Evacuation Order
Hong Kong Dance Company
Cultural Centre Grand Theatre
The Hong Kong Dance Company's Evacuation Order takes its title from events in 1662 where the Qing authorities forced inhabitants of the Hong Kong region to abandon their homes and move inland. Apparently part of the policy of crushing resistance to Qing rule (southern China was the last stronghold of support for the ousted Ming), such events retain their resonance today in a world where governments continue to force people off their land.
In this case, the policy was rescinded a few years later and the dispossessed peasants were allowed to return. This anticlimax may explain why Evacuation Order fails to gel as a drama. Even the music, by Tang Lok-yin, meanders along aimlessly.
Artistic director/choreographer Leung Kwok-shing has often proved his ability to create first-class dance drama, notably in his stunning trilogy based on the novels of Louis Cha. Here, however, the story seems lost - only seven of 11 scenes relate to the plot. The rest are folk-dance-based evocations of agricultural life and, while some are good in themselves, particularly the Spring Agriculture sequence, they slow things down and dilute the dramatic impact overall.
Above all, there is no coherence in the storytelling. Yuan Sidao (Chen Jun) is forcibly conscripted, turns on his fellow soldiers to protect his family, then mystifyingly turns up as a masked bandit attacking his own village. Chen's compelling performance does much to fill the gaps, but the character's behaviour simply doesn't add up. This is more the pity, as the final scenes generate some real emotional power.
The scene where Chen's wife dies in childbirth is on the verge of being ludicrous, with her dancing and being lifted while in labour, despite Tang Ya's touching performance.