The 5th Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Theatre Cultural Festival will open in Macao tomorrow, making it the first time the city has jointly hosted the event with Hong Kong and Guangdong.
Taking place between March and May, the festival will launch with four shows at the Macao Cultural Centre, including The Contrabass, a drama about a frustrated musician, that will be staged by the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre at 7:30 pm on 26 and 27 March.
The opening night will also see a performance of the Sino-Franco co-production, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which will take place at 7:45 pm.
Adapted from the eponymous sci-fi novel by Jules Verne, the play, which garnered nine prestigious Molière Awards, tells the story of three men who embark on an underwater expedition that sees them come face to face with fantastical creatures.
The remaining shows include the locally-produced Bridge Theory, which has been billed as the first story to use Macao’s inaugural sea crossing bridge as a backdrop, exploring themes of change and memory.
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The Cat God is in the Forbidden City, a mainland musical based on the same-named picture book, caps off the shows with its fairytale story of friendship, memory, history and destiny, told from the perspective of a feline.
Bridge Theory has three performances scheduled on 29 (7:30 pm) and 30 March (2:30 pm and 7:30 pm), while The Cat God is in the Forbidden City will have two shows on 29 (7:45 pm) and 30 March (2:45 pm). Tickets for the performances are available for purchase via various platforms, including macaoticket.com, damai.cn and show.maoyan.com.
After the four Macao shows have concluded, the festival will move to Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The former will host three events at the Xiqu Centre, including Su Shi, Birthday Celebration by Five Daughters and The New Butterfly Lovers.
Meanwhile, Guangzhou will be organising four shows, including three at the Guangzhou Opera House (I am what I am: The Musical, The Imperial Decree and Daodan Tuoguanban) and one at the Hung Sin-nui Arts Centre (Southern Fist).
Last year’s festival was co-hosted by Macao and Hong Kong, with the former staging shows between 5 and 14 April, and the latter taking the reins from 27 and 30 June.
