Going Out
THEATRE Love Is The Drug. City Hall Theatre, Central. Friday to Sunday, 8 pm, also at 3 pm on Saturday. $150, $100, $70. Urbtix. In English.
Italian commedia dell' arte meets English satire in this colourful production from the Oxford Stage Company, directed by Italian actor Antonio Fava. The play is set in Bologna where a well-to-do gentleman, Pantalone, wants to marry off his daughter Flaminia to a noble youth called Oratio. However, in a change of plan he betroths his daughter to a complete stranger and she conspires with Oratio (whom, incidentally, she loves) to take a sleeping potion. If everything goes smoothly, Oratio will rescue her from the tomb. By using masks to embellish the conspiracy, Fava weaves a comic nightmare.
CLASSICAL MUSIC Zhang Qian. City Hall Theatre, Central. Wednesday, 8 pm. $80, $60. Urbtix on 2734-9009.
Mezzo-soprano Zhang Qian studied at the Music College in Guangdong, later progressing to the Shanghai Music Conservatory. She has performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and has also won several international awards, including the 'Outstanding Award' at the 15th Rio de Janeiro International Concert. For this event she will perform pieces by Purcell, Gluck, Schubert, Bizet, Fare and Massenet.
Yao Yuen Chinese Music Association. City Hall Concert Hall. Saturday, 8 pm. $70, $60, $40. Urbtix.
Ma Shenglong from Shanghai conducts this evening of Chinese classical music which features the konghou (a traditional instrument similar to a harp). Solo pieces - Rippling Brook and Moonlight Over Spring Water - will be played by Ma Xiaolan, one of China's most impressive young performers. Other works include Yang Guan Song, Love For The Yellow Plum and Caprice On The Theme Of Liu Sanjie.
DANCE Typhoon Tango. Portico, Citibank Plaza. Wednesday, 7.30 pm. $350 (including dinner). Bar also open for drinks.
The recent show, Tango Paras Dos, was a well-deserved sell-out at the Arts Festival and here we have another pair of seductive strutters from Buenos Aires, Pablo and Gladys Inza. The dancing duo are back by popular demand to teach and perform to private audiences - The China Club has been one of their stamping grounds - and the Portico event is their only public show. Why not slick back your hair, hitch up your skirt and join in? CINEMA Siao Yu. Lim Por Yen Film Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Wan Chai. Sunday, 5.30 pm, 7.30 pm (with discussion). $45. Urbtix. In Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles. Starring Tou Chung-hua, Joyin Liu.
Screened as part of a tribute to Taiwan's Central Motion Picture Corporation, Siao Yu is the story of an illegal Chinese immigrant living in New York. Her boyfriend is poor and can hardly support himself so 24-year-old Siao Yu marries 60-year-old Mario to get a green card. The marriage of convenience creates anger: the boyfriend becomes insanely jealous and Mario's real wife is none too pleased either. A new release from director Sylvia Chang.
Hill Of No Return. Lim Por Yen Film Theatre. Saturday, 2.30 pm. $45. Urbtix. In Taiwanese with Chinese subtitles. Starring Peng Chia-chia, Huang Pin-yuan.
This 1992 film about two orphaned brothers who head off to the Taiwanese gold rush in search of a better life, won six awards in the 29th Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. One brother, Ah Ju, falls for Ah Ro, a prostitute, and the other, Ah Wei, succumbs to the charms of an innocent Japanese girl working in the brothel. A tragic concluding piece in director Wang Tong's trilogy of Taiwanese stories.
EXHIBITIONS Kozo Mio, Keiji Hiramatsu And Kozo Inoue. Wagner Art Gallery, 7/F Lusitano Building, 4 Duddell Street, Central. From Tuesday until April 15. Free.
The work of award-winning Japanese artist Kozo Mio and his compatriots is shown for the first time in Hong Kong. Mio, a modern realist painter, born in 1923, is known for his airbrush technique and the exhibition will feature paintings and screenprints. Mio retired as professor of Art at Kyoto University to paint full-time.
Academy Open Day. Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Wan Chai. Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Free.
In celebration of 10 years of arts and entertainment, the APA throws open its doors for a public showing of its various talents. Western and Chinese dancing, singing, drama demonstrations, and a hands-on display of stage craft and props are among the attractions on offer, put on by students and staff. There is also the chance to nose around the fully-automated library, wardrobe department and scenery section.
