Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), the "Performance Matters" Dialogue Series featuring multimedia artists as hosts and guest speakers will be held in October in three sessions. The hosts and speakers will share experiences and views at the lectures, which will include simple exercises, demonstrations and activities, followed by a group discussion.
 
     Details are as follows:

October 2 (Friday) at 3pm
Topic: What is Performance?
Content: What is a performance? Is a performance something close to us, or is it elusive? As a concept, how far can it be expanded? What sort of cerebral reaction can a broader definition provoke in the creators' and viewers' minds? At a time when it is increasingly difficult to define the term performance, "What is Performance?" attempts to construct an inspirational debate by raising questions to make sense of the relationship between seeing and being seen.
Moderator: Dick Wong (choreographer, dancer, director and actor, who grew up between cultures)
Speakers: Orlean Lai (independent producer and curator, focuses on curating hybrid collaborations across the arts genre) and Zoe Lai (independent dramaturg, who has worked in the areas of theatre, contemporary dance and architecture, who graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Practice at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom)
 
October 3 (Saturday) at 3pm
Topic: Acting-Persona-Everyday People
Content: In theatre performances, an actor will begin by digging into the character and asking questions such as, "Who am I? Where am I from? Why am I doing this? What kind of mental state am I in when I say this? What are the causes and effects?" Some performances no longer necessarily require you to "perform", but to be "yourself". But what does it really mean to "be yourself"? For the actors, they have to ask themselves, "Am I acting or not?" As for the audience who are invited to perform on stage, the question is: what is "performance"?
Moderator: Dick Wong
Speakers: Faye Leong (actress, director, educator, producer and artistic director, who is a Lecturer of Acting in the School of Drama of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts) and Vee Leong (writer-director in text-based and intermedia art making)
 
October 4 (Sunday) at 3pm
Topic: We Are in This Together
Content: Media technology has long been employed in the making of theatre to produce dazzling effects that envelop and encompass the audience. Of course, no matter how powerfully infectious a performance is, the audience is still sitting back and watching it passively. With its ever-changing dynamics, contemporary theatre has forged a new path in the use of media technology, which acts as both the objective and the content, and comes in a myriad of forms. Through live interactive participation using mobile applications, virtual reality, augmented reality, headphones and network surveillance, the audience is thrust into the midst of things, experiencing as well as participating in a performance. Theatres/performances would henceforth feature audiences with their own experiences and richer layers of the here and now. Where will media technology take creators and audiences? In the light of the emergence of interactive online performances during the pandemic, how will future performance-making be extended to media online?
Moderator: Zoe Lai
Speakers: Ivor Houlker and Michelle Li (founders and co-artistic directors of Rooftop Productions) and Adrian Yeung (new media designer and theatre director)
 
     Conducted in Cantonese, the lectures will be held at Black Box Theatre, Kwai Tsing Theatre. Tickets priced at $80 for each lecture are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7323 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/multi_arts/programs_1003.html.
 
     Regarding the epidemic situation, the number of audience members will be limited to half of the original capacity of the LCSD's performance venues. Please note that there are special seating arrangements.

Ends/Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Issued at HKT 11:32

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