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RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS
Hong Kong's Chung Ying Theatre Company, which staged an original script by a local playwright.
Hong Kong Festival Fringe
Since its founding 10 years ago, the Festival Fringe has developed from an annual open arts festival into a successful year-round operation that gives the emerging artists of Hong Kong the opportunity to hone their skills and create new works.
Festival Fringe 1992, staged for three weeks in January, was attended by some 300 000 people.
In 1992 the Fringe Club and Sydney Theatre Company produced Great Expectations for the Festival of Asian Arts. It was premiered at the Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, on October 16.
Manned by a small and dedicated staff and open throughout the year, the Fringe Club provides artists with rent-free venues for performances and exhibitions. Its facilities include a 100-seat theatre, several rehearsal studios, a bar with an exhibition area, a pottery workshop with showroom, a restaurant, a gallery and offices. The Fringe Club arranges performances, exhibitions and classes on a year-round basis. It also houses a theatre workshop and a mime and movement laboratory. An active outreach programme chalked up over 300 shows and special projects during the year.
Urban Council Presentations
To popularise the arts among the people of Hong Kong, the Urban Council invited local and overseas artists to present a wide variety of performances in 1992. The performances totalled 325 and attracted 233 260 people.
The varied programmes included orchestral concerts by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; instrumental recitals by Bernard Roberts, Frank Peter Zimmermann, John O'Conor, Vadim Repin, Pepe Romero and Mstislav Rostropovich; a vocal recital by Renata Scotto; and performances by the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Albert NcNeil Jubilee Singers, the Wallace Collection and the Vienna Virtuosi. On the theatre and dance front, there were opera productions of Otello and by the Guangdong and Guangxi Cantonese Opera Troupe; performances by the National Ballet of Canada, Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, and the Hong Kong International Ballroom and Latin American Dance Championship. The council also commissioned and presented the Hong Kong Ballet's new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the City Hall, local talents were engaged for performances from May to December. Among them were pianists including Chiu Yee-ha, Choi Sown-le, Tam Ka-kit, Gabriel Kwok and Nancy Loo; the Chung Ying Theatre Company; the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies; the Hong Kong Movie and TV Theatrical Society; the Wang Kwong Chinese Orchestra; the Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra; the Hong Kong Ballet; the City Contemporary Dance Company; 12 local choruses and many others.
Symphony Under the Stars - the first free outdoor light classical concert for family audiences - was presented with Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at Happy Valley Sports Ground in November, attracting 30 000 people.