FOR BETTER OR worse, crises draw people together. That is why, at the height of the Sars panic, the Fringe Club's Benny Chia decided to organise an event featuring artists from cities around the world that had been affected by the disease.
For him, the point was 'to reflect on Sars and what it means to art and life'. The result was Sars International Inc, a two-part theatre programme made up of both solo acts and playback theatre. But instead of dwelling on the past, all performers were asked to come up with materials that related to life, post-Sars.
Part 1, to run at the Fringe this week, is co-ordinated by Mok Chiu-yu, of the Asian People's Theatre Festival Society. It will feature artists from Hanoi, Singapore, Taipei, Toronto, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. It's a demanding show - running almost three hours - performed in several languages.
Most of the short pieces are works in progress and there is little information about how they play out, although the scant previews depict them as decidedly off-beat. The only hint Mok would give about his own creative contribution was: 'Most of us are still collecting ideas for our performance. In our show, for instance, we will be using fruits but we have yet to pick which fruit.' Meanwhile, Chris Chan will be making a point with live rabbits, while Ko Siu-lan's commentary will include the use of eggs.
Meanwhile, the Asian Migrant Theatre Company will use songs and dance to express their frustration with being 'locked up' in Hong Kong as they could not return home during that period.
Other artists include Yu Xudong and Yu Yuk Tung from Guangzhou, Dao Anh Khanh from Hanoi, Li Xie from Singapore, Beijing's Cui Xiuwen and Taiwan's Wang Mo-lin.
