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Focus> Offbeat HK> Content
Friday, September 21, 2018, 17:40
The Shakespeare jukebox
By Rebecca Lo
Friday, September 21, 2018, 17:40 By Rebecca Lo

Shakespeare’s Globe is back in Hong Kong. This year is slightly special though as the company will perform what the audience demands on two nights. Rebecca Lo reports.

Shakespeare’s Globe’s upcoming season in Hong Kong features Merchant of Venice (above), Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

It may well be argued that the original Globe Theatre’s productions were the Elizabethan equivalent of gladiators facing off in Rome’s Colosseum. Both were designed to entertain and both encouraged their audiences to participate by voicing their approval or disapproval of the action — often as loudly as possible.

More than four centuries after William Shakespeare’s death, Shakespeare’s Globe — which recreates the experience of watching theater in Elizabethan England and calls London’s Globe Theatre its home — is reaching out to audiences outside of London.

Shakespeare’s Globe has performed in front of Hong Kong audiences before. This year the company arrives here via Singapore. “We’ve been in Wales, Madrid, Oslo and Neuss this year,” notes director Brendan O’Hea. “I find that international audiences tend to appreciate the plays more and often have a wider understanding of Shakespeare’s work. International and UK audiences will often gasp or laugh in the same places, which prove that Shakespeare really does bridge boundaries.” 

The novelty of Globe’s upcoming season in Hong Kong, opening Sept 25, is play-on-demand. On two evenings, immediately before the show starts, the audience can choose what they want to watch from among Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew. The decision made, actors quickly get into character before the curtains are drawn. 

“When we were planning this year’s tour, we asked ourselves what Shakespeare would do,” recalls O’Hea. “We know that Elizabethan touring companies left the choice of play to the most powerful person in the household. In keeping with historical tradition, we want to put the power back into the hands of the most powerful people in the house: the audience.” 

Globe’s actors are required to switch character fast, much like Portia in Merchant of Venice. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Globe’s Hong Kong repertoire includes Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare’s most joyous and celebratory comedies. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

“Audiences love diversity,” acknowledges Matthew Gregory, founder and executive producer at ABA Productions, an international theater production house which routinely hosts much-lauded shows from the UK in Hong Kong and Singapore. “With three shows, we thought it would be fun to mix things up. The same group of actors will learn their lines for three plays, but won’t know what they will be performing until five minutes before the show. It is brilliant and exciting and in line with what would have happened 400 years ago.” 

Up, close and personal

Gregory says audiences tend to be more vocal for Shakespeare’s comedies rather than his histories or tragedies. To encourage Hong Kong people to voice more than a polite “bravo”, he created his version of the “yard”. 

“This was the standing crowd — the cheapest seats in the house at the Globe and the closest to the actors,” Gregory explains. “We have cushions on the floor to achieve a sense of immediacy, with a certain level of comfort. This year, we’ve booked a more intimate venue. The Amphitheatre at Academy for Performing Arts has 600 seats, not 1,100 like the Lyric Theatre. The layout is horseshoe-shaped so no one is too far away from the action.”

Costumes and props are going to be shipped from the UK while the set was made here in Hong Kong. “We did our best to match the ambience and feeling of being at the Globe,” says production manager Gloria Ngai. “We worked closely with the Globe team to match the set and lighting as an outdoor scene, using simple and traditional lighting plans.” 

Though Gregory would prefer to replicate the authentic Globe experience of performing outdoors, he says that the threat of typhoons makes al fresco shows challenging. 

Mathew Gregory (left), executive producer, and director Brendan O’Hea decided to empower the audiences by introducing audience-choice nights in Globe’s current Hong Kong run. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

He puts effort into ensuring maximum understanding by non-native English-speaking audiences. “The plays are exactly the same as in the UK: same actors, same script,” Gregory notes. “Before rehearsals, I sit down with the director to work on inflection, meaning and tone geared towards a non-English audience. What sets the Globe apart is how they draw in an audience so that the language never feels over their heads. I advise actors to not race through their lines the way they may at home. They should take a breath and let the language settle. Let people listen. 

“Actors have to remember that Hong Kong is a busy town,” he adds. “The first five or 10 minutes are the most important to get an audience hooked.” 

Bardolatory by HK teens

The students from Faust, ABA Productions’ sister company, are, unsurprisingly, excited about the Globe’s visit to Hong Kong. 

Mark Bojan, 16, has trained with Faust for more than five years and performed in King Lear. “I love how Shakespeare twists and turns his stories, and always has a subplot,” says Bojan. “It is so rewarding to perform as you really immerse yourself in the emotions that his plays evoke.” 

Samantha Brooks, also 16, was in King Lear as well. “The amphitheater style of the seating is so adrenaline-inducing because there is absolutely nowhere to hide on stage,” says Brooks. “The actors are fully submerged in who they are and what they feel in that moment, and it is an amazing experience. The pressure of having that many eyes on you is what makes it both exciting and terrifying.” 

Faust students Samantha Brooks (left) and Poppy Conway are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Shakespeare’s Globe in Hong Kong. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Mark Bojan (center) acted in King Lear and says he enjoys the challenge of interpreting Shakespeare’s plots. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Poppy Conway, 17, is excited about the audience-choice nights. “I think it allows the audience to interact with the actors,” Conway says. “It’s a brilliant idea, because it empowers the audience, making them feel that the performance is specifically for them.” 

Annabel Harb, 18, has spent four years with Faust and believes Shakespeare is more relevant now than ever. “Other than the tremendous impact he has had on the English language is the universality of his themes,” Harb says. “Many of his plays explore the role of family and honor, both of which are integral in Chinese culture as well. But it goes far beyond culture — Shylock’s desire for revenge, King Lear’s extreme grief — these are fundamentally human. His most poignant message is that we all reflect each other, whether we live in the fair city of Verona, or in Hong Kong.” 

If you go

Shakespeare’s Globe

Twelfth Night: Sept 25, 27, 29

The Merchant of Venice: Sept 26, 30

The Taming of the Shrew: Sept 30

Audience Choice: Sept 28, 29

Presented by ABA Productions

Venue: Hong Kong Jockey Club Amphitheatre, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, 1 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai

www.abaproductions.com



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