Behind the door of a small, tucked away studio above Tib Street in the Northern Quarter, a group of performers can be heard laughing. Their latest production is designed to make people laugh but is also a moving and uncomfortable watch at times - it is intended to make you think long after the curtains fall.
The Bouffon-style play is by actor and writer Isabella Leung and she, like many of the cast and crew, are from Hong Kong. Some, including stage manager, Ronly Lam, and actor, Chun-Him Wu, fled to make new lives in Manchester after China implemented a controversial national security law on the city in July 2020.
Giving Ronly, Chun-Him and other Hong Kongers who have made a new home in the UK - and specifically Manchester - a platform to tell their and Hong Kong's stories, Isabella's show, 'A Bouffon Play About Hong Kong', was a finalist for the 2021 Women's Prize for Playwrighting and will debut in the city as part of the Push Festival at HOME next week.
