[Between Text & Performance 2] Play-Reading Salon: The Ugly One / A Number
What is a Play-Reading Salon?
Poetry lovers gather to recite poems, musicians meet up to jam, and the more stylish ones occasionally gather to drink and chat—these activities all go by more elegant names like soirées, salons, or parties! From the nomenclature to the imagination, everything about them is so enviable!
Thinking back, we too once indulged in such elegance, though that was five years ago. Back then, we organised a series of director's workshops and also held several salons.
“A Number” by Caryl Churchill
Director: Yan Pat-to
On&On presents another play by English playwright Caryl Churchill after Far Away. A Number addresses the subject of human cloning, identity, and nature versus nurture. The story, set in the near future, is structured around the conflict between a father (Salter) and his sons (Bernard 1, Bernard 2, and Michael Black) – two of whom are clones of the first.
“The Ugly One” by Marius von Mayenburg
Director: Chan Ping-chiu
The Ugly One by Marius von Mayenburg took the German theatre by storm with its premiere, and soon became a popular play in Europe. It offers a critical viewpoint to look at self-identity. Four performers play eight roles with the same face but different identities, weaving a complicated network of relationships ever appeared in modern living.
Date: 25-26/9/2010
Venue: Cattle Depot Theatre
photo: Felix Chan