Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

This place becomes a staple during arts festival time and I find myself coming here a lot. They have a few different sized theatres all with very good views and sound quality, it does get a bit chilly in the air conditioning so I would recommend having an extra cardigan or jacket to put on if you feel on the cold side.
It’s a little bit of a walk from either wan chai or admiralty stations but isn’t too hard to find.
I most recently saw Jane Eyre and The Scent of Ink here.
Jane Eyre was a fantastically adapted play with a great stage set and beautiful song choice (I was pleasantly surprised by this).
The Scent of Ink was performed by a dance company from Korea, showcasing Korean traditional dancing. The music and moves were very hypnotic, with the set design and costumes being very simplistic and aesthetically pleasing. They had a meet and greet with the dancers afterwards but it was late for me and I didn’t stay for that part of it.

Came to the academy 3 times for musicians shows before. The most recent is for Sound of Music. The musical was great but it was such an unpleasant experiences sitting in the second row where there is not enough space and the entire row of seats are wobbly cos it wasn’t screwed in properly. We complained to the staff during the intermission but they could not do anything about it. It’s so disappointing paying for the most expensive ticket but having the whole experience ruined cos of the seats. Avoid buying tickets on the second row.

I came here for the very first time for an amazing play that was on during the summer, called «I Love Football». It was a spectacular performance — if they ever do a re run for it, i highly recommend it.
The stage drama was about a young football player who aspires to be a professional football player here in Hong Kong. As we all know, being a professional football player is already a difficult career, and being in HK, it’s even harder as there are only a few professional teams. Throughout the process, he loses himself, ruins relationships and even injures himself. He neglects people around him and he only focuses himself on winning. Overall, this story was about how the main character defeats all of his obstacles, going for what he is truly passionate about, what he’s willing to give, or give up to accomplish his dreams.
The reason why this theatre contributed to the overall play was because, first of all, the seats were comfy, the sitting area was spacious, there was very good room outside of the theatre where people could chill during intermission and while waiting to get into the theatre, finally, the sound projection was excellent.
The other reason this theatre made this stage drama stand out, is because, the play is about football. How often do you see a stage drama about a sport like that? how can you play an actual game of football on a regular stage? The producers of the stage drama did it, and they did it well at the HKAPA lyric theatre. bravo!

«Do not ever let your parents know you are reading this. EVER.» My teacher once told me.
I was introduced to Alex and his «Droogs» during all those mid-​night reading hiding myself under the bed cover, scared to death that I would get caught by my folks. Yes. I am referring to Anthony Bugess’s A Clockwork Orange. The violence, corruption, sexuality definitely blew my mind back then. However, this classics and all those motifs are still horrifyingly relevant to this very day.
So you would have imagined my excitement when I was told that a threatre adaptation of this literary masterpiece has come to Hong Kong. That was the first time I went to The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and I was extremely pleased with the entire performance. The Lyrics threatre where they performed was huge. The auditorium is made of raked stage, which certainly improves the view for the audience.
During the entire performance, I was once again brought back to the nastiness of Manchester’s underworld. Most of the violent scenes were greatly enhanced with the «disturbing» flash of red and bright light. Smoke was used to bring audience to the dreamscape of Alex. And the distressing events happened in the book were shown through sick choreography.
It was definitely one of my best plays I have ever seen here in Hong Kong. And I just wish Hong Kong can attract more people from around the world to come and perform. As honestly, Hong Kong to me is still very much a cultural desert.