{"id":460,"date":"2020-05-13T14:50:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T14:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/?p=460"},"modified":"2022-02-05T12:59:58","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T12:59:58","slug":"hong-kong-our-passion-will-go-on-even-if-the-shows-cannot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/hong-kong-our-passion-will-go-on-even-if-the-shows-cannot\/","title":{"rendered":"HONG KONG: Our Passion Will Go On, Even If the Shows Cannot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bernice Chan<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To show or not to show, that becomes real the question for all theatre practitioners around the world. The first wave of the crisis came at the end of January 2020, with the closure of all government operated venues, soon to be followed by the private ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most well-known and biggest local festivals, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, which is presented annually in February and March, with over 120 performances, had to be called off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hong Kong has suffered the cancellation of its regular shows, including concerts, dance, theatre and xiqu (Chinese opera) performances, which are held in established venues. In addition, it has faced the cancellation of many school tours and educational programmes, as well as community performances. The loss of the latter shows has become the most critical issue for many local freelance performing artists, as these account for the largest part of their incomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
IATC (HK), Online Play Reading Scheme<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first edition of the \u201cSupport Scheme for Arts and Cultural Sector\u201d\u2014a programme to help relieve the financial burden of the arts sector, with a budget of HK$ 55 million\u2014was launched by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in the beginning of March. Council subsidized organizations, like IATC (HK), have benefited directly from this scheme. However, certain freelancers may still not able to receive any support during this difficult period due to a loophole in the scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The closure of venues will continue in May and may last for a few more months. Nonetheless, performing arts groups, especially those funded by the government, have reacted proactively to the situation. For example, the City Contemporary Dance Company has arranged a series of online dance classes in their Dance Centre, and a live rehearsal of a postponed performance will be open online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hong Kong Repertory Theatre also presented a writing competition for short plays and stories about the pandemic. In addition, some small theatre groups were supported by independent video platform Stage TV to stream their previous productions online. There were also a few attempts by some independent artists to present their work online via the Zoom<\/em> platform. One of these productions, presented by the Reframe Theatre, was called How to Present the Love Life of Hong Kong People in the Time of Pandemic to Aliens<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
IATC (HK), Online Video Review<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In April, IATC (HK) arranged three episodes of online video reviews<\/a> discussing the trends of online performances. We also launched a very successful online play reading scheme<\/a> introducing 28 original plays in Chinese written by playwrights from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online and offline, our passion continues during the pandemic. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

*<\/a>Bernice Chan<\/strong>, General Manager, Hong Kong section of the International Association of Theatre Critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2020 Bernice Chan
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Creative<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/flag-hk-400.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":467,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/mexico-theatre-in-intensive-care\/","url_meta":{"origin":460,"position":0},"title":"MEXICO: Theatre in Intensive Care","author":"Bernice Chan","date":"May 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Lorena Meeser* The coronavirus pandemic has had a substantial impact on the performing arts in Mexico. Theatre productions are on indefinite pause. The curtains are closed until further notice, which puts at risk the survival of the theatre in Mexico, as the infrastructure of most companies will not last for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Covid"","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/flag-mex-400.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":478,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/taiwan\/","url_meta":{"origin":460,"position":1},"title":"TAIWAN: Crisis or Chance: Theatre in Difficult Times","author":"Bernice Chan","date":"May 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hung Tzi Yu* On January 21, 2020 two days before China locked down Wuhan, a Taiwanese passenger arriving from the city tested positive for COVID-19. Later that week, Taiwan imposed entry restrictions on visitors from China\u2019s Hubei Province and subsequently expanded it to all Chinese nationals. By the end of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Covid"","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/flag-tw-400.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":421,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/japan\/","url_meta":{"origin":460,"position":2},"title":"JAPAN: Theatre is Life","author":"Bernice Chan","date":"May 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Ken\u2019ichi Yamamoto* As in many other parts of the world, theatre in Japan has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, not because the artists and technicians have contracted the virus, but because they have had to cancel performances in response to the \u201cself-restraint request\u201d by governments, both national and local,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Covid"","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/flag-japan-400.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":490,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/theatre-is-always-alive\/","url_meta":{"origin":460,"position":3},"title":"ROMANIA: Theatre is Always Alive","author":"Bernice Chan","date":"May 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Octavian Saiu* Report from the Romanian Section of IATC \u2013 Theatre Studies \u201cTheatre is always dying\u201d is the bewildering statement once made by David Mamet. Yet, we all know, or at least hope, that theatre can never die! This paradox seems to be most suitable for describing the recent processes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Covid"","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":935,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/czech-republic-austerity-of-movement-and-theatre-on-screen\/","url_meta":{"origin":460,"position":4},"title":"CZECH REPUBLIC: Austerity of Movement and Theatre on Screen","author":"Bernice Chan","date":"May 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Martina Peckov\u00e1 \u010cern\u00e1*, Michal Zah\u00e1lka**, Jana N\u00e1vratov\u00e1*** Mapping Losses and the Set of Measures to Save Culture On March 11, 2020, the Czech government introduced extraordinary measures in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague has been mapping their impact on the cultural sector since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Covid"","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/06\/flag-czech.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":443,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/south-africa\/","url_meta":{"origin":460,"position":5},"title":"SOUTH AFRICA: Devastating Effects","author":"Bernice Chan","date":"May 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Gaerin Hauptfleisch* and Temple Hauptfleisch** As the first reports of what is now known as the COVID-19 international pandemic began to surface locally in February of this year, and the first confirmed South African case announced on 5 March 2020, feelings of restlessness and uncertainty soon made their presence felt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Covid"","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/flag-s.africa-400.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1114,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions\/1114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}