Eric Kot and Jan Lamb's stage debut promises to be wild
Jan Lamb Hoi-fung and Eric Kot Man-fai may have signed on to headline a 17-performance run of Academy of Laughter but few people — least of all director Rensen Chan Man-kong — can guarantee that it will go on beyond its August 1 premiere.
ACADEMY OF LAUGHTER
The Nonsensemakers
Jan Lamb Hoi-fung and Eric Kot Man-fai may have signed on to headline a 17-performance run of Academy of Laughter but few people — least of all director Rensen Chan Man-kong — can guarantee that it will go on beyond its August 1 premiere.
While this latest Cantonese production was licensed on condition of strict coherence to Japanese playwright Koki Mitani's original script, Lamb and Kot are long celebrated for their outlandish, improvisatory approach to comedy. Although they've been influential figures in Hong Kong pop culture since the late 1980s, the two are making their acting debut in a traditional theatre setting.
"We're used to having our ways through and through," says Kot. "To work under others' permission and to follow the script is madness. I think one of our biggest challenges after having done everything from movies to television to radio is that …"
Lamb interjects: "It's like we are only starting now."