Abstract

Street performance and the use of public space is one of the hottest issues in Hong Kong recently. Hong Kong, like many other cities in the world, has serious problem of limited space and overcrowding. And cultural activities are still always regarded as marginal in the society. Therefore, under such circumstances, when compared to nearby cities such as Taipei and Tokyo, street performance in Hong Kong is extremely rare and people are not very familiar with it. Even the government does not have a complete system to help or support artist to perform in streets. FM Theatre Power, a local independent theatre troupe, has started to perform in the most crowded street in the city for over four years. The troupe even name the street they usually perform in the “West Kowloon Cultural Street” in response to the “West Kowloon Cultural District” brought out by the government. From freezing in the busy street to doing invisible theatre, the group tried out different performing style to make theatre for all people to enjoy. FM Theatre Power believe that everywhere can be the stage and all people should have the right to get in touch with and to enjoy theatre, regardless of their social status and purchasing power etc. The paper uses the street performing experience of FM Theatre Power in a special context, Hong Kong, to explore the possible uses of street performances.