How the pandemic forced the performing arts in Hong Kong to innovate - and artists to stock store shelves to survive
- From aspiring artists to the biggest names in the industry, performers have had to put their careers on hold this year because of Covid-19
- On the other hand music and drama groups have found new ways to present their output online – ideas that will live on after the doors of arts venues swing open
This is the seventh story in a series on the Covid-19 pandemic, a year after the first cases were reported in the mainland city of Wuhan. It explores how the performing arts in Hong Kong have been forced to innovate in the face of this year’s extraordinary events — and how diminished opportunities have taken their toll on the sector’s career professionals. Please support us on our mission to bring you quality journalism.
Covid-19 has made it impossible this year to obey the old troupers’ cry that “the show must go on”.
Back in spring, for example, the cancellation of the Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) meant it was exit stage left for French star Isabelle Adjani, who was to have presented her much-anticipated drama Opening Night. And even the irrepressible Hong Kong diva Lisa Wang Ming-chuen has twice this year seen her planned concert with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra cancelled.
“I have been thinking, this is it. ‘Dance-up comedy’ is what I really want to develop as a solo artist. Then, Covid-19 stopped me in my tracks. For a dancer at my age, there is no time to waste,” he says.
It will be a lean Christmas and new year for the arts industry in Hong Kong, in which 82 per cent of artists and support staff are working without a full-employment contract. Freelance stage manager Libby Cheung Wai-ting has had two stage jobs in the past 14 months – in a normal year, she usually has 20 to 30 shows.
