Chow Fan Fu’s Review on Read Sing Eileen Chang Chow Fan Fu’s Review on Read Sing Eileen Chang Chow Fan Fu’s Review on Read Sing Eileen Chang

Read Sing Eileen Chang was perhaps the most special production among many of its kind that celebrated the 100th anniversary of Eileen Chang’s birth. It combined Chinese and Western traditional customs, as well as contemporary narrative and singing techniques. Most of the script was adapted from Chang’s texts. In an enlarged written form, the texts also formed the visual projection on stage. These elements, combined with different technology, presented the life of Eileen Chang in a unique way. 

Initially scheduled for June 2020, the show was moved online due to the closure of theatres under COVID. The first MV version came out on 30 May, while the streaming version followed a week later. On 27 and 28 November, the live performance made it to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre, becoming the third version of the show. Only half of the seats were made available under the COVID restrictions.

The debut MV version can be considered a unilateral presentation via the internet while the streamed version was performed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre without any audience. The camera showed two performers from different angles, combined with stage technology to create a rich performing landscape. In the live show, the stage was much more spacious than the recorded version. Also, the projection extended to the sidewalls, enveloping the audience. The live show does not differ much from the previous versions in content. Instead, it made multiple breakthroughs of boundaries: it 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.

In the past three decades, Zuni has created many productions around Eileen Chang’s works. It may well be the performance group with the most numbers of “Eileen Chang productions”. Read Sing Eileen Chang that celebrates the writer’s 100th anniversary of her birth was created on this solid foundation.