Kafka’s apeman: why early 20th-century story of caged primate that ‘turns human’ still resonates with artists
- Hong Kong choreographer Ivanhoe Lam joins ranks of international show directors to reinterpret thought-provoking short story, ‘A Report to an Academy’
- His experiential dance production ‘Report ii: the illegal-i’, at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre from October 29 to 31, forms part of New Vision Arts Festival
Timing is everything to choreographer and director Ivanhoe Lam – even if it means he has to wait 11 years.
“The right time has finally arrived,” Lam says during a break from one of his intense rehearsals ahead of this month’s production of Report ii: the illegal-i at Hong Kong’s New Vision Arts Festival, which introduces audiences to pioneering, trendsetting and groundbreaking performing arts from around the world.
He first had the idea to create an experiential performance based on Franz Kafka’s classic short story, A Report to an Academy, in 2010, and produced an early version of the show at Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts, in Hong Kong, in 2019.
However, Lam, who studied drama and contemporary dance at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and choreography at Codarts University in the Netherlands, says it is only now that he has finally been able to produce a version that he feels is complete.
“The timing was not right back then,” he says. “I shelved the idea and have been keeping it there since then.”
