Theatre du Pif
City Hall Theatre
Reviewed: Nov 20
A collaboration between the local bilingual theatre company, British multimedia collective Burst TV and Scottish playwright and dramaturge Liam Hurley, The Will to Build is a verbatim theatre piece that explores Hong Kong's history in a script based on interviews.
The narrative is roughly chronological, tracing Hong Kong's history from British colonial times to the present, and the scenes are structured around monologues by people involved in, or affected by, the building of the city, ranging from construction workers and property developers to conservationists.
The stunning production design made a strong visual statement: against a video backdrop, the minimalist set featured two translucent, room-like structures on either side of the stage that represented various public and private spaces in different scenes.