Highlights and What’s upcoming at West Kowloon!

Farewell My Concubine (New Adaptation) at the 33rd Macao Arts Festival

West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) brought the award-winning experimental Cantonese Opera Farewell My Concubine (New Adaptation) to the audiences at Macao Cultural Centre on 26 – 27 May at the 33rd Macao Arts Festival. The two performances were warmly received by audiences with great applause.

Continuing to bring our experimental Cantonese Opera productions to wider audiences, the Xiqu team of WKCD will be going on tour to Seoul and Xiamen in September 2023, then back to Hong Kong before the trip to Beijing and Qingdao in October 2023. Stay tuned for our latest news!

Courtesy of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority

Courtesy of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority

Magic Tea House 2.0 – Dreams of the Future made a grand debut in June 2023

From June 2023, Magic Tea House 2.0 – Dreams of the Future takes centre stage in the new season of the perennially popular Tea House Theatre’s series, Magic Tea House. This imaginative production takes audiences on a thrilling journey through the world of Chinese opera, exploring how the heritage of Cantonese art can be preserved amidst ever-advancing technology.

The 90-minute performance follows the thoughts of a Cantonese opera actor, who travels through time and reimagines the future of his craft in a fast-changing, digitised world. The tale illustrates the richness and diversity of the art form through a highlight selection of familiar songs and instrumental music pieces, with Cantonese opera excerpts written by legendary librettist Tong Tik-sang and a new piece by acclaimed local actor-playwright Keith Lai. 

Staged in the traditional setting of the Tea House Theatre and enhanced with state-of-the-art audio and visual technology, Magic Tea House 2.0 – Dreams of the Future is performed by our talented Tea House Rising Stars Troupe and directed by Cantonese opera maestro Law Ka-ying and Producer Naomi Chung.

This new production offers a breathtaking tribute to the timeless art of Cantonese opera. Perfect for the whole family and audiences of all backgrounds!

Courtesy of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority

TechBox 2023: The travellers and the listeners

Interdisciplinary artist Samson Young will step into Freespace again in July 2023 with his visionary approach to media art performance experimentation.

Invited to be the principal artist for the cross-disciplinary experimental platform TechBox last year, Samson Young used Joseph Albers’s classic text Interaction of Color as a starting point for a six-hour improvision media art performance experiment and showcased the first stage of research and creative results with the TechBox team.

After a year of reflection, Samson will come back to Freespace with a group of TechBox designers and musicians, using imagery, music, sound and light to create an indescribable audio-visual experience during 17 -23 July.

About TechBox

TechBox is a four-year collaborative platform established between Freespace and the School of Theatre and Entertainment Arts at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The platform brings together media artists, theatre designers, faculty members and students to explore new frontiers of technology and performance and devise experimental creations in a technological context.