BENT.

Title: Bent

Date: 18th March 2013

Venue: Kwai Tsing Theatre

Bent was first played on stage in 1979. It revolves around the persecution of gays in Nazi Germany, and takes place during and after the Night of Long Knives. The title of the play refers to the slang word 'bent' used in some European counters to refer to homosexuals. When the play was firsts performed, there was only a trickle of historical research or even awareness about the Nazi persecution of homosexuals.

This story is about Max, a promiscuous gay man in 1930s Berlin, is at odds with his wealthy family because of his homosexuality. One evening, much to the resentment of his boyfriend Rudy, he brings home a handsome Sturmabteilung man. Unfortunately, it is the night that Hitler orders to assassinate the upper echelon of the Sturmabteilung corps, to consolidate his power. The two have to flee Berlin. 

On the train to Amsterdam, Rudy calls out to Max as he is taken away to be beaten, so Rudy is brought back and beaten to death by Max, who denies he knows him, Max lies to the guards, telling that he is a Jew rather than a homosexual, because he believes his chances for survival in the camp will be better if he is not assigned the pink triangle. Max later confesses to a fellow prisoner that the guards then forced him to have intercourse with the body of a dead pre-teen girl to 'prove' he was not homosexual.

In the camp, Max makes friends with Horst, who shows him the dignity that lies in acknowledging what one is. They fall in love and become lovers through their imagination and through their words. After Horst is shot by camp guards, Max puts on Horst's jacket with the pink triangle and commits suicide by grabbing an electric fence.

The Windmill Grass Theatre re-run this classical drama with new techniques. As it happened in Europe, the script they played is in Cantonese. The modified wordings somehow could not express how the character feels at that moment. However, there is a scene I remember very clearly in my mind as it was so breathe-taking. It is when Max and Horst have sex without touching each other. The audience could feel the intimacy even though they are few steps apart. The words, the facial expressions, the body languages tell us how much they love each other. I was so touched by this boundless love and few drops of tears streamed down from my eyes. Joey Leung, who acts Max, is a very out-standing actor who understands his character very well and he acts so naturally.

Besides, the sets are so real. There were really electric sparks when Max grabbed the fence. The first scene which Max and Rudy chatted was inside the house. The woody ceiling and furniture are all well-constructed. They made the audience feel like they are really inside a house, having some chit chats. Besides, the costumes are so gorgeous with many details. Overall this drama is so good with many remarkable actors.

An ENDLESS journey.

Title: 聽 說

Date: 10th-11th March 2013

Venue: Ngau Chi Wan Theatre

This performance is organised by 第十五屆大專戲劇節籌委會 which composed the drama societies of nine universities of Hong Kong. This Joint-Universities performance is the most eye-catching annual event, and I am very proud of being one of the participants in this grand occasion.

I will never regret of getting in to drama society, a place where I feel belong to, a second home, to me. This time, I am an actress finally, instead of a member of the backstage. Through the practices, run throughs, and the days on stage, I have learnt a lot of professional techniques about drama.

This drama is a combination of three stories: a girl (Suki) who earns money through compensated dating for her boyfriend who dumps her after acknowledging she diagnosed with HIV, a mental-disordered but talented young boy (Ki) is being isolated by the society, and another multiple-personality-disordered boy (Chun) who works as a social worker blindly.

Lighting, the different colours of lights always fascinated me. In scene zero, the three main characters was spot-lighted in three different colours, yellow, red, and purple respectively. Yellow represents the helplessness of Suki. Red represents the anger of  Ki since no one listens to him. And purple, expressing the inner complicated feelings of Chun. Apart from the colour of the lights, angle is also an important element of plotting lights. I learnt that following lights are not recommended in drama because people move around on stage and usually a large area of light is being plotted. There was a scene about Ki visualised about killing a human being for his spectacular art piece. Red and green lights were being used as they contrast each other to build a scary and horrifying atmosphere.

Setting, image, sound teams also play an important part of the whole drama. Missing one of them would ruin the play. This is unlike the classical drama because the way the director present the theme is more close to daily life. No more acting tone for the actors/actress, since one of the goals of this drama is to attract the audience attention by giving them an illusion that they are part of the play. They are the outsiders who witness the whole story. Or even, they are one of the characters.

The prettiest flowers I had even
received from my parents, and all
the good show gifts from friends.

Being an actress is not an easy job. Drama practice everyday from 7pm to 11pm, or even 1pm to 11pm on weekends, such a tough task for me. Everyday practice largely affect my schedule with my friends, and also family. They complained about me not appearing in gatherings, meals etc. Yet, at the same time, they support me for doing what I love and enjoy. I would like to thank you all of them for being generous and caring. Apart from that, as Suki, my emotions during that period of time was so fluctuated and cried very often. They sent me support and comfort me from time to time. Without their help, the show would not be that successful with many positive feedbacks.