Performing the City: Finding a Place Called Home in Contemporary Hong Kong Activist Theatre.
Lau, Linda.
2017-04-24T15:10:31.162Z
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Abstract: Hong Kong is a paradox that defies the typical categories of post-colonial, urban, Chinese, political, and traditional. Home and city have an intimate connection in Hong Kong, where one cannot be defined without the other. As a city that has developed quickly over the past fifty years, the changes in Hong Kong can be described through the interventions that works of social activist theat... read morere and art have made during this time. Chapter One, "Grotesque Suffering: Ricky Yeung's Man and Cage," investigates the 1980s, when experimentation with the arts and activism flourished through alternative theatre in the form of performance art. The use of the body emphasizes the primordial relationship of the self with the environment, and describes the city through a visceral experience while challenging the separation between art and performance. Chapter Two, "Collaboration in the Post-Colonial Millennium: Two Plays by the Asian People's Theatre Festival Society," examines the concept of "people's theatre," a popular form that has had a long history with political activism in many cultures across the globe. During the 1990s, the reunification of Hong Kong with China was a source of both anxiety and excitement for many, thus bringing the debate of identity to the forefront of many discussions by Hong Kongers and non-Hong Kongers alike. Chapter Three, "Hijacking the Public Sphere: The Everyday Citizen at Hong Kong Times Square," tackles the persistent problem of public space in Hong Kong during the 2000s. Hijacking the Public Sphere is a competition held as a platform for artists to contemplate how space is being used in the city and how they can create their own forms of public space. By describing the disharmonious relationships between the city, body, performance, and space, we can begin to understand the complex labyrinth that is Hong Kong and how this city can be called home.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2013.
Submitted to the Dept. of Drama.
Advisors: Monica White Ndounou, and Downing Cless.
Committee: Xueping Zhong, and Claudia Orenstein.
Keywords: Theater, and Asian studies.read less - ID:
- 9w032f732
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