Hong Kong Arts Festival
It was a scene right out of, well, a comic opera. On stage in the Cultural Centre Grand Theatre, singers clowned it up in the third performance of Rossini's La Cenerentola, the opera based on Cinderella. Backstage, there was a heated row among the chorus of Elvis-quiffed courtiers. As the Ugly Sisters hammed out front, the 24-strong chorus argued over the colour of their shoes. Everyone had followed directions and worn black shoes to go with secret service-style suits, raincoats and shades. Everyone except one independent little voice who preferred his brogues to be brown.
This was a step too far in the wrong direction for the rest of the chorus, two of whom had even diligently painted $2,000 Bally shoes the required colour. Egos were shattered and festival staff had to step in to shoe-horn the singers apart and calm the high-pitched battle.
Nixon's Nixon, the Arts Festival play about President Richard Nixon's meeting with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger just before Watergate, sparked a break-in of its own, when the set was stolen from a Newcastle theatre just two days before it was due to be struck and shipped to Hong Kong. The White House-style furniture was snatched by thieves who knocked the stage manager unconscious. He is still recovering and police are investigating.
Plans to bring the acclaimed Young Vic/Royal Shakespeare Company's co-production of A Servant To Two Masters to the Arts Festival ran into an unexpected hitch. The Carlo Goldoni play, an 18th-century farce set in a country inn, had no set. The company is touring the world with the show, using two sets to get round lengthy transport times. And while the cast and crew were ready, willing and able to perform in Hong Kong, there was no way to get either of the sets here in time for their opening night. There's been an expensive solution. The Arts Festival has teamed up with the companies to build a third set for US$20,000 (HK$156,000). And they have no idea what to do with it afterwards. Anyone need a spare?
You have to hope no one stops them at Customs. They'd have a lot of explaining to do. For their suitcases will be jam-packed with strange, pervasive powders. When the Indian percussion ensemble from the Temples of Kerala arrive in Hong Kong for the Drum Power show they share with Japanese drum group Yufuin Genryu Daiko, they plan on bringing in bags full of pungent spices. The smell should be exquisite. They're doing a deal with a local restaurant to exchange the pungent spices for meals. Bartering seemed the only way to keep these players happy when it became apparent there was no affordable accommodation which also offered cooking facilities in Hong Kong.
