LYRIC THEATRE

I believe many students in HKAPA imagine the Lyric Theatre this way, “It is the biggest theatre of the Academy and one of the best drama performance venues in Hong Kong. All that are performed in the Theatre are large-scale productions. Therefore, it would not be easy for any student to encounter opportunities to perform there.” However, I was lucky I could participate in a performance of West Side Story, a large-scale musical drama jointly produced by four Schools of the Academy, in the first year of my studies. To a Year One student, it was an extremely exciting experience to perform in front of over a thousand people, even though I was only an extra.

I didn’t know at the time that I would have many more opportunities to perform on this stage in the subsequent years of my studies. Performances I took part in included those of Guys and Dolls and Baseball Rhapsody, two large-scale musical dramas produced by Schools of the Academy, Noisy Vampires on the Show and Hotel, delivered by Ching Ying Theatre Company. Even though I did not act in any leading roles, I was reluctant to leave the stage at the end of each performance, because I knew that it would be difficult to return to the stage of the Lyric Theatre after graduation.

I didn’t return until 2009, twelve years after my graduation. I couldn’t believe that by chance, I was able to deliver my own work Goodbye BUT goodbye at the Lyric Theatre for the third run. I vividly remember how overwhelmed I was by excitement, and even more so by tension and anxiety, for it was the first time I performed a monologue in such a huge theatre! I was pressured by the box office and challenged as the director, and also I was tested whether I had the strength to stand on a huge stage to perform incessantly for three hours. Finally and fortunately, all seats were filled in the six shows. Personally, I experienced the euphoric high of delivering the first monologue performance in the Lyric Theatre and this has strengthened my confidence in performing my own work in this place. Up to now, I have already put forty-seven of my works on the stage of the Lyric Theatre. I have also directed a pop concert that costed HKD 1 million solely for its stage set-up and fully utilised the facility of the Theatre. The intrinsic satisfaction for directing such a show is going to be remembered for life.

I know, however, no matter how many times, whenever I open the door to the Lyric Theatre and see the familiar auditorium and its green carpet, stand on the stage facing a three-level auditorium, look up at the spotlights on the Theatre ceiling, meet the backstage crew again whom I know so well, stand in the dressing room feeling as if I am home again, I am always dearly touched. To me, the Academy is never the same as other performance venues --- here, I find more memories and human touch. The Lyric Theatre is not only my dream stage but also my nursery bed. It is the battlefield and the harvest field for all the shows I have produced. Whenever I think of the excitement of seeing the audience in procession before every performance and the joy for receiving on the stage the applause of thousands of spectators, my heart is filled with lots of gratitude.

I love the Lyric Theatre and earnestly look forward to my next performance in it.