performing arts – bc magazine

Tai Kwun, Disney Style Heritage

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The former Central Police Station, prison and court opens today after a $3.8bn renovation and transformation into Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts.

Tai Kwun, The Chinese name for the Central Police Station, is an impressive low rise space – a full city block in American parlance – in the centre of modern high-rise Central. As with many renovations and restorations it’s very sterile, the shells of the buildings remain but the character and identity have disappeared. Will the Jockey Club administrators allow the area to organically establish a new identity and character or will political correctness and ‘rules’ keep the area ‘old’ but sterile?

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The $ums spent mean that it will not be allowed to ‘fail’ a-la PMQ but there seems to be a lack of understanding, as evidenced by the convoluted name, as to what the space is. Is it a tourist attraction, a living museum, a centre for the arts, a shopping area or a community space? It’s big enough to be all of them but the objectives and needs of each are not always mutually compatible.

There are multiple shops and restaurants scheduled to open in the next few months and the stated intent is for the commercial tenants to fund the cultural programmes and ongoing costs. This seems unrealistic given the size of the space and the ambitions of the cultural side.

A Tai Kwun pass is needed to enter the area. The prison history of the space means there are only a few small and narrow entrances and exits and nervous government bean counters have limited Tai Kwun to 5,000 people at a time. After the novelty of the area wears off entrance should be easy, but for now expect to queue.

The undoubted ‘stars’ of Tai Kwun are the courtyard and the parade ground surrounded as they are by colonial style buildings themselves imprisoned within modern steel and glass. With land so valuable, there simple isn’t this style of space in modern Hong Kong – the current high temperatures and blue skies make it even more precious to be able to see and feel the clear blue sky, much as the previous tenants of yearned to be able to do.

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Take a wander around there is a lot to see, much of which feels contrived and sterile – the prison block is the only area left almost ‘au natural’. There are exhibition spaces, performance art areas, shows, shops… A mini Hong Kong themed Disneyland in heart of Central.

Tai Kwun is unique in Hong Kong, whether the various stakeholders allow it to evolve organically or keep it sterile and ‘faux’ Hong Kong we will have to wait and see.

Tai Kwun Opening Hours: 11am – 11pm
Apply for your free Tai Kwun entry pass: https://www.taikwun.hk/en/visit/taikwun_pass

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I, Wu Song – A One-man Chinese Opera

Chinese opera has often been seen as an art form that tells historical tales, and that of Wu Song’s is one of the classics. Yet in this new production by The Gong Strikes One, Wu is no longer the protagonist, nor does Chinese opera take up the task to tell his story.

Instead, Wu’s story is transformed into a medium for Chinese opera to explore itself as a theatrical form of body movements and musical gestures. All utterances have been removed and Wu now becomes no more than an anonymous man on stage, called “I”.

I, Wu Song – A One-man Chinese Opera
The Gong Strikes One
Date: 8pm, 10-11 June, 2017
Venue: HK Cultural Centre, Studio Theatre
Tickets: $180, $160 from Urbtix

Cavalia

The Big White Tent on the Central Harbourfront is hard to miss, it’s home to Cavalia a touring ‘homage to the century-old bond between human and horse’ as Cavalia founder Normand Latourelle describes the show.

At it’s most basic Cavalia is acrobats and horses – a Cirque du Soleil with four legged extras if you will. There’s some good trick riding, but as with the acrobatics nothing ground breaking, it’s all stuff that’s highly visual and can be repeated night after night.

Where Cavalia shines is it’s equine stars. We just don’t see horses in Hong Kong, and certainly not up-close and personal. Watching them on TV, even in HD, the raw beauty and power can be seen but not experienced or felt. In ‘casting’ a range of different breeds, we the audience can compare and enjoy the attributes and personalities of the horse, their personalities and traits. From the stately to the wild majestic Arabians and all points in-between.

As Latourelle explained afterwards “The Arabians are a herd, they’re not ridden, I want to keep them a bit wild.”

The hour long media preview was a selection of ‘scenes’ from the full show. There’s nothing new or unique about the individual pieces of the show (television has made the difficult seem common place) combined it was fun and enjoyable. The horses are the stars, the Arabians the headliners. A reminder of natures beauty and worth the price of admission alone.

Cavalia
When: 31 March – 10 May, 2015
Where: Central Harbourfront
How much: $1,995, $1,495, $1,195, $895, $695, $545, $395