Continues tomorrow

One of four dramas that can be seen at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, this short play was well suited to the intimate setting of the Cultural Centre's Studio Theatre.

Hirata based his work on the classic Japanese film Tokyo Story (from which the cliche 'generation gap' was coined). Like its inspiration, Hirata's drama explores the universal themes of family, anxiety and isolation in contemporary society. It is an exemplary work of the quiet theatre movement that has been popular in Japan since the 1990s and demonstrates the playwright's aversion to overt expressions of emotion and ideological messages.

If you were expecting an action-packed evening of entertainment, you would have been disappointed. There was one set - a waiting area of an art gallery - minimal use of theatrical effects and no real plot. Five siblings and spouses met, viewed an exhibition of Jan Vermeer's paintings and had dinner off-stage. Fifteen other characters weaved in and out of the script, including three couples, a donor of paintings to the museum, a lawyer, and a couple of curators. The conversation was mainly trivial, but moved at a speed which made it tiring to read the subtitles.

The 'notes' occasionally developed into phrases that constituted the themes of filial piety, the pity of war and transience of human love. But these themes were not really developed in any meaningful way. When a sister rebuked another for not taking responsibility for her parents, when a sister-in-law revealed that her husband was having an affair, when a soldier reacted violently due to his hatred of war, other characters quickly changed the subject. Allusions to how art and artists mimic life were made, but tended to obfuscate rather than enlighten.

There were the occasional moments of humour, however, but unfortunately they were few and far between.