Five trivia about 13.67 Five trivia about 13.67 Five trivia about 13.67

“13.67” is not as complicated and mysterious as you think, but simply just implying “year 2013” and “year 1967”, as well as the six stories in between. You may ask, ‘Why isn’t “67.13” the title then?’ Well, the Mathias Woo Mystery Theatre might be able to answer your question.

Although the mystery novel master Chan Ho-kee joked about writers being liars all the time, the six social landscapes in the book have been corresponded to reality, from SARS, the ‘king of thieves’ and the 1967 Hong Kong riots. The division of lines between reality and imagination would leave it to you.

These are pager codes, which are widely used in the 70s and 80s. The book also listed out other types of media, for example, movies and radios. Mathias Woo would explore a variety of art and movie forms from different eras, creating an experimental novel space.

A fun fact is that the writer himself does not use the “up-to-date” social platform, but email for communication.

Before writing the book The Borrowed, the author had already put all the songs on his playlist, mostly instrumental, but Ring Original Sound Track for composing horror story, and classical for characterization. He even matched each chapter in his short story, The Diogenes Variations Op.5, with music to express different emotions.

The co-Music Director of 13.67, Cedric Chan, revealed that he would make reference to pop music in several eras, especially those of Teresa Teng. It would be interesting to search for elements that would remind us of the 60s and 90s, in the performance.

“Reinventing tradition” has always been one of the four main directions of Zuni’s artistic exploration. Examples include Eighteen Springs and Red Rose, White Rose, two Multimedia Music Theatres adapted from the novels of the same title by Eileen Chang, 1587, A Year of No Significance, a History Theatre based on the original novel by Ray Huang, and The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, a digital opera in 7 acts and an adaptation of the book of the same title by Jonathan Spence.

The latest production of the series is going to be 13.67, the classic of Hong Kong mystery writer Chan Ho-kee, in the Zuni 40 Uncoming Theatre Season. The original mystery fiction The Borrowed ranked top in Japan’s Honkaku Mystery Best 10 (Foreign Sections) 2017 and Shūkan Bunshun Mystery Best 10 (Foreign Sections) 2017. The book is also translated into English, French, German, Italian, and Japanese. Renowned film director Wong Kar Wai even plans to adapt the fiction in his future production.

What is interesting is that, although the writer was born and bred in Hong Kong, he made it big in Taiwan. His six mystery stories put the pieces together, showing the changes of social landscape. We hope that you could have a taste of the bittersweet of Hong Kong in these 50 years, after watching the performance.

13.67
2022.09.23-25(Fri-Sun)

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Student Matinee
2022.09.26-27(Mon-Tue)

Apply now (Group booking from schools only)