Shakespeare in Our Time: “King Lear” X “The Rape of Lucrece”Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio
SHAKESPEARE IN OUR TIME
The 1st Hong Kong International Shakespeare Festival (HKISF) originally scheduled for 2020 had to be postponed to 2022 due to pandemic.Thus, Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio brings a special presentation to you all - Shakespeare in Out Time, as the prelude of HKISF. It consists of two brand new Shakespeare’s productions: King Lear directed by Tang Shu-wing, a nonverbal theatre of gesture with whole female cast and Ng Wai Shek’s one-man show, The Rape of Lucrece (adapted for the stage based on the Bard’s poem).
🔻 Shakespeare in Our Time: “King Lear”
King Lear decides to retire and asks his daughters to express their love in words in order to see who deserves the kingdom the most. Sincerity cannot be expressed through mouth while pretence is full of lies and beautiful words. A story starts on speech, inducing an exploration on theatrical arts.
Director Tang Shu-wing accidentally reads Tolstoy’s article - A Critical Essay on Shakespeare, a severe criticism on Shakespeare and King Lear. He feels excited because he can think and feel from another angle, and he is convinced that the greatest human pleasure is to keep learning under any circumstance.
If everything can start afresh, would the world be different? Although Tang cannot predict that, he knows: directing Shakespeare’s plays is always an unknown journey.
One day, he saw an old woman ready to cross the road with two bright little girls. He decided to have a whole female cast on this play.
**Nonverbal Theatre of Gesture**
**The running time of the performance is approximately 1 hour 30 minutes.**
🔻 Shakespeare in Our Time: “The Rape of Lucrece”
One-man show performed by actor Ng Wai Shek, turning The Bard’s narrative poem into a highly concise performance!
Collatine, a Roman General, describes his wife, Lucrece, in glowing terms—she is beautiful and chaste, that Prince Tarquin's passions were aroused. Tarquin goes to Lucrece's chamber at night; rapes her and sneaks away. Lucrece named her rapist in front of her husband and father then immediately drew a knife from her bosom and stabbed herself.
The poem is not telling a story but the language of the rapist as well as the feeling of the victim. In collaboration with young musician, lighting and sound designers, Ng adapted the text into a one-man show, exploring what desire and reason is with the audience.
**The performance is conducted in Cantonese with English surtitles.**
**The running time of the performance is approximately 1 hour 15 minutes.**