Will I still be able to write political plays, Hong Kong dramatist asks himself
Tang Chi-kin, two of whose plays about Hong Kong after the Occupy Central student sit-ins of 2014 are performed at the 2018 Hong Kong Arts Festival, fears for the future but says ‘I will still write while there’s a small space left’
“I’m scared that after a few years, will I still be able to write these kinds of plays?”
These are the words of Hong Kong playwright and director Tang Chi-kin, who returns to this year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival with The Great Learning and Doctrine of Happiness, two follow-up plays to 2016’s Chinese Lesson, which revolves around a group of students whose lives are deeply affected by the Occupy Central protests and their aftermath.
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The 35-year-old, who is also a stage actor, cited the disappearance of the Causeway Bay booksellers in 2015 – two of whom were believed to be abducted by Chinese agents and taken to China to be punished for selling banned books – as a cause of concern about freedom of expression in this city.
“But I will still write while there is a small space left … I’m not attacking any particular side by writing these plays, but essentially it’s because I care about society and about representing these characters,” says Tang.
The trilogy is set in post-Occupy Hong Kong, and Tang turns to ancient Confucian teachings to find answers to contemporary issues faced by youth and young adults.