Contemporary issues and challenges in applying performance

Abstract

Theatre performances in Hong Kong have been performing educational functions for almost nine decades, since the 1930s when Hong Kong was a British colony, and when there were no professional theatre companies. Chung Ying was the first theatre company referring to itself as a “theatre in education” company. London Bubble’s renewed understanding of performer-theatre relations informed the early mode of Chung Ying’s school tours and some of its site-specific mainstage productions. Theatre companies large and small are dependent on public funding and charities’ trusts to sustain their productions and operations. Alice Theatre Laboratory, a local theatre company in Hong Kong known for its versatility in experimental performances, dedicates their theatre in education (TIE) productions to making a difference in local educational practices. Generous funding support has become a key contributing factor to integral participation in TIE practices in Hong Kong. The theatre and drama experiences created spaces for students to affectively link language learning to their school life.