From last year till now, Hong Kong theatres frequented to the mainland for exchange performances. The Liaisons by Fredric Mao, Remembrance of Karaoke Past by Mathias Woo and MicroSex Office by Chim Sui-man were consecutively staged respectively in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. With strong feedbacks, their appearances have aroused more and more theatre personnel and audiences’ attention to the artistic production and ecology of Hong Kong theatre. 

Hong Kong is a typical city of commercial consumption. In the cultural context of Hong Kong where there is always mixture and integration of refined and popular arts, the current HK theatre orient the popular demand as their objective and demonstrate the constant innovation of both theatre technique and languages in the entire artistic outlook.”How to be entertaining” is a key issue in the contemporary HK theatre development, but it is noted that the “entertaining narration” in HK theatre is different from “entertaining feature” mentioned in traditional theatre critics. By “entertaining narration”, they mean adopting more flexible ways of narration, more liberal topics and perspectives, and varied artistic language and technique in order to cater to the audiences’ tastes and enhance box office revenue. This approach demonstrates an earnest pursuit and active experimental attitude. 

Perry Chiu Woon, a famous stage actress once said, “Hong Kong’s theatre production is touching and funny, quite of entertainment, while that in the mainland is not so. Thus I have been trying to bring this to the mainland.” Compared with the serious creation in the mainland theatre, “entertaining narration” is the forte of HK theatre. As far as the format is concerned, realistic theatre is the mainstream in the mainland while so-called mainstream theatre never exists in the evolution of HK theatre, which brings more possibilities in artistic expression. As theatre is part of entertaining culture of consumption, the pursuit of maximum entertainment becomes the motivation for constant innovation. In the respect of contents, hot issues will be lively captured and living details will be vivid. Popular topic with living interest is the main orientation of contemporary HK theatre. Such narration has made preparations for establishing a sound theatre market in HK in the future. Nevertheless, an obstacle also occurs to hinder further development, that is, besides attracting audience into the theatre, interesting contents and lively narration will mislead the creators into the middle of nowhere. 

How to deal with the excessive adoption of experimental technology and insufficient communications concerning hot issues is the inevitable question in the “entertaining narration” of contemporary HK theatres. At the beginning of January this year, The Liaisons by famous HK director Fredric Mao was staged a second time in Hong Kong. Previously, it was toured in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen from 2010 till 2011. The media’s reports focus on the fact that the director used to be the tutor of many HK stars, the integration of Cantonese opera and musical and the eye-catching cast (leading actor and actress: Tse Kwan-Ho and Ho Josie; Screenplay: Mak Sui Fai and Chong Felix; Image Design: Yip Kum-Tim, Music Production: Ko Leon). However, behind those fashionable labels, the most valuable element is the director’s serious trials in deconstructing sentimental tones on technology and contents to a moderate limit. This creation is sourced back to the director’s thinking about the “Inability of Love”, and the plot is quite simple, that is, a man and a woman meet each other and fall in love during the commercial cooperation. In order to enrich the theatric structure, some technical approaches are utilized such as intersecting various cases of marriage, by means of group photo exhibition, for further discussion, or part of classic Cantonese opera The Purple Hairpin in contrast. With the well-organized combination of traditional Cantonese opera and musical, the rhythm and formality of film conversation produce a realistic stage effect. To our relief, as an experienced director of experimental theatre, Mao never shows off his technique that he supposes only to serve the theme. 

As for HK theatre, “entertaining narration” is not producing fun, but forming a basis to maintain sound ecology. While adopting flexible technique, they ought to make narration complete; while making the production eye-catching, they ought to abstain from excessive sentiment. If possible, try to reflect on the universal values in a more profound way, which might become another dimension for “entertaining narration” of HK theatre. Lin Kehuan once concluded the characteristic of HK theatre as “multiple formalities”. Then it is equally important to pursue more abundant inner connotations, compared to various outer forms. Only by giving full swing to its advantages and making self-perfection practice can HK theatre fulfill its own position and impact in the family system of culture and arts.