THEATRE In Portraying Vincent Van Gogh. Friday 8pm, Fringe Club Rehearsal Room, $45, members $30, includes a drink From Wednesday to Saturday Australia's Playbox Theatre Centre presents an acclaimed solo performance from William Gluth in Michael McEvoy's play A Portrait Of Vincent. On Friday there is a rare opportunity to meet the actor before the run begins and ask a few questions about how he gets to grips with the character of the tortured genius and what insights into the man and his art he has picked up from playing the role. For anybody interested in what goes on behind the scenes in a theatrical production this should fascinate.
EXHIBITIONS Lively Forms. Tomorrow 10am to 7pm, LKF The Gallery, 1/F 5-6 Lan Kwai Fong A last chance to see recent works by New Zealand artist Rachel Brebner before the exhibition closes. New Zealand born and now a Hong Kong resident Brebner has drawn much of her recent inspiration from life in the SAR and this exhibition reflects that along with her preoccupation with music, food and the world of sensuous pleasures. If you haven't been in already drop by.
Portraits Of Women. Starting tomorrow 10am to 6pm, Saturday 11pm to 6pm, Alisan Fine Arts, 315 Prince's Building An exhibition of ink on rice paper portraits of women by contemporary Chinese artists who, despite working in the same medium, have strikingly different styles. Exhibitors include Mary Chuang, Chang Jin, Pan Ying, Zhu Xinjian and Xiao Yi.
For some of the artists, including Chuang who is best known for her ceramics and sculptor Xiao Yi, this is a secondary medium and the show offers a chance to see another side of their talents and compare it to their better known work.
CINEMA Mother Dao The Turtlelike. Friday, 6.30pm, Hong Kong Arts Centre Lim Por Yen Film Theatre, $50, students $30 A remarkable piece of documentary assemblage work, painstakingly put together by Dutch film maker Vincent Monnikendam from a breathtaking 260,000 metres of documentary archive film recording life in Indonesia under Dutch colonial rule.
The footage records aspects of life ranging from work to the home and ultimately the grave, and is of course heavily biased towards giving a positive impression of the regime as benevolently paternalistic.
There are Indonesians who do not remember it that way, and Monnikendam found in the black and white images some evidence of the sorrow of the oppressed. This is brought out by the use as counterpoint to the film of Indonesian song and poetry and an emotive score by Jan Dries Groenendijk. Interesting stuff.
