In 2023, Mathias Woo collaborated for the first time with renowned stage actress Perry Chiu to re-interpret Read Sing Eileen Chang and made its mainland debut at the Aranya Theater Festival. In 2024, Zuni will bring Read Sing Eileen Chang back to the mainland to meet the audience in Shenzhen, showcasing the sensory and spiritual impact brought by the combination of Zhang Ailing and stage art technology. The piece features texts selected from Eileen Chang’s novels and essays in the form of storytelling and singing, which are then integrated with creative stage technology by Zuni Innovation Lab led by Mathias Woo. The writings of Eileen Chang become three-dimensional as a Hong Kong cum cross-strait team of musicians and performers engage in a creative experiment on sound, acting and technology. The show combines technology and live performance, blending a variety of traditional and modern forms of storytelling and singing, which are then juxtaposed with sounds and images from Zuni’s past works on Eileen Chang to create a new piece of work.
“Read Sing Eileen Chang was a multimedia performance across different art forms; the production team straddles China, Hong Kong and Taiwan; different cultures inspired the techniques used. For the audience, it was an experience that transcended time and space.”
– Chow Fan Fu, Renowned Arts Critic
Zuni has reinterpreted various works by Eileen Chang, one of the most influential Chinese female writers in modern history. The year 2020 marked the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Eileen Chang. In a tribute to this legendary writer, Zuni launched the Eileen Chang 100 – Read Sing Eileen Chang. The different versions of the play launched over the past few years have been highly praised, including the live-stream at the Studio Theatre in June 2020, the live performance at the Grand Theatre in November of the same year, the screening in Huayi Chinese Festival of Arts and MOViE MOViE Life is Art Film Festival in 2021.
Texts, photos, illustrations from Eileen Chang’s works
© Roland Soong and Elaine Soong through Crown Culture Corporation
Mathias Woo
Perry ChiuDavid YeungSobi So
Yao ChangYang Mo-han
Karena Lam
Cheer Chen
Rachel Chak
Lai Tat Tat Wing
Read Sing Eileen Chang was a result of serendipity and many benevolent coincidences.
Eileen Chang is a familiar theme to me as I have adapted her works many times. Her work Dui Zhao Ji (Mutual Reflections: Looking at My Old Photo Album), in which she introduced her life in pictures, impressed me the most. Instead of writing a lengthy autobiography and detailed recordings like other writers, she carefully selected pictures that paint her personality. Read Sing Eileen Chang was conceived with Dui Zhao Ji in mind. It uses the novel as the structure, interspersed with Eileen Chang’s prose works and novels. In some ways, it reads like Eileen Chang’s life timeline.
This time, hoping to create a context closer to the visual culture on mobile screens for a young audience, I adapted Dui Zhao Ji into a theatre performance. Read Sing Eileen Chang is a video-text book, turning the theatre into a large space for a reading experience, with text, sound, video, music, and space.
Read Sing: Sobi So
Original Text: Eileen Chang
Lyrics: F$$ (Yang Mo-han . Xiao-Zuo)
Music: Yang Mo-han, Beat by Veysigz (Chinatown)
Read Sing: Sobi So
Original Text: Eileen Chang
Adapted Lyrics: Yang Mo-han
Music: F$$ (Yang Mo-han . notbe), Blade901 x 5Head (Are You Afraid)
Read Sing (Recording): Yao Chang
Original Text: Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang
Lyrics: Yao Chang
Music: Yao Chang, Lee (You’re Beautiful)
Read Sing (Recording): Yao Chang featuring Perry Chiu
Original Text: Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang
Lyrics: Yao Chang
Music: Yao Chang, Moon Juice (Ocarina Of Time)
Read Sing (Recording): Yao Chang
Original Text: Red Rose, White Rose by Eileen Chang
Adapted Text: Yao Chang
Music: Edgar Hung
Read Sing: Sobi So
Original Text: Eileen Chang
Lyrics: Youngbean, Yang Mo-han
Music: Youngbean, Yang Mo-han, Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer (Come Rain Or Come Shine by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers)
Read Sing: Sobi So
Original Text: Eileen Chang
Adapted Lyrics: F$$ (Yang Mo-han)
Music: F$$ (Yang Mo-han), Eric Godlow Beats (Lovely)
Read Sing (Recording): Yao Chang
Original Text: Eighteen Springs by Eileen Chang
Text: Yao Chang
Music: LCS x Jurrivh (See The Lights)
Read Sing: Sobi So
Original Text: Eileen Chang
Adapted Lyrics: F$$ (Yang Mo-han)
Music: F$$ (Yang Mo-han), Jazz Old School Rap Beat (Utopia)
Text Arrangement: Pia Ho
Research & Script Assistants: Carson Chung, Megan Hnug
Music Arrangement: Edgar Hung
Music & Read Sing: Yao Chang, Yang Mo-han
Tanci: Hua Jueping
Tanci Performance (Recording): Jin Lisheng, Yu Qun
Video Production: Wing Chan, Li Ming
Lighting Design: Mak Kwok-fai
Sound Design: Yeung Ngor-wah
Production & Technical Manager: Chow Chun-yin
Deputy Stage Manager: Li Man-yung
Assistant Stage Manager & Subtitle: Chan On-ki
Video & Server Control: Sze Tung-leung
Audio Control: Chan Tin-yau
Costume Designer: Twinny Cheng
Wardrobe: Chan Wa-yee
Make up: Yeung Yu-sui
Hair Styling: Chen Xiu-ying
Stage photography: Hu Ke, Xia Tong, William Li
International Exchange Director: Wong Yue-wai
General Manager: Kan Yat-nga
Executive Producer: Chan Ho-fung
Tour Manager: Ho Yin-hei
Rehearsal Assistant: Li Ka-yee
English Translation: Mona Chu
Regular price: ¥120/¥180/¥280/¥380
Ticket sales is available here.
Running time approximately 100 minutes
Please arrive 30 minutes before the performance
Children height below 1.2 meters are not allowed to enter the venue
