Founded in 2000, FM Theatre Power was inspired by the 'follow-your-dream' spirit and songs of Hong Kong rock band Beyond.

Its debut piece in 2003, Beyond the Horizon 1, was about a pop singer who pursues his career. The play has since been performed more than 40 times.

In this second version, the theatre group has added some social issues close to the heart of Hong Kong people.

'Recently we've seen a lot of issues where the public has been fighting for their rights against the government or big developers,' says Fung Sai-kuen, the group's assistant artistic director.

'We want to use [such issues] to get people to reflect on their rights.'

Fung, 28, graduated with a degree in social policy at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and completed a drama education course at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He plays the main character in the drama: a pop singer.

'I want to use theatre as a medium to stimulate people to think about what's going on around them,' Fung says. 'Hopefully, it will motivate them to take action and change society.'

The group's strategy of using theatre to address current events attracted the attention of a Shanghai theatre group. It invited Fung's group to perform on the mainland, but government intervention had dashed their hopes. In July, however, FM Theatre Power finally made it to Shanghai, where it performed Beyond for five days.

Fung says mainland audiences responded extremely well to the shows. 'Audience members ranged from teenagers to middle-aged people. They were extremely positive about the play; they wrote very complimentary comments about it on their blogs,' Fung says.

'After the shows, we had a discussion with the audience and most of them stayed to talk to us.

'They were interested in the fact that Hong Kong people are able to speak up against their government. They told me they wouldn't dare to discuss the 'Z' word publicly - 'Z' stands for zheng fu, or 'government' in Chinese. The performance helped them to release their frustration at not being able to speak their mind freely.'

Ten students from HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity took part in the Shanghai performance.

They will also perform in the show tomorrow.

Pang I-ching, 17, is one of them. Pang stresses the importance of free speech.

'I feel very unhappy whenever I see that Hong Kong students are being deprived of their freedom,' the Form Five student explains.

'It seems to me we'll lose some of our freedoms well before we reach the end of the 'one country, two systems' scheme, which is supposed to last for 50 years.'

But I-ching says she tries to remain optimistic. 'I believe we all have the power to change society,' she stresses.

'On a personal level, I can start by expressing my views. I hope through this play, we can touch audience members' hearts and make them think, too.'