World Premiere of New Play ‘The Butcher’ in Hong Kong

Talk about a fast turnaround. I'd completed a new short play entitled ‘The Butcher’ on March 20th and somehow managed to secure agreement for its debut production on March 31st – an astounding 11 days later! This, quite simply, never happens. No matter how good or how well-received a newly written play might be, it can take months or even years for it to make it from page to stage (see aptly named production title below). Of course, there were extenuating circumstances that led to this remarkable occurrence. I’d been contacted by a theatre group in Hong Kong (The Hong Kong Players) a few days earlier, inquiring about the production rights for a number of my short plays from The Meta Plays collection. When they informed me of the theme of their production, I happened to mention that I’d just completed a new play that seemed tailor-made for just such a theme and would make it available for them to read if they so desired. They did, and a couple of days later they contacted me to ask if they might be allowed to premiere it at their show in May.

This, then, was one of those serendipitous moments that seem to occur almost by magic, or by the mysterious, enigmatic hands of fate. Along with ‘The Butcher,’ the Hong Kong Players will also be producing four of my plays taken from The Meta Plays collection (‘A Flawed Character,’ ‘The Craft,’ ‘The Curious Art of Critique,’ and ‘Tacked-On Ending’) as well as a selection of locally written material. The production, entitled ‘From Page to Stage’ will take place at the Hong Kong Arts Centre on Wednesday, 15 May to Friday, 17 May, 8pm; Saturday, 18 May, 3:30pm and 8pm. More details can be found on the company’s website.