior citizens over 65, people with disabilities, or comprehensive social security assistance recipients. They are available via URBTIX, 2734 9009. In Cantonese.