From Stage to Reality: Theatre Exploration Project
Theatre of the Real
The concept of "Theatre of the Real" is gaining prominence in contemporary artistic discourse. In the practice of contemporary theatre, it encompasses various forms such as verbatim theatre, immersive theatre, environmental theatre, documentary theatre, tribunal theatre, social incidence reenactment, autobiographical theatre, lecture theatre, performance art, and other yet unnamed new performance styles. These new theatrical forms do not have boundaries as clear as traditional theatre categories; they sometimes overlap and intermingle. However, they all share a common goal: to re-explore the relationship between theatre and reality. Through this exploration, they aim to break away from old theatrical models and inject new vitality into contemporary theatre.
Tit Hong Lane (2022)
From Stage to Reality: Theatre Exploration Project
As On & On celebrates its twentieth anniversary, the company has launched a new initiative titled "From Stage to Reality: Theatre Exploration Project," building on the foundation of “Contemporary Writing for Theatre.” This venture introduces an interactive and innovative artistic domain: Theatre of the Real. For decades, On & On has championed "text" as the quintessential tool of theatrical creation, adhering to the belief that its primary function is to facilitate an encounter with "reality," though it is not the sole method. Indeed, the traditional medium of text is in decline due to the influences of digitalisation, visual media, and promotional mechanisms, necessitating a defensive posture and competitive interaction with other theatrical frameworks. The evolution of modern theatre, transitioning from scripts to texts, and expanding into hypertexts, post-texts, and a variety of non-textual and post-dramatic forms, reflects the diversification of artistic approaches to reality. This evolution mirrors a growing desire among audiences to engage with modes of presentation that transcend conventional textual narratives within the theatrical space.
The "From Stage to Reality: Theatre Exploration Project" signifies On & On's commitment to transcending the conventional boundaries of textual theatre and forging new developmental trajectories. Within this framework, the exploration of text remains integral, yet it is part of broader investigations into authenticity. The ultimate artistic objective is the fusion of text and non-text elements, aiming to cultivate a more complex and reflective perception of reality in our future creative endeavours.
“Ten years ago, On & On launched an initiative ‘Contemporary Writing for Theatre’. We held high the banner of open writing aesthetics, fueled by our passion for text and social concerns, as if to overturn something or to spark a textual revolution. However, those who have carefully followed our journey understand that this initiative was merely a belief that allowed us to draw from a variety of new narrative techniques in contemporary theatre. In essence, the initiative itself was just a vessel, an empty one at that. In reality, ‘Contemporary Writing for Theatre’ was more about ‘filling in reality.’
A decade has passed, and faced with even tougher realities, the aesthetic banner has become less significant. What’s more important now is to change our mindset, to walk the streets, to explore different corners of society, to examine how we can continue to fill in, approach, and penetrate that elusive ‘reality’, whether inside or outside the theatre.”
On a New Day (2022)
Flâneur Theatre - Book of Lost Words (2022)
Past Productions
The project consists of three plays that respond to the theme "From Stage to Reality", with each play based on real events, objects, and spaces as their points of origin. "Tit Hong Lane" focuses on a narrow lane in Central; the durational performance "On a New Day" utilises flowing time, structural improvisation, and dialogue to probe the reality of performance; a joint production between Hong Kong and Taiwan, "Flâneur Theatre" features “Youth of the Island" and "Book of Lost Words," which evoke the spiritual images of the deceased through sound, juxtaposed with the urban landscape.
The project also features a series of masterclass, workshop and dialogues, which delve into the topic of authenticity from different perspectives.
