Shows at West Kowloon Cultural District to push boundaries on what can be put on in Hong Kong

Arts hub’s artistic director of performing arts says team is already making its mark with shows such as MDLSX about gender fluidity

Whether something that crosses China’s ‘red line’ could be put on is unclear

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Alison Friedman, artistic director of performing arts at the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, says she is driven by a lifelong belief in the ability of the arts to bring people together and generate understanding. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 9:04am, 26 Oct 2018Updated: 1:25pm, 29 Oct 2018

When Alison Friedman was named artistic director of performing arts at the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) a year ago, the Cantonese opera sector vociferously objected because the American was not an expert in the traditional art form.

A year later, the powers that be at performers’ group Barwo – or the Chinese Artists Association of Hong Kong – have been appeased. The group is now playing a leading role in the December soft launch of the Xiqu Centre for Chinese opera, the first performing arts venue to be completed at the 40-hectare West Kowloon Cultural District.

The resolution suggests a deft hand in diplomacy honed over the 17 years Friedman spent working as a facilitator of cultural exchanges in China’s idiosyncratic and restrictive environment. A fluent Mandarin speaker, she first went to China in 2000 as an exchange student. She later founded Ping Pong Productions in Beijing in 2010, which presented a whopping 250 productions a year in China and elsewhere.

As the first artistic director in charge of Chinese opera, dance, theatre, music and outdoor performances at Asia’s most ambitious new cultural district, Friedman can expect to come face to face with many a delicate situation.

This week, Macau’s refusal to grant entry to local playwright Yan Pat-to, citing a risk to public security, highlights the changing environment faced by artists in the two Chinese Special Administrative Regions.

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