Theatre

The music theatre work talks about Vladimir Nabokov, Dmitri Shostakovich and Josef Stalin. By looking at these three men and in connection with Nabokov’s autobiography “Speak, Memory”, the performance explores the relationship between childhood memories, butterflies and chess, as well as power and art, through music, speech, images and theatrical movements. Members of the box Kung Chi-shing and Peter Suart, who are both directors, composers and musicians, will collaborate with Japanese musical and theatrical performer Mariko Ogawa, Kung’s daughter Chiara and a string quartet from the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. Together they will offer the audience a multi-directional sensory theatre experience.

The story takes the audience back to 1917, when the Bolshevik Revolution convulsed Russia and led to a bloody civil war. Nabokov and his family fled in 1919; Shostakovich stayed. Following the death of Lenin, Stalin consolidated his power. Nabokov travelled across Europe, and then around the United States, like a restless butterfly. He wrote novels, poetry and scientific works. Shostakovich composed under the terrible pressure of Stalin’s regime, yet he was able to produce magnificent art. Told to expect a telephone call, he would have to wait at home, not knowing if the call would permit new composition opportunities or end his life.