Students projected their feelings about a wide range of subjects of interest to youngsters in an impressive two-day drama festival. Seven secondary schools took part in the Inter-school Drama Show, staged recently at the Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre Theatre. Organised by the Hong Kong Student Drama Association, the festival showcased original plays written by students of the participating schools. Vanisa Lau King-yan, public relations secretary of the association, said the aim of the show was to bring together students with an interest in drama and give them an occasion to display their talents. 'We did not impose any limitations on the themes they could work on,' Vanisa said. 'We wanted the students to feel free and creative.' The students of St Francis Xavier School, Tsuen Wan, staged a play about young people struggling to make dreams a reality. 'We wanted our young audience to think about what they want in life,' said Cheung Chi-shing, chairman of the school's drama club. Their four-part play is about a boy who wants to study drama at one of Hong Kong's leading performing arts schools, and his girlfriend who dreams of studying music in Vienna, one of the music capitals of the world. Although the two do not get much encouragement from their families and friends, they can still share their aspirations with each other. 'Many students don't know what their dreams are, and how they can fulfil them,' said sixth-former Chi-shing, who also wrote the script. 'Staging a play is a great experience. You never know how it will turn out. But whether it's a success or not, it's still your creation, and you're proud of it.' The countdown to Hong Kong's handover was the subject of the play from Ng Wah College. The play centres on the lives of a group of youngsters during the period of transition. 'It's about how young people feel about what's happening around them in these changing times,' explained Billy Lee Lung-sang, chairman of the Ng Wah drama club. Other schools taking part in the drama-packed event were Carmel Alison Lam Foundation School, Our Lady's College, TWGHs Chang Ming Thien College, Kowloon Technical School, and Pope Paul VI College.
