McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre Today-May 21, May 24-28, 8pm, May 21 also 3pm
When Kearen Pang Sau-wai first staged her original solo show 29+1? a year ago, her views of growing up were dark and cynical: a mindless work life, the pain of breakups and the passing of loved ones. Although her story revolves around the intertwined lives of two different young women - one tense, the other ever-optimistic - the overall tone was of pain and disappointment.
'I honestly couldn't brighten up the story because I was going through an uncertain period in my own life,' says the playwright/actress.
But that was then. Today, the 31-year-old (left) sounds more positive. She says the past 12 months have been 'eye-opening'. Isabella, a movie she co-wrote with film director Edmond Pang Ho-cheung, won a best film nomination at the Berlin Film Festival and opened this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival. She also appeared in a re-run of the stage adaptation of Pang's Beyond Our Ken in February, which did well at the box office.
'In a way, the last run of 29+1 was therapeutic,' says the former member of Chung Ying Theatre Company. 'I wrote the play when I was a little confused. It was the first time I penned a script and I wanted to do so much during the creative process that, in the end, my intentions for writing it in the first place were lost. I think I was at the stage when I simply didn't know what I was supposed to be doing.'
Then last year Pang asked her if she'd be interested in writing a film script with him, but said they'd have to move to Macau for research. 'I was planning to go to Taiwan, to get away, anyway, so I thought going to Macau would be an alternative.'
