Think about this: where you are sitting right now may in fact have been in the ocean several decades ago.
During the previous century, land reclamation never ceased in Macau, especially during the recent two to three decades when a lot of waterfront areas were transformed into dry land. And with this drastic change of landscape, it is not only the size of Macau that is different.
The Brotherhood Art Theatre is bringing to the stage "iCity" between December 2 and 4. The play is about a truck driver who witnesses the completion of yet another large scale reclamation in Macau, and how he lives through all these transformations.
Lo Chun Ho, who is playing the truck driver, says this theatrical piece is challenging for him, as it contains many layers that can be explored.
"Seeing from a higher perspective, the play can be very big. Of course, you can treat it as a story about land issues or interpersonal relationships. But it also touches on the topics of human progression, changing eras and communication between people. It is indeed difficult to clearly express all these."
His colleague Anna Ieong agrees that the play can be a complicated one. The actress previously collaborated with the Brotherhood Art Theatre when they put on the group's first ever performance. Apart from experiencing the same level of joy this time round, Anna finds that her colleagues also have a kind of passion that was not there the first time.
"When I first read the plot, I could feel that they were trying to express something. This time, they are not aiming at entertaining people (both themselves and the audience) only. They really want to pay attention to the society."
Anna thinks the play is putting across something very simple. It is asking us what kind of world and city we want to live in, and is telling us that we have to choose what values to uphold.
"The script actually matches the current conditions in society very well. Considering the fact that the script was created more than a decade ago, based on a novel By Xi Xi that was written even earlier, the similarities send chills down my spine. It seems that people started contemplating these issues long ago. While there have been some minor changes in between, the big picture is very similar," she says.
Ernesto de Sousa, another actor performing in the play, says that during the rehearsals, they spent a lot of time discussing humanity's existence and how to survive in the city. He himself was also intrigued by the question of whether it is the city or the people living in it that changes first.
"Is it the city that changes first, which leads to the change of the people there, or vice versa? At what point do the two parties become incongruent?"
Let's hope that you can figure out the answers to all these questions after seeing the stage play.
Director: Wong Su Fai
Actors: Lo Chun Ho, Anna Ieong, Ernesto de Sousa, Chio Kai Ip
Ticketing:
http://www.macauticket.com/ticketweb/ProgramInfo.aspx?proCode=P-001864
Price: MOP120
Time: December 2 (Fri) 20:00
December 3 (Sat) 15:00 & 20:00
December 3 (Sun) 15:00 & 20:00
