Why not

Fringe Mime & Movement Laboratory

Fringe Studio, Fringe Club

Tomorrow-Saturday, 8pm, Sunday, 3pm Call it a meeting of the minds and the mimes. Hong Kong's Fringe Mime & Movement Laboratory (Mime Lab) has a history of collaborating with English mime directors but it has long sought to develop a distinctively East Asian mime form.

To this end, the group has recently turned to a South Korean mime professional to direct Why Not, its main programme in a show that premieres tomorrow (it also includes Danny Suen's 20-minute teaser production, The Flashings).

Yoon Jong-yeoun (above) got his start in mime at age 19 with the Mom Zit company. The director, now 44, later spent three years in London studying with Corinne Soum's Steven Wasson and another year working with the Theatre de L'Ange Fou. After returning to his home country, he established Theatre Momggol and also decided he wanted to learn more about his Asian neighbours.

'For the past 30 years, we have tried to find out what Korean mime is - the particularities that are Korean,' Yoon says. Over the course of working here on a show with an arguably archetypal Asian theme, he has a deeper understanding of his Korean influences.

At the very core of his working and performing philosophy is the need to question and challenge oneself.

'As an actor or actress, it's very important to ask yourself, 'Why am I here?', to try to find your identity,' Yoon says.

This is something he has sought to impart to the five performers of Why Not, who are charged with presenting questions arising from the heart primarily - even if not exclusively - through expressive body movements.

'Why?' 'Why me?' 'Who am I sacrificing for?' 'Is this sacrifice meaningful and worthwhile, or is it trivial?' 'Is it right or wrong?' These are the questions that will be asked during the show. Also likely to be asked: 'Why not?'

2 Lower Albert Rd, Central, HK$100, HK$80 (Fringe Club members) HK Ticketing. Inquiries: 2521 7251