Hong Kong Repertory Theatre Hong Kong City Hall Theatre Jan 15, 19-22, 25-29, 7.45pm; Jan 16, 22-23, 29-30, 2.45pm
This bilingual period drama penned by Hong Kong Repertory Theatre's former artistic director, Joanna Chan, is a fictitious love story based on the arrival of the first American trading ship, the Empress of China, in Canton in 1784.
It revolves around an encounter between a historical character, businessman Samuel Shaw (played by New York actor Andrei Drooz) and a fictional one, Purple Lotus (Lin Xiawei, far right with Drooz), created by Chan.
'The central theme of the play is about two people whose way of looking at the world, themselves and history are totally different,' says the playwright. 'But somehow the two central characters find a common language in their faith in integrity and honesty.'
Interestingly, the real challenge in staging this original piece was to develop a 'common language' among the international cast of 20, featuring HKRep actors Wang Wei and Chow Chi-fai plus guest actors Gregory Rivers, Paul Sheehan and Jeffrey Glaser.
'I've been staging [bilingual plays] for several years in New York, and I'm quite used to that,' says Chan. 'The burden falls on the Caucasian actors who do not speak any Chinese.