Recycling Times Studio Theatre, HK Academy for Performing Arts Reviewed: Mar 12
Inspired by Czech novelist Bohumil Hrabal's Too Loud a Solitude and the tragedy of Law Chi-wah, a local bookstore owner killed by 20 falling boxes of books in a warehouse three years ago, playwright Harriet Chung's Recycling Times is a surreal drama that gets inside the head of a socially neglected character whose existence is gradually fading.
Similar to the protagonist in Hrabal's novel, Tat (played by Pichead Amornsomboon, above right) is a paper crusher at a recycling factory, turning unwanted and banned books into paper bales. During his drunken reveries, the old man recalls his past, which he muddles up with love stories from books he rescued from the paper crusher. As the play progresses, it is revealed that his relationship with Emerald (Cheung Tsz-ki), a childhood sweetheart, ended abruptly after an incident involving his mentally retarded older brother (Donovan Chan).
When he is replaced by a younger worker at the factory, Tat decides to disappear quietly, together with books that people no longer want to read.
It is an ideologically interesting play that draws parallels between reality and fantasy, and is an allegory of social progress as well as extinction. Chung's writing is sharp and intelligent, although the play opened sluggishly.
Ben Yuen's direction failed to bring this multilayered tragedy to life. A less conventional treatment of the surrealistic narrative would have been preferable. But because Yuen decided to play it straight, it left no room for the imagination and, as a result, the story felt disjointed; no matter how hard veteran actor Amornsomboon tried, he was unable to either connect or engage with the audience.