The Birth of Tragedy – Preview House Programme The Birth of Tragedy – Preview House Programme The Birth of Tragedy – Preview House Programme

Thank you for watching DY80 Danny Yung Experimental Theatre – The Birth of Tragedy. You’re most welcome to leave your comments in the online questionnaire.

 Online Questionnaire

An experimental art pioneer, Danny Yung is a founding member cum Co-Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron. Yung is widely regarded as most influential artist in Hong Kong and the neighbouring regions, and an advocate in experimental arts and new art forms.

In 2014, Yung is the laureate of the 2014 Fukuoka Prize – Arts and Cultural Prize. In 2009, Yung was conferred the Merit Cross of the Order of Merit on Ribbon by the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his contribution to the arts and cultural exchange between Germany and Hong Kong. In 2008, with Tears of Barren Hill he was honoured the Music Theatre NOW Award by UNESCO’s International Theatre Institute. In 2022, Yung received the Award for Outstanding Contribution in Arts by Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

Beginning in 1997, Yung has initiated several important cultural and arts networks. Among them are the Asia Arts Net, Asia Performing Arts Network, and World Culture Forum. The City-to-City Cultural Exchange Conference initiated by Yung has been held for more than 20 consecutive years, and is the premier and the only exchange program conducted among Chinese speaking regions and on a city-to-city basis.

In the past 40 years, he has been actively engaged in various fields of the arts, including theatre, film and video, comics, as well as visual and installation art. Yung has contributed significantly to the provision of a platform for both acclaimed and emerging artists to explore and carry out cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural collaboration. As director, scriptwriter, producer and stage designer, Yung has created over 100 theatrical productions, which have widely toured to over 30 cities in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Yung is the creator of cross-disciplined and cross-region Tian Tian Xiang Shang conceptual comics. TTXS has become an iconic figure in creative industry and education sector. It’s exhibition and educational program have reached out to Europe, America and Asia. On- and off-stage, Yung is an enthusiastic protagonist for innovation in cultural policy, cultural exchange, institutional development and creative education.

A freelance performer graduated from the School of Drama, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, major in acting.

Recent performance: Interrupted Dream, 2 or 3 Thing About the Interrupted Dream, The Interrupted Geng Zi Dream by Zuni Icosahedron; The Blind (Awardee of outstanding actor & The 13th Hong Kong Theatre Libre – best overall performance) and Antigone on the Beach by the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.

Chuk Yin Man graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts of Hong Kong Baptist University and completed a two-year Professional Physical Theatre Youth Training Programme by Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio in 2018. He also completed The Circus Theatre Group’s Psychophysical course in 2021. In 2022, he was hired as Zuni’s Young Fellow (Performance).

He has received trainings of the Western and Eastern streams, including Jacques Lecoq, Jerzy Grotowski, Chinese Tai Chi, Japanese Butoh, etc. He is one of the founding members of Feast on Waste Land. Image and theatre art are the mediums he is currently focusing on.

Student at the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts. In 2018, he performed in One Table Two Chairs – Innovative Asian Traditional Performing Arts Public Performance (Cross-Culture Workshops), One Belt One Road Experimental Theatre Heavenly Palace of Monkey Business, and The Interrupted Dream: Chinois Dream at Château de Versailles by Zuni Icosahedron. In 2017, he assisted at a performance by the Formosa Circus Art.

Actor of Jiangsu Kunqu Opera Theatre. Lyu graduated from the Jiangsu Provincial Drama School in 2021, majoring in the Martial role (Wusheng) of Kunqu Opera. He has followed the tutor’s suit of Bai Dongmin, Zhao Rongjia, Wu Liangliang, Yang Qianli, etc. In 2023, he was selected into Jiangsu’s “Master and Apprentice Program” and studied under the renowned Kunqu Opera artist Ke Jun.

Repertoire including: “Flee by Night”, “Fushan”, “Fighting the Sword”, “Little Shang River”, “Eight Immortals Crossing The Sea”, “The Border Outpost”, “The Outcast General” (The Pulley), etc. Lyu has received awards from the 2021 National Vocational Skills Competition (First prize in the Chinese Opera Company Competition), 2020 Huang Xiaoci Cup (Top Ten Emerging Artist Award) and 2019 Jiangsu Vocational Skills Competition (Silver Award in Chinese Opera Category).

Matsushima graduated from the Nihon University of College of Art. He launched his stage career with the Japanese dance theatre company Pappa TARAHUMARA while he was still a student, and won critical acclaim both for his performance in television and on stage. Since 1995, Matsushima began creating his own pieces, working both as choreographer and dancer. In 1997, he performed in Zuni Icosahedron’s production Invisible Cities and as solo performer and after, he has toured Asia, Europe, and the U.S. with Pappa TARAHUMARA, and participated in its Hong Kong production of Spring Day (Haruhiru) in 1998. The following year, Matsushima was the artist-in-residence of Zuni Icosahedron, and collaborated with many Hong Kong local artists in addition to giving solo performances of his works. He is also active in the areas of painting, set design and music/sound design.

Final Count Down, original music from Zuni Theatre Performance The Revolutionary Opera (1991)

Composer: Qu Xiaosong

Composer: Richard Wagner

Piano Version

Arr. for Solo Piano by Ronald Stevenson

Pianist (Recorded): Igor Levit

Re-arranger and Editor: Steve Hui

Orchestra Version

Orchestra (Recorded): Bayreuth Festival Orchestra & Karl Bohm

Re-arranger and Editor: Steve Hui

Composer: Steve Hui

“I step back a hundred steps, attempting to deconstruct Nietzsche and Wagner, that fusion of philosophy and art. He once adored him, then despised him, as if it were idle chatter before and after meals. He still strived to find his own voice amidst multiple noises, and only witnessed the decision and then dramatic fade-out, which seemed to declare the end of the public’s myth and the start of another personal mythology. The God above the North is dead. We walk hand in hand, reading the literature and music of the South, and also allow the United Front Department to interpret the discourse of creation, as if they were all things of the past. When reading becomes a posture, we fall into an abyss. In this abyss, there is no time or boundary, no language or space, no worship or loathing. There is also no future, and thus no past.

The Birth of Tragedy is the college of reincarnation in the human world. I take another hundred steps back, and we all indulge in the fragments of our own creations. Is this a perfect fit or a hypocritical identity shift? This is a myth, a premeditated trap, where the stage becomes a conspiracy, and the experiment leads to a dead-end, where dialogues and monologues are also traps. There is no God, and games are not original sins. Pursuit is simply an alternative escape. This is the current birth of tragedy. I want to continue stepping back, only to realize that there is no more retreat.

Danny Yung once called The Birth of Tragedy a device workshop, which consists of four parts from beginning to end. God is dead, I bid you farewell, you believe in him and then you do not, and she remembers nothing. It will premiere at the Cultural Center Theater in November 2023.”

Artistic Director, Director & Designer: Danny Yung

Performers: Martin Choy, Chuk Yin Man, Kang Boneng, Makoto Matsushima, Lyu Ting-an

Original Music: Nerve

Video: Benny Woo

International Exchange Director & Producer: Wong Yuewai

Senior Manager (Production and Technical) & Stage Manager: Chow Chun-yin

Costume Design: Beijing Jing Ya Art Studio Stage Costume Company, Twinny Cheng

Lighting Designer: Mak Kwok-fai

Sound Designer: Can. Ha

Deputy Stage Manager: Zeta Chan

Assistant Stage Manager: Onki Chan

Assistant Sound Designer: Stephanie Ip

Creative Assistant: Ellen Kong

 Online Questionnaire