14-15 August 2009 (Fri-Sat) 8pm
Theatre, Sheung Wan Civic Centre

$200, 160

In English with Chinese surtitles

With post performance meet-the-artist session (conducted in English)

Host: Dr. Mui Kwong Chiu (14 August 2009)
         Samson Young (15 August 2009)
Audience may be invited to see the model on stage during meet-the-artist session


Live filming and projection bring an illusional reality to audience

" ...This performance makes unprecedented demands on the imagination, and stills the audience. "
NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands

" This is a deeply original and enthralling piece of theatre..."
Sunday Herald, U.K.

2001 CJP Youth Trophy at the Dutch / Flemish Theatre Festival
2001 Audience Award at the Festival aan de Werf (Utrecht)
2002 European Prix de Coppet Culture Award at the European Forum of Coppet

Scripts Highlights
"Later that afternoon we saw a German patrol coming down the road. A few hundred men. They were singing. With our two machineguns we mowed them down completely. It felt good."

"The terrain was terrible, there were shellholes everywhere, and some of the tanks got stuck in the mud. It was a chaotic mess of barbed wire, tree trunks, cartwheels and bodies. There were bodies everywhere, we had to drive over them."

"It is almost over and my will to live is stronger than ever. I have suffered terrible things and have died beside my friends a few times. Yet the more one dies, the more life intensifies."

"One night I got lost. I wandered for hours in no man's land. The mud sucked me down. It was so cold that I could hardly think. My only company were the corpses that laid rotting in the mud. Sometimes I stepped on them. It was terrifying. I sensed immediately whether it was a belly or a head upon which I trod. I tried not to think about it."

"I have made a few drawings, it protects against death and danger. This morning I went to church. A few days ago, Mr Lieberman came here, looking for his dead son, his only child. The graves were opened, but in the grave he was hoping to find his son, there lay an officer, and in another grave, there lay five officers."

"Yesterday we conquered a German trench. I was looking around with Patrick and we went into a dugout. They build a mean dugout, it was almost cosy, except that there were two dead Jerries in there. There was a bottle of wine on the table. Patrick said: That's ours. And took it outside.
There he uncorked it. It was a booby-trap."


Programme Details
Coming to Hong Kong for the first time, The Great War is enacted on a miniature film set installed on stage. The scene is filmed using tiny cameras and the images are projected onto the screen simultaneously. The audience sees how scaled-down versions of landscapes of the Western Front are created using sawdust, potting soil and rusty nails. With sprigs of parsley as trees, rain falls from a plant spray, bombs from a gas burner. A pleasant cultivated landscape is gradually transformed into a devastated battlefield - the result is amazingly realistic. These images are accompanied by spoken passages from authentic soldiers' letters written home from the trenches.

Established in 1997, Hotel Modern's members include actresses Arlène Hoornweg and Pauline Kalker, visual artist Herman Helle and sound composers Arthur Sauer and Ruud van der Pluijm. They blend visual art, puppetry, music, film and scale models in evocative and creative productions such as City Now, Shrimp Tales, Rococo, Kamp and The Great War etc., that steer a course between illusion and reality. During the past decade, their productions have been performed in auditoria and black box theatres throughout the Netherlands and other European countries. They have also participated in numerous international festivals and received critical acclaim.

Makers and Performers: Herman Helle, Pauline Kalker, Arlène Hoornweg
Sound Composer: Arthur Sauer
Production Manager: Heleen Hameete
Technician: Joris van Oosterhout

Tickets available from 3 July onwards at all URBTIX outlets
*Half-price tickets available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (Limited tickets for students and CSSA recipients available on a first-come-first-served basis). Concessionary ticket holders must produce evidence of their identity or age upon admission
*Group Booking Discount
10% off for each purchase of 4-9 tickets;
15% off for each purchase of 10-19 tickets;
20% off for each purchase of 20 or more tickets
*Special Booking Discount
10% off for each purchase of standard tickets for The Great War by Hotel Modern (The Netherlands) and Age of Wilderness by Shu Ning Presentation Unit
*Each ticket admits one person only. Patrons can enjoy only one of the above discount schemes for each purchase. Please inform the box office staff at the time of purchase

Programme Enquiries: 2268 7323
Ticketing Enquires & Reservations: 2734 9009
Credit Card Telephone Booking: 2111 5999
Internet Booking: www.urbtix.hk

Recommended for audience of age 13 and up

Audience are strongly advised to arrive punctually. No latecomers will be admitted until a suitable break in the programme

The contents of this series do not represent the views of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department

The presenter reserves the rights to substitute artists and change the programme should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary

Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department

Age of Wilderness by Shu Ning Presentation Unit, Olotila (State of Being) by Public Artistic Affairs (Finland), Electric Requiem: God Save the Queen by Samson Young (Contemporary Musiking) & musicians of City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and Multi-Media Lecture Series: Parallel Audiosphere. Please refer to the booklet and individual programme leaflets for details