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Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Drama Gallery's latest production "nitehawk" will be staged in September.
Little do we know that by burying secrets, we are letting our minds become buried by them.
What is hidden should never be revealed, yet in the depths of our hearts we look may forward to secrets seeing the light of day. Stella (Gladys Liu), a seamstress, has a compulsive urge to refurbish her old home time and again so as to sew up a new life in between the old and the new. Her husband, Joe (Kenson Chan), harbours a secret that he regards as taboo - one that he would not reveal even in his confessionals. As a result, every time he prays, he hears a nighthawk's cries. Their son, Jing (Joe Wong), who has cerebral palsy, meanwhile finds a new world through his camera lens.
This is just an ordinary family - one you can find anywhere, one that talks but never communicates, one whose members keep on wishing time would pass quietly so that when the end comes, they can bowl over everything and start all over again. And yet, every night, the nighthawk's cries outside the window stir up the sleeping, repressed cells in their bloodline. Stella has an affair with Bill (Donovan Chan), who is doing their renovations. Myra (Winki Lai), Stella's younger sister who has been out of touch for many years, suddenly appears at their doorstep. Instead of welcoming her, Joe turns her away. Then things begin to happen: Jing discovers that the ants in the back garden are making strange moves, Joe's key to the chests in the attic has mysteriously disappeared, and Stella is suddenly willing to sell her beloved house to Myra. The old house that has quietly nestled among the tall, new buildings for so long is opening up, and the ground is overturned slowly to uncover each person's secrets. Overhead, the nighthawk slowly flies by, so slow that it is as if it is keeping track of what goes on.
With "nitehawk", Drama Gallery makes its return to serious explorations of human nature after the hilarious pyrotechnics of "Truly I Do" (re-run) and "Jack & Jackie 2". As witnessed by the nighthawk, the darker side of the members of a family is exposed. As they painfully get pulled into the tug of war between the good and the ugly and between truth and falsehood, their sense of guilt that they have been hiding under their skin also surfaces.
The cast of this production is one of the strongest in the local drama scene. Gladys Liu, who has won Best Lead Actress twice and Best Supporting Actress twice in the Hong Kong Drama Awards, will partner with Kenson Chan, a seasoned actor and esteemed theatre veteran in Hong Kong, as the lead. They are strongly supported by Yu Hon-ting, their co-actor and "triumvirate member" at Exploration Theatre back in the 1990s; Joe Wong, winner of Best Supporting Actor in the Hong Kong Drama Awards and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council's 2012 Award for Young Artist; and outstanding actors Winki Lai and Donovan Chan.
Drama Gallery's "nitehawk" will be staged at 8pm on September 21 to 23 (Friday to Sunday), and at 3pm on September 22 and 23 (Saturday and Sunday) at the Theatre, Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre. Tickets priced at $180 and $120 are now available at all URBTIX outlets, on the Internet and by credit card telephone booking. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (limited tickets for full-time students and CSSA recipients). A group booking discount scheme is also available; please refer to the programme leaflet for details.
For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7325; for ticketing enquiries, please call 2734 9009. For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999. Internet booking is available at www.urbtix.hk. For more information, visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/theatre/000003fb.html.
Ends/Friday, August 10, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:42
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