A play staged at the Hong Kong Arts Centre was aimed at heightening public awareness of child abuse.
Titled Gymnopedy, Latin for 'the naked child', it is a study of how violence and sexual abuse traumatises children.
Written by Dino Mahoney, an associate professor with the Department of English at the City University of Hong Kong, the play previously won a South London International Playwrights Festival award. It was translated into Cantonese by Kevin Ma Chung-hon.
Professor Mahoney, who for four years taught teenagers from broken families in London, said: 'The play shows the destructive effects of abuse on children. The characters repeat the sexual and violent behaviour of their fathers.
'The public attitude towards adolescents is stereotyped. The detailed portraits of adolescents are shown in a more rounded way on the stage.' Professor Mahoney said he hoped those who saw the play would better understand problems teenagers faced today.
Hardy Tsoi Sik-cheong, manager of Sha Tin Theatre Company, said the vividness of the actors' language allowed him to understand more deeply the feelings of troubled youths.