Venue	Date & Time		Price
Black Box Theatre, Kwai Tsing Theatre	20.06.2013(Thu)-23.06.2013(Sun) 22.06.2013(Sat)-23.06.2013(Sun)	20:00 15:00	$180

In Cantonese (with some English) with English surtitles only

Directed by Chan Chu Hei, Best Director (Comedy/ Farce) of the 22^nd Hong Kong Drama Awards

The Room was selected as part of the 30 Plays Celebrate 30 Years Festival of the League of Professional Theatre Women in New York.

David Henry Hwang, playwright of Chinglish which was featured in the 2013 Hong Kong Arts Festival, has this to say about The Room, “You have married a formally innovative and challenging framework with a well-made, suspenseful murder mystery – very difficult to do, and you have succeeded admirably.”

A self-incarcerating being is buried under a heap of abandoned words.
From writing and publishing through to marketing and distribution, who has killed creativity?
A stage production with out-of-the-box staging.  It digs up desires in a secret room which is at once theatre and installation.

Inspired by real story of the owner of the Youth Literary Bookstore who died under boxes of books in 2008, playwright Janice Poon tells the story of a self-incarcerating author who is buried under a heap of abandoned books.

Having gone through an acrimonious argument with a publisher and a fatal accident, Professor Lau is hard hit both physically and psychologically. He decides to lock himself up in a room and continue with his reading and writing. He lives solely in the precincts of cyber literature, a secret room full of books to which even his wife and children cannot have access.

It is one man’s war against the tide of unhealthy practices in the field of publication - the publisher’s sole preoccupation with sales volume, the media having sole say etc..  Professor Lau fights back by locking himself up in his study in a bid to uphold authors’ dignity and safeguard the true value of books. But with the rapid changes of global mass media, and the jet speed development of smart phones and e-books, the value of books for humankind is on the decline. So what is the true value of books and knowledge? What are the traumas that lay behind the author’s will and his cutting off from the world?

Personnel and Cast

Playwright: Janice Poon

Director: Chan Chu Hei

Producer: Felix Chan

Cast: Yu Hon Ting, Gladys Liu

Set & Costume Designer: Moon Yip

Lighting Designer: Gabriel Fung

Music & Sound Designer: Leung Po Wing

Graphic & Video Designer: Remu Iwai

Programme Length

Running time is about 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.
Latecomers will not be admitted until a suitable break in the programme.
With post-performance talk after 20-22 June evening performances (Conducted in Cantonese)

Ticketing

Tickets available from 9 May onwards at all URBTIX outlets, on Internet and by credit card telephone booking.
Half-price tickets available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder, full-time students, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients.
(Limited tickets for full-time students and CSSA recipients available on a first-come-first-served basis)
10% discount for every purchase of 4-9 standard tickets; 15% for 10-19 standard tickets; 20% for 20 or more standard tickets.

Enquiries

Programme Enquiries：2268 7325 (LCSD) 3165 9394 (Theatre Horizon)
Ticketing Enquiries：2734 9009
Credit Card Telephone Booking：2111 5999
Internet Booking：www.urbtix.hk
Website：www.theatrehorizon.com (Theatre Horizon)
Website：www.facebook.com/hongkongdramatists (Hong Kong Dramatists)
 

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

The content of this programme does not represent the views of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.