Production Details

“The White Shadow” is a story about ghosts in Hong Kong: a female factory worker in the 1970s, a Thai sex worker in the millennium, and a young lady who opposed the Japanese occupation during World War II. The spirits of these three women from different eras evoke the history of Hong Kong's Sham Shui Po neighbourhood. Through the memory of failure, the hidden secrets of these collective forgotten urban legends reflect on the current situation. The unsettled spirit foreshadows ominous happiness, the wartime "little ghost" bears a signal of no regrets, and an identity certificate unbelievably connects the factory worker to the desperate sex worker. This performances is presented in Cantonese with English and Chinese character super-titles.

都市傳說中的集體遺忘，隱藏的秘密：猛鬼差館帶來不祥的幸福、戰時的「小鬼」背負著沒有遺憾的訊號、一個身份證明不可思議地聯繫著工廠女工和走投無路的妓女……。透過失效的記憶，書寫當下處境。

Cinematic Theatre was founded by director/playwright Carmen Ching-man Lo. The name of the Company indicates that the language and form of cinema takes an essential role in shaping the theatrical style of the productions. The Company mainly focuses on original works that explore modern people's horizons and souls, especially for young audiences. The elements of intertwining imagination and reality plus the past and the present are distinctive characteristics of the works of the Company. Moreover, the Company takes the initiative to explore overseas cultural exchange opportunities. The Company is operated in the manner of a non-profit charity. Since 2003, productions have been toured in Avignon, Scotland, Adelaide, Seoul, Yokohama, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei, the Philippines, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Macau.

Artist Biographies

Playwright, Director: Ching-man Lo
Prior to founding Cinematic Theatre, Ching-man Lo was a member of Chung Ying Theatre Company. Lo obtained a Master degree in Philosophy at Lingnan University Hong Kong and graduated with a Major in Film and Video from Columbia College, Chicago.

Actress: Mo Lai Yan Chi
Mo holds a Bachelor's degree in film making and a Master's degree in Culture Studies in Hong Kong. She studied Master in Theatre Making at the University of Leeds in the UK. She is an awardee of Ten Outstanding Young Person in Hong Kong (HK) and the winner of the HK Arts Development Council's Award for Young Artist (Film). She is the artistic director of Mo Production Company Limited. She's a multimedia performer and has served as actress, playwright, producer, and director frequently within the context of her work with the independent theatre company, FM Theatre Power. She's also a guest lecturer at several universities in Hong Kong. One of her solo performances "Woman in Red" has been staged at HK Queen Elizabeth Stadium and was invited to perform the English version at the International Community Arts Festival in the Netherlands. She has been appointed by HK West Kowloon District Authority and HK Arts Development Council to conduct academic research on performance in public spaces in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and London. Mo directed a short film "1 + 1" won The Grand Fresh Wave Award and Best Film Award in Hong Kong Fresh Wave and IFVA. Her feature-length "N + N" entered several international film festivals and won numerous grand awards. She has been selected as Academy Talent in The Golden Horse and as a Berlinale Talent in The Berlin International Film Festival.

Producer: Augustine Mok Chiu-yu
Mok Chiu Yu is a people's theatre worker, community cultural development worker, performance artist, and the founder of Asian People's Theatre Festival Society, Centre For Community Cultural Development (CCCD) and Hong Kong International Deaf Film Festival. He is a writer, translator, part-time lecturer at Hong Kong’s post-secondary institutions, University, independent filmmaker, awardee of Achievement Award in Drama by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 1999, conference organiser (including the World Congress of International Drama/Theatre & Education Association 2007 and many arts-related therapy conferences in Hong Kong), an advocate of community music, playback theatre, playforward theatre, theatre of the oppressed, SAORI and inclusive arts, etc. He is Editor of The Big Wind, The Black Sky (books of Asian People's plays), 1984/1997 etc. He has collaborated with many American theatre artists including Joan Holden, Dan Chumley and members of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. His recent productions include 10 solo performances entitled the Sham Shui Po series which include It Won’t be Long Now and The White Shadow. He also produced recently a cross-cultural production online called “Spice Road” with 9 young artists from eight cities from 4 continents.

Co-director: Grad Leung Wai Kit
Grad Leung is a freelance theatre worker and drama educator. Since 1997, he has cooperated with various theatre companies. And from 2011 to the present, Grad has organized the Hong Kong Butoh Festival. Grad has been invited to Taiwan and Mainland China to lead Moment Theatre workshops. In 2015, he was nominated for the Best Actor in the 7th The Hong Kong Theatre Libre for "My luxurious 50 sqft life".