Apart from the Macao Cultural Centre and the Blackbox Theatre in the Old Court Building run by the government, art spaces hidden in industrial buildings are also frequented by theatre lovers in Macao. Private theatrical groups like Macau Experimental Theatre have launched the BOK Festival in order to connect art spaces in Macao and allow audiences to have non-mainstream theatrical experiences. It’s an opportunity to have a dialogue with the city and to experiment with theatrical possibilities.
The Festival was launched in 2013. With the aim of “Interconnection, Working Hard, and Fighting with All You’ve Got”, the festival is held from June to July every year and both local and overseas experimental theatrical works are featured. Johnny Tam, Artistic Director of the BOK Festival and Macau Experimental Theatre, said that events initiated by private groups are more flexible than those organised by the government, and each performance allows more opportunities to experiment and explore the aesthetics of the theatre. “Macao audiences usually see theatrical plays as a form of story-telling. However, a play does not necessarily start with a script at the outset. Sometimes a group of designers, poets and photographers can interpret a space with their own insights and this will bring more possibilities to a play.”
Each year the festival has a theme. In 2015, it was about the “Installation Stage”. Last year, it was about “Connecting Alternative Theatres”. This year the focus will be the audiences — how the audiences participate in the theatre would change the nature of the theatrical work is the issue that needs to be explored. Tam pointed out that he expects the theme would continue to be discussed by the audiences. “Every artistic director and theatrical director has a wish. That is to engage audiences in a dialogue via a theatrical festival.”
Organised by the government, the Macao Arts Festival’s shows sold out as soon as they are on sale and the festival has become one of the most anticipated art events in the city. Tam frankly admitted that a lot more has to be done to let the audiences understand and recognise the BOK Festival. “In respect of marketing and communication, the more experimental and uncertain in nature, the more packaging and brand building are needed for the event. This is to let the audiences to understand that some factors are unknown in the play but it can potentially be fun. Effort has to be made to promote such concept of art.” Therefore, co-organisers of the event have launched a series of promotion to explain the concept of the festival. In the last two years, shows specifically for students were scheduled to certain schools in Macao and post-show discussions were arranged. The setting was relaxing so as to encourage the audiences to interact with the artists after the shows finished. Tam believes that this can immediately let both sides to make dialogues and is more than just asking the audiences to fill out the feedback questionnaires. “This kind of talk enables the audiences to understand more our artistic concept.”
In fact, the diversity of shows in the BOK Festival is similar to Macau Experimental Theatre’s style. Founded in 2008, the group was formerly called Theatre Horizon. In early days the group mainly played adaptations of western classics. When the group was renamed Macau Experimental Theatre in 2013, attention started given to new works (i.e. modern translated plays) and original musicals. “The major change over the last ten years is we gradually transformed from an association to a professional theatrical group. An association enables a group of theatre lovers from all walks of life to hold together via the means of theatrical performance; while a professional theatre has its own positioning, target audiences and goals.”
In recent years, the group was invited to perform in art festivals in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Mainland, Japan and Canada. Tam discovered that if a translated play was performed overseas, the responses from the audiences were far from satisfactory. “We understand that we need to have our own positioning and original theatrical work especially when participating in overseas art festivals. Original works can highlight your own thoughts and perception of the world.” Together with his good friends Wong Teng Chi and Njo Kong Kie, Tam composed the musical The Time of Shi in 2015. The work was performed in places including Macao, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Canada. This year, it will be performed again in Canada for 40 runs. Audiences in different places react differently even they are watching the same play. For example, Tam pointed out that Taiwanese audiences are very sensitive to texts, while audiences in Hong Kong and Macao give more attention to the image expression, and audiences in Canada are more interested in the metaphors employed in the play script, as well as the issues of identity and labelling. “Although we have our own story to tell, interpretation of the work by the audiences is necessary. And the audiences are smarter than us. They can see a lot more than we do.”
Tam has been working in the theatre in Macao since his graduation from college in 2009. He believes that Macao’s audiences and theatrical groups have become more diversified. “I feel that the sector is flourishing now. Each theatrical group has its own artistic style and its own niche market.” Although his own group is named “Experimental Theatre”, like the works created by Tam, he refused to be labelled as such. “I do not want to define what I am doing. We keep on doing experiments in art, and we continue to have dialogue with the world.”
