Hong Kong seems to have a thing about British writer and stand-up comic Ben Elton at present, with two productions involving him running this month. You've probably heard about the imminent arrival of the international musical about the rock group Queen, We Will Rock You, which was written by Elton. But you probably haven't heard about a somewhat smaller production of an Elton black comedy, Popcorn, being staged by Perilous Mouths Entertainment at the Fringe Theatre.
Producer Paul Cabrelli said of the play, which is about how people today are not prepared to take responsibility for their actions: 'It's very, very funny but also incredibly dark. It's about a Hollywood director and opens on the night of the Oscars.' The director - whose films are of the Quentin Tarantino ilk - wins an Oscar for a mega-violent movie that inspired two young punks to murder people in malls and other public places and become known as the Mall Murderers. The night after the Oscars, the killers visit the director and his family at home and the blood begins to flow.
Elton, famous for co-writing the biting British television comedies Black Adder and The Young Ones, won a 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for best new comedy for Popcorn. The production runs at the Fringe Theatre, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, until Saturday.