Reflecting on Realities and Exploring the Struggles of Growing Up

[Orange News] A group of young people from Hong Kong reflects on their personal growth in the creation of Songs of Innocence and Experience, which will move to a larger venue for performances in Spring 2024 after its debut at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2022. This production is presented in collaboration with the West Kowloon Cultural District and is part of the West Kowloon Creators Series.

The title of the piece is derived from the poem of the same name by British poet William Blake, which responds to John Milton’s famous epic Paradise Lost. Written after the English Civil War in the 17th century, Paradise Lost tells the story of how the fallen angel is cast out of Heaven, deceiving humanity’s ancestors into eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, resulting in their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. This great yet controversial work has inspired many literary creations in subsequent generations. Today, as we navigate Milton's words and our own experiences of growth and reflection, can we find a direction that addresses our present and future?

University students form a particularly rich demographic in society with their thoughts: they oscillate between innocence and experience, adhering to conventions and innovating. Songs of Innocence and Experience utilizes editing techniques to recreate classic passages from the epic, interweaving personal stories from the actors. The play contrasts the circumstances of Hong Kong youth, capturing their characteristics as they navigate between innocence and experience, and humorously yet sharply exploring the necessary struggles of pursuing freedom while respecting authority.

Originally an internal production at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Songs of Innocence and Experience premiered in early 2022 at the Experimental Theatre and received nominations for the “Annual Stage Arts/Design Award” and “Annual Director Award” from the IATC (HK) Critics Awards. As the production moves to the larger stage at West Kowloon, the script has been revised to reflect the growth experiences of the team over the past year. With a new musical team, the stage presentation has been enhanced, promising a fresh experience for the audience.

Critic William Chan from the International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong) described the work as “full of playfulness and passion, bringing balance to heavy themes.” Radio Hong Kong’s program Art Scene Express host Kwan Fei remarked that it is “quite clever to tell a story about authority through theatrical means… skillfully using such an important literary classic as Paradise Lost to convey the theme. What I found most enjoyable is that they did not stray from popular culture… on the surface, it tells a story about angelic conflict, but in reality, it prompts the audience to consider their relationship with authority, which I think is very successful.”

The West Kowloon Creators Series showcases experimental works of various forms and themes by visionary Hong Kong performing artists, infusing new ideas into local art and crafting innovative creations. This series is curated by the Contemporary Performance Group of the West Kowloon Performing Arts Department, aiming to promote exchange and collaboration among performing artists from different sectors, encourage diverse art and aesthetics, and support the creative and experimental processes of artists through residency programs, research and development, and staged presentations, leading to the birth of new works.

Autotranslated from the Chinese original