Bella Du Jour

While many of the events in this month’s festival will be en français, local company Mon-Café Theatre have taken the cultural exchange even further by performing in French, English, Cantonese and Putonghua. Written by Maxime Elgue and directed by William Yip and Emilie Guillot, “Isabeau” tells the story of a young French governess who travels to Canton in the 1930s to work for a wealthy family. She finds happiness, then tragedy when she falls in love with the family’s eldest son. With new music composed by Benjamin S. Robertson and choreography by Elissa Rosati, “Isabeau” promises to be one of the most original local productions of 2006.

After nearly two years in production, “Isabeau” is ready for hair and makeup. Costume designer Liow Ting Teng and makeup artist Katy Chan have fun decking out the actors in 1930s style. Andre Frezouls and his team from Rêver did the ‘dos.

Composer Benjamin S. Robertson blends traditional Cantonese tunes with numbers by old-time French singer Edith Piaf, using a combination of recorded music and live performances by a pianist and erhu player.

Roberston worked with choreographer Elissa Rosati to create original dance pieces from scratch: “When I began, there was no music base,” says Rosati. “He would watch what we were doing and then go away and create something. It’s a different way of doing it but it really worked for us.”

Fourteen cast members speaking four different languages? “It seems difficult but it’s really very simple,” says Guillot. “It’s how you live everyday in Hong Kong - you speak whatever language you need to communicate.” And communication is the key in this production: “You can interpret the story as one of cultural clashes,” explains co-director William Yip. “The tragedy in the play comes from the characters not communicating properly and misunderstanding each other. But even today, how welcoming are we really of other cultures? There are still misunderstandings.”