Doctrine of Happiness looks at Hong Kong’s education system and its social realities as the city enters a new phase with its first female Chief Executive at the helm. Contemporary issues such as student suicides are illuminated by flashbacks as the protagonists revisit the discussions they had in their secondary school classroom. Chu Pak-him reprises his role as Chu Sir with his words still resonant from the Chinese Lesson.

Doctrine of Happiness looks at Hong Kong’s education system and its social realities as the city enters a new phase with its first female Chief Executive at the helm. Contemporary issues such as student suicides are illuminated by flashbacks as the protagonists revisit the discussions they had in their secondary school classroom. Chu Pak-him reprises his role as Chu Sir with his words still resonant from the Chinese Lesson.

“All roads lead to black decay.” (Grodek, Georg Trakl) The madness and horror of war have rarely been so powerfully described as in Georg Trakl’s 1914 poem. The carnage he witnessed as a young Austrian army medical officer in the bloody defeat of Russian forces at the start of WW1 was apocalyptic. His death by drug overdose followed shortly after, almost certainly suicide. He was 27. Trakl’s short life was full of contradictions. He experienced incest, was a drug addicted alcoholic obsessed with self-destruction, and yet driven by a strong Christian faith. Frequently compared to Rimbaud for his youthful genius, he wrote a lifetime of image-rich and taboo-breaking verse in the space of just six years.

Hailing from different cities across Mainland China, young choreographers Xie Xin, Li Chao, Yang Chang and Zhang Yixiang have engaged in a creative exchange with local choreographers, Poon Chun-ho, Yang Hao, Judy Yiu and Ming Pak, sparking artistic connections that transcend borders. These electrifying ties have become the impetus for the creation of three different new pieces that highlight the cultural dialogue between the choreographers.

As street dance steps into the theatre, contemporary dance embraces the battle culture.
Contemporary dancer Kenny Leung met street dancer Yip Chan while working on a performance in Australia in 2017. Despite their diverse training backgrounds, they bonded through the passion for dance. From the battle culture of street dance, they explored a 1-on-1 relationship and reflect on the ways of creating, values and body language in contemporary dance and street dance. The Battle Zone is an attempt to dance out of their comfort zones in search for a shared artistic language. The two choreographers collaborated with Belgium sound artist Peter Lenaerts to create a dialogue of sound, music and dance.

The fabulous sets and more than 150 costumes, designed by pop-surrealist art star Mark Ryden, sparkle with 75,000 Swarovski crystals. Danced to perfection, Whipped Cream is a feast for all the senses. Commissioned by composer Richard Strauss when he was co-director of the Wiener Staatsoper between 1919 and 1924, Whipped Cream features one of only two scores he wrote for ballet. His aim was to provide distraction from the misery and hard times of post-World War I Vienna with a joyful, fantastical story that comprised enough waltzes, polkas, gallops and beautiful violin adagios to banish any darkness and lift everyone’s spirits. Almost a century later this historic ballet gem has been re-imagined by ABT choreographer Alexei Ratmansky on the same lavish scale as the original.

The fabulous sets and more than 150 costumes, designed by pop-surrealist art star Mark Ryden, sparkle with 75,000 Swarovski crystals. Danced to perfection, Whipped Cream is a feast for all the senses. Commissioned by composer Richard Strauss when he was co-director of the Wiener Staatsoper between 1919 and 1924, Whipped Cream features one of only two scores he wrote for ballet. His aim was to provide distraction from the misery and hard times of post-World War I Vienna with a joyful, fantastical story that comprised enough waltzes, polkas, gallops and beautiful violin adagios to banish any darkness and lift everyone’s spirits. Almost a century later this historic ballet gem has been re-imagined by ABT choreographer Alexei Ratmansky on the same lavish scale as the original.

Entranced by the sudden appearance and mysterious beauty of Mélisande, Prince Golaud falls in love and marries her, but only for Mélisande to become even closer to his half-brother Pelléas. Convinced that he has been betrayed, Golaud is consumed by jealousy, and a tragic spiral of events unfolds with grave consequences for all. Sensual and elusive, beautiful and troubling, this tragic opera is filled with symbolism and enigmatic detail, with Claude Debussy’s score based on a text by the Belgian Nobel Literature Laureate Maurice Maeterlinck. Far removed from Wagnerian weightiness and the recitative-aria Italian style, Debussy’s only complete opera epitomises his captivating musical style filled with lingering melodies and a mystical sonority.

Extraordinary and minutely detailed, the paintings of Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) give us vivid portraits of contemporary life and beliefs in medieval Europe. Many centuries later Bosch’s unique creativity and imagination were huge influences on the work of Salvador Dalí and the entire Surrealist movement. An exhibition of his work in 2016 in the Netherlands attracted almost half a million visitors in three months and was described by The Guardian as “one of the most important exhibitions of our century”. To commemorate the 500th anniversary of his death, the Netherlands’ Bosch 500 Foundation asked Canada’s trail-blazing Les 7 Doigts de la Main (The 7 Fingers) circus company to devise a show based on this remarkable painter’s vision. The fabulous result is Bosch Dreams, a sensational new circus production inspired by images from his best-known works, including The Seven Deadly Sins and The Garden of Earthly Delights among many others.