I have special feelings for the Amphitheatre. When I was a student, the place was an outdoor performance space resembling Greek theatres. We would sometimes attend voice classes there but it was more of a place for students to take their breaks. Later, when the Academy was renovated, the Open Air Theatre was converted into an indoor performance space. At that time, when Anthony Wong Chau-sang, a senior alumnus, and I were preparing for the first production of Dionysus Contemporary Theatre, we considered using Amphitheatre for the performance Equus. In this drama, the leading character, Alan, admired horses so much that he even worshiped them as gods. Precisely due to the fact that the semi-circle stage of Amphitheatre was preserved after its renovation, our presentation of Equus would feel like a Greek tragedy. Furthermore, the auditorium is fan-shaped as if wrapping around the entire stage. Such a design should help engage the audiences and make them playing the role of spectators in the drama. However, Amphitheatre has its limitation in technical support. To resolve this issue, we created a prison-like setting on the stage with special lighting and sound effect. This performance had become one of my favourite works. It was also my first collaboration with Anthony Wong and Hins Cheung and therefore it was especially memorable. Another impressive occasion with the Amphitheatre was Elisa Chan’s concert. Eliza would like to incorporate artistic elements in her concert to differentiate it from the commercial concerts, so we opted for Amphitheatre rather than the venues we normally used. The concert adopted a circular backdrop, which went perfectly well with the roundness of the stage. It symbolised that life is full of incessant looping while giving the audience the sense that life is everlasting as well. I think when one can make good use of Amphitheatre’s features, its limitations will no longer be shortcomings but advantages for producing a distinctive performance.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Amphitheatre
