The Old Man and His Sea
Yuen Siu-fai | Tang Shu-wing
Crowning seven decades in Cantonese opera, Yuen Siu-fai adapts Ernest Hemingway’s masterpiece as a “play within a play”
A young woman discovers that her grandfather had read The Old Man and the Sea when he was young and was inspired to adapt it as Cantonese opera but never completed it. In her reverie, she fulfills his lifelong dream.
Theatre master Tang Shu-wing and Cantonese opera master Yuen Siu-fai are longtime friends. For this production, Tang helps Yuen realise his decade-long wish to adapt Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway’s novel. Apart from playing the title role, Yuen has penned a new libretto attesting to the abstract minimalist aesthetics of the Chinese opera tradition while emphasising the essence of Chinese classical arts.
Tang fuses contemporary theatre with Chinese opera, identifying the roots of theatre both East and West, juxtaposing Chinese opera movements and Western physicality, enabling the story to traverse time and space. No matter where different artistic genres originate, they inevitably meet along the same path.
10-11/11
（Fri - Sat）
8pm
12/11
（Sun）
3pm
Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre
$460, 380, 280, 200
Weekend Package Booking Discount
From 8 Sep, enjoy a 20% discount for each purchase of full-price tickets for any two programmes of The Old Man and His Sea, INK (p.6) and RAIN (p.8). For details, please see p.32.
Approx 1 hr 30 mins with no interval
Please arrive on time. Latecomers will only be admitted at a suitable break
Performed in Cantonese with Chinese and English surtitles
Meet-the-artist session after each performance
Artistic Director / Director / Dramaturg / Translation / Co-scriptwriter
Tang Shu-wing
Cantonese Opera Artistic Director / Cantonese Opera Librettist
Yuen Siu-fai
Scriptwriter
Matthew Cheng
Stage Design
Vanessa Suen
Lighting Design
Yeung Tsz-yan
Video Design
Henky Chan
Costume Design
Jade Leung
Composer
Lam Kwan-fai
Cantonese Opera Music Design (Percussion)
Ko Yun-kuen
Cantonese Opera Music Design (Western Instruments)
Ko Yun-hung
Sound Design
Anthony Yeung
Producer
Fiona Siu
Producer (Cantonese Opera)
Spring Glory Cantonese Opera Workshop
Performer
Yuen Siu-fai, Cassandra Tang