HONG KONG – In a theatre company founded with the motto of “art for art’s sake,” its Artistic Director puts everything on the line to create a suspenseful drama, but his actors criticise the script as substandard, resisting the process at every step, making life really hard. How will things unfold? HKRep Artistic Director Anthony Chan is both playwright and director of The Finale of Mr. AD, a play employing suspense and humour to highlight the paradox of art and commerce.
The Finale of Mr. AD is about an Artistic Director in a mid-sized theatre company. Dapper Casanova Rocky Cheung (played by Ko Hon Man), pressured by his boss, decides to adapt a popular Japanese detective manga for the stage. This commercially minded move unsettles the entire company, even complicating his romantic liaisons, and the whole world turns topsy-turvy.
Playwright and director Anthony Chan chronicles the ups and downs of playwriting not merely to humour himself but to reflect on life, sharing his viewpoints with the audience as the plot twists and turns.
He states, “The Finale of Mr. AD straddles such genres as suspense, farce, melodrama and morality play. May the joy and laughter therein help us confront life’s complexities. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, should be considered slanderous.”
Artistic Director Anthony Chan’s The Finale of Mr. AD—a black comedy filled with suspense—shocks and awes theatregoers, while provoking laughter as they close in on the murderer. This new play was originally scheduled for the previous season. Because of COVID-19, the premiere production is postponed to the current season, bringing some respite to our audience in face of the pandemic.
The Finale of Mr. AD plays from 17th July to 1st August 2021 at Hong Kong City Hall Theatre. Tickets available here
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