Hong Kong theatre group dedicated to Tiananmen crackdown concerned by dwindling interest from schools
Stage64, a performance group that tours schools to raise awareness of the bloody crackdown on June 4, 1989, is worried teachers are being told to avoid the issue
A theatre group dedicated to plays on the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown has seen invitations to perform at schools drop by more than a quarter this year, prompting concerns that teachers are under increasing political pressure to ignore the sensitive issue.
In one case, a school abruptly cancelled its reservation after it had completed most of the booking procedures, just two days after the case of missing booksellers came to light.
“That school has been collaborating with us for two or three years already,” Wei Siu-lik, the producer of theatre group Stage64, said.
“They cited a ‘site problem’ as their reason of cancellation. We then counter-proposed many other alternative slots but have never heard from them again.”
Stage64, which ran its first hit, Edelweiss, in 2009 marking the 20th anniversary of the Beijing student crusade, has been putting plays featuring different stories of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on stage every year, alongside a school tour.
The group used to tour about 40 schools every year, said Wei, but they got less than 30 invitations this year. There are 476 local secondary schools in Hong Kong.