Through the looking glass, enter the parallel universe of theatre. 

French May Arts Festival presents Let the Mirror Speak, a two–year Hong Kong–France theatre exchange project. In the final phase, playwright–directors Wu Hoi Fai (Hong Kong) and Nicolas Kerszenbaum (France) realise their new works onstage. Both works were developed using materials collected through interviews and observation during their respective residencies in Paris and Hong Kong.

Good Fortune attempts to read Hong Kong's fortune through interweaving folklore beliefs with theatrical imagination.

French theatre director Nicolas Kerszenbaum, first came to Hong Kong in January 2023, he was invited by French May Arts Festival to draw inspiration from Hong Kong and create a play for it. He stayed in Hong Kong for a month and met many intellectuals, artists and members of civil society. He also went to temple street for fortune telling, the result was inspiring and he got attracted by it. Nicolas later went back to France and recorded down all the things he encountered.  

Nicolas visiting Temple Street.

Lecture: Panorama: An Overview of Contemporary Theatre in France, conducted by Nicolas. 

Nicolas meeting up with We Draman Group.

In May, Nicolas returned to Hong Kong. Together worked with 3 Hong Kong actors and a French musician. In three weeks, they used methods like improvisation and city walk to gather more inspiration for the script. They used two days to walk form Diamond Hill to The Peak, the only transportation they took is the star ferry to cross the Harbor.  He then created a fictional story based on all these scattered and profuse materials after he went back to France.

 The team worked form Diamond Hill to The Peak. French Musician Guillaume Léglise later used the recorded sound to produce original music for Good Fortune

The team worked form Diamond Hill to The Peak.  

In October and November 2023, the three actors went to Paris for 4 weeks. They used the first week of time to finalize and translate the script. (Since Nicolas wrote the script in French, he first translate into English, and the actors helped to translate it in Chinese.) Actors said, the translation process is challenging as Nicolas' word choice is very romantic, people do not say that way when translated into Cantonese, so it took some time to used adjust the wordings. In November, Good Fortune has its world premiere, positive feedbacks were given by the local audiences, some Hong Kong people also came and support. The Hong Kong actors also had other cultural events, such as visiting local museums and holding workshops. 

Good Fortune World Premiere in Theatre 13 Paris

In May 2024, Good Fortune was performed in French May Arts Festival. Its unique and fresh French X Hong Kong elements brought new perspective to the local audience, great feedbacks were given. Nicolas also conducted a theatre workshop, participants got the chance to perform selected scenes from the original Good Fortune's script.

Pas de deux à Hong Kong is an ethno–drama shedding light on the lives of the French community in Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong theatre director Wu Hoi-fai created a number of remarkable theatre productions relating to various social issues. Recently he advocates documentary theatre, produced works such as What about ART in Hong Kong, Together in Search of Light, Eternal Flame in the Dark. In 2023, he interviewed of numbers of Hong Kong based French with the students from Academy of Films, Hong Kong Baptist University. In May, Playreading: Les Francias a Hong Kong came on stage in French May Arts Festival 2023, performed by BUAF students.

In November, 2023, Wu Hoi-fai, actor Micah Sandt, and the production team Brought Gweilo to Paris theatre, great feedbacks were given by the French audience, numbers of Hong Kong people also came and support. The text revolves around themes such as old Hong Kong, expatriates, and the colonial period, resonating strongly with the audience. In addition, screenings and workshops were also held. Wu met with several local French theatre practitioners to share experiences from their respective theatre work and exchanged insights on documenting theatrical creations.

Subsequently, Wu interviewed more Hong Kong based French with the Hong Kong creative performers, whose going to perform the final piece. They dedicated a significant amount of time to transcribing the recorded interviews into written text. You can view excerpts from the interview transcripts here.

During the initial rehearsals, the director and actors selected useful materials and segments from the organized transcripts, refining them into passages suitable for stage performance. Given the extensive content of the interview transcripts, considerable time was spent on this process. Once a complete script was finalized, the actors began memorizing their lines and rehearsing physical movements for the production.

Physical Movement

Wu also conducted a series of Documentary Theatre/Ethnotheater Workshops divided into three units: directing, performance, and playwriting. Unlike traditional fictional theater texts, documentary theater and ethnographic drama draw from real interviews or existing literature. Through in-depth exploration and study from various perspectives, participants are sure to gain valuable insights. The directing and performance units were led by Wu Hoi Fai, while the playwriting unit was guided by Hong Kong playwright Callas Cheang.

In June 2024, Pas de deux a Hong Kong had its world premiere. The topic of immigration has sparked lively discussions in Hong Kong in recent years. Wu aims to examine the concept of "being a Hong Kong people" through the lens of the Hong Kong based French community, exploring the reasons why individuals choose to stay in the city.

Please check our online house programme for detailed information for the project. 

This Project is financially supported by the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The content of this activity does not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.