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Vanessa Yung


48 HOURS: How did your collaboration with Windmill Grass Theatre come about?
Cheuk Wan-chi: I have always wanted to work with the theatrical trio [actors Edmond Tong Chun-yip, Joey Leung Cho-yiu and actress Shaw Mei-kwan]. I've watched and loved so many of their productions, and every time I went backstage to show my support, they would tempt me to participate in their next show. So finally, the chance came for me to star in their latest drama, entitled the Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love [until April 26 at Kwai Tsing Theatre]. It's adapted from Canadian playwright [Brad Fraser's 1989] script, which has been made into a movie and off-Broadway shows. It deals with the internal struggles of modern-day characters that many can relate to, but also makes it challenging for the actors to play.
Are you jealous of the psychic ability possessed by Benita, the narrator and sadomasochistic prostitute from the show?
Everybody possesses psychic abilities, as long as you let your intuition speak. We tend to be oppressive of our sixth sense and rely on theories and causal relationships. Everything has to have an explanation and be logical. But our instinct — or subconscious — is smarter than our brain as it takes no time or analysis to, say, warn you of danger. That was why I started learning calligraphy lately. This little voice told me to do so. I've done six classes so far, and it feels so right. I badly needed to develop one serious hobby beside work and leisure, where I have been experimenting with ever-changing, to find my keel and make sure that I have devoted myself to cultivating my personal growth and virtue.
So, is trying to focus on one particular field a direction you're heading towards, too, in terms of work?
Work is different. My whole life revolves around creative expression, and I don't care what kind of medium I am using when I create. I always think it's a truly outdated mindset to label works or artists as cross-media because the fact is, nothing creative should be constrained by one particular medium, ever. Working liberally with a diversity of media is basically what a creative person is supposed to do. I don't not take up a job just because it's in a medium or form that I have never attempted before. I take up a job because it is interesting. When I have a new idea, I think whether my material is best translated to a book, stand-up comedy show, or a movie script, but not vice versa.
What superpower you wish you had?
I wish I had the ability to read at an otherworldly speed. That way I could read loads of books. I love reading, and my favourite authors include Italo Calvino, Milan Kundera, Andy Rooney and Oscar Wilde. Each book I've read would become so worn that nobody would want to borrow books from me. I don't love books by keeping them brand new, but by making sure each of them is filled with [my traces]. When I was young, my mum would let me buy everything from a bookstore — you can't believe how many fancy pencils and erasers I've collected — but I could never get one single toy. I've bought so much stationery to a point that I got bored and started buying books.
What was the book that turned you into an avid reader?
Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It was my first experience of finishing a book feeling very touched without knowing what the book was about even though I understood each word, each phrase and each sentence. I was very young then, but it seems to me that I'd found the door to this infinite world. That was when I started to dive into reading or — more precisely — the world of translated literature.
You started working as a radio host at a tender age of 13. Any plan to retire young?
I'm actually in a semi-retirement phase right now. I've stopped working simply for the sake of building my career. Writing and I are inseparable; it's not a part of my career but a part of me. It's nothing to do with money, power, awards or even whether my work gets published. I will keep writing as long as I'm alive. It allows me to look at myself and sometimes my unfortunate experiences as a rational outsider. The latter was a great source of inspiration for my stand-up comedy shows, for instance, and as long as I can write them down, I am able to release the misery. So I didn't choose writing; writing chose me. Right now, I'm working on a new movie script.


Multimedia personality Cheuk Wan-chi talks about her obsession with all things creative

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48 Hours

Lifestyle

Arts

I have always wanted to work with the theatrical trio [actors Edmond Tong Chun-yip, Joey Leung Cho-yiu and actress Shaw Mei-kwan]. I've watched and loved so many of their productions, and every time I went backstage to show my support, they would tempt me to participate in their next show. 
