A sixth of Hong Kong Arts Festival shows lost to coronavirus outbreak, as organisers wait on more cancellations
- Venue closures to curb the spread of disease force the organisers of city’s No.1 arts event to cancel multiple programmes in its first week
- Theatre, dance, and music fans will all miss out; organisers hope to ‘present as much of the festival as possible’, either as scheduled or at a later date
Nearly a sixth of Hong Kong Arts Festival performances have been lost to the coronavirus outbreak, organisers said on Monday.
Dance fans will not get to see A Quiet Evening of Dance (February 18), a tribute to US choreographer William Forsythe by London’s Sadler’s Wells. Theatre lovers hoping to see the Bristol Old Vic’s production of Cyrano (February 12 to 16), the February 14-16 performances of We Are Gay, an original Cantonese drama by Candace Chong Mui-ngam, and Nassim (February 11 to 15) by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour will also be disappointed. A workshop and a talk have also been scrapped.
The 20 performances cancelled, out of 123 scheduled throughout the festival, were all to have been presented in venues that have been closed indefinitely under emergency measures brought in by the Hong Kong government. By minimising large gatherings, it hopes to limit the spread of the coronavirus that originated in China’s Hubei province and which has so far killed more than 350 people and infected more than 17,000.
“We hope the current epidemic will be brought under control soon, and also hope that all stakeholders will support the festival – and all partners in the performing arts sector – to weather the storm.”
Organisers will continue to monitor the situation and will let festival ticket holders know in due course whether performances after February 18 will go ahead as scheduled. Local drama We Are Gay, for instance, will run until February 28. Its decisions hinge on the availability of venues, most of which are managed by the government.
The annual festival, now in its 48th year, runs until March 15 and was to have featured some 50 dance, music, theatre and operatic programmes. Last year’s edition drew a combined audience of nearly 90,000 people.
The flu-like, coronavirus, believed to have originated from Wuhan, has been spreading rapidly in Hubei province in central China. Cases have been reported in more than 20 countries.
