Build it up. Tear it down. Who cares?

“If you lose your connection to the past then your city will bleed” — Booker Prize-winning novelist Ian McEwan, interviewed during his recent visit to Hong Kong

An innovative Hong Kong – UK collaboration of verbatim theatre

“Theatre du Pif operates at the cutting edge of modern theatre.” — South China Morning Post

Acclaimed Hong Kong-based theatre company Theatre du Pif collaborates with BURST TV, a London-based collective of multi-media artists who previously worked with the Pet Shop Boys, in a provocative piece of “verbatim theatre” that aims to stimulate debate about the value of Hong Kong's urban heritage.

Exploring five key elements – space, pace, functionality, spirituality and identity, The Will to Build examines the past, present and future of Hong Kong's relentless cycle of construction and destruction, and its effects on the city's inhabitants.

This powerful drama weaves together verbatim transcripts of Theatre du Pif's interviews with real people who are intimately involved in and affected by our city's obstinate will to build: property tycoons, construction workers, architects, planners, preservation activists, politicians, feng shui masters, former colonial dignitaries, cage-dwellers...

Verbatim Theatre

“Verbatim Theatre” is a popular artform in the UK which uses the precise words spoken by people interviewed about a particular event or social issue. It gives voice to the powerless as well as the powerful.

20 - 23.11.2008 (Thur-Sun) 8pm
22 - 23.11.2008 (Sat-Sun) 3pm
Hong Kong City Hall Theatre
$220   $160   $120