An isolated young immigrant in a hostile city – a misfit and delinquent who is probably on the run – stops a stranger in the rain on the corner of the street. Wrestling with a world demarcated by violence, prostitution, poverty, and sexual vulnerability, he is looking for a room for the night, or even just a part of the night.
Bernard-Marie Koltès (1948-1989) was the greatest French playwright of his generation, and Night Just Before the Forests is one of his most captivating and unsettling texts. Koltès said he wrote it like a musical composition, whose motifs and variations evoke a profound sense of restless yearning and disorientation.
Following the success of Cloning Ecstasy, Protean Cities and The Nether, Dirks Theatre Arts Association returns to the Macao Arts Festival for the fourth time. Directed byaward-winning Irish director, Sinéad Rushe, this pioneering new production re-imagines the monologue as a polyphonic work for five performers of different nationalities and genders. Through sound technology, ensemble voicing and sonic manipulation,the character’s plight is conjured across a chorus of fragmented parts that jostle with each other in a mixture of harmony and discordance. The voice that emerges could belong to almost anyone, a universal protest, a cry for help.
Playwright: Bernard-Marie Koltès
Direction, Adaptation and English Script Translation: Sinéad Rushe (Ireland)
Set, Costume and Make-up Design: Lam Ka Pik
Lighting Design: Tou Kuok Hong
Sound Design: Niels Lanz (Germany)
Performers: Wu May Bo, Ip Ka Man, Koh Wan Ching (Singapore), Kim Shin Rock (Republic of Korea) and Chan Tai Yin (Hong Kong)
Duration: approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, no interval
Performed in Cantonese and English with occasional Mandarin and Korean, with surtitles in Chinese and English
Restricted to audiences aged 13 and above (contains adult content)
Post-show Talk on 18 May
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