A MULTIDIMENSIONAL production that blends puppetry, storytelling, original music, video collage and contemporary dance may rekindle lost love and reunite estranged lovers. That is the hope of Hong Kong-born puppeteer and performer Hoi Chiu, who is directing the All Theatre Company production, YuYu MiMi - A Love Story, for the Hong Kong Arts Festival 2007. 'Love forever is that moment when love happens,' said Chiu. The organic process that generated Chiu's production was borne out of love. While travelling in Spain in 2002 he drew 20 black ink drawings, and on the flight home wrote the tragic love story, the combination of which would evolve into YuYu MiMi. A year later, while directing a International Arts Carnival show, he met Canadian folk singer and songwriter Rick Scott and the two resolved to one day work together to make Chiu's drawings into a book and soundtrack. But it was not until two years ago, when Chiu met Canadian actress and voice artist Maggie Blue O'Hara in Vancouver, that YuYu MiMi was put into action. Chiu and O'Hara instantly caught the love bug, and the multimedia performance group All Theatre Company was born. Teaming up with Scott and his wife, sound producer and poet Valley Hennell, the two couples spent six months developing YuYu MiMi into a puppet show, a soundtrack and a book. 'Before I met Maggie, the story of YuYu MiMi was dark and sad,' recalled Chiu. 'But after falling in love I pulled that happiness, that feeling, into my art.' Using wooden puppets carved by Chiu, Chinese paper cut shadow puppets, Scott's thoughtful musical score and O'Hara's narration, YuYu MiMi charts the relationship between characters YuYu and MiMi, a puppeteer and writer who fall in love in their youth. But unlike Chiu and O'Hara's story - the two recently got married - YuYu and MiMi's story is bittersweet. 'They leave, they remember, they return - but not to each other. It's a tragic love in a sense, because once they return, it's too late,' O'Hara said. The message Chiu hopes to impart, however, is uplifting. 'Nothing is forever, so live in the moment fully,' he said. The production is multi-layered and non-linear, with puppeteers and dancers Chiu, O'Hara, Lotus Chan Wai-yee and Ho Lok-him revealing the story on several levels. 'The story is told through shadows, mirror reflections, nature's cycles and the said and unsaid,' O'Hara said, adding that this allowed the artists to capture the inner lives of the characters. 'YuYu and MiMi hold back their feelings, but the shadows can express their intense emotion,' Chiu said. The All Theatre Company premiered YuYu MiMi at the Birmingham International Puppet Festival in Britain in June last year. The current production is entirely new, however, with multimedia, animation of Chiu's original drawings and dance complementing the subtle puppetry. 'It's the same story but the form has changed,' O'Hara said. Chiu and O'Hara hope to reach a multicultural audience, with three performances in English and three in Cantonese. This combination of cultures and talents is the driving force behind the company. Its most recent production was the musical puppet show Far Away Tree, written by O'Hara and directed by Chiu, for Kadoorie Farm. 'We complement each other,' O'Hara said. Chiu added: 'Sometimes I am the shape and she is the colour.' And then there is love which, according to YuYu MiMi, can conquer all - if it is given the space to thrive.
