As Chunky Onion Productions gains popularity in Hong Kong, company founder David Andrews has a much bigger audience in mind. 'We feel our educational drama programmes will be popular in other cities throughout Asia, and plan to explore China in the coming year,' he said. Chunky Onion would have appeal on the mainland, according to Andrews, with the same combination of entertainment and education that had generated success for the past six years in Hong Kong. Working with English teachers in the city, he said, the company provided educational material to schools to prepare students for each performance and for follow-up exercises. The company's repertoire consists of remakes of familiar stories such as Aladdin and Mulan, with some local flavour and the Chunky Onion imprint. Andrews said that performing for Hong Kong students had been much more fulfilling than corporate banking. 'The students are very open-minded and genuine,' he said. 'Many of them have never seen a live performance in English and are eager for the experience. The reactions that we get are always warm and enthusiastic.' The challenge was the wide range of English competency. 'To make our stories interesting to one and all, we incorporate music, peppy dance routines, loads of physical humour and keep the pace quick.' He was confident of Chunky Onion's appeal wherever students were interested in fun and learning English. And the name? 'It means absolutely nothing,' he said. 'A good friend from Delhi and I sat around brainstorming until we came up with one we hoped would be memorable.' To learn more, contact Samantha Fitchett at samantha@chunkyonion.com or call 2152 9276.