Venue: Kwai Tsing Theatre
Date: 20-21 May
Enquiries: 3678 0150
Website: 2016.frenchmay.com
For those who have hopes of watching the French fall off things – and who among us doesn’t in all honesty? – it may well be worth toddling along to Extrêmités, an event associated with this year’s Le French May, that annual gallimaufry of Gallicness that aims to play catch-up with 156 years of Hong Kong’s immersion in the Anglosphere
Featuring a truly memorable performance by Cirque Inextremiste, a circus and acrobatic troupe well-known for its somewhat outré approach to stage craft, the show is a three-hander. While, one of its stars is wheelchair-bound, this does not stop him joining his castmates balancing on wooden planks and gas canisters. According to the publicity, the humour comes from the performers’ interaction with the audience, and not because they fall off – but we’re nonetheless hoping for a bit of both.
Other highlights of the festival include an operatic version of Romeo and Juliet, a presentation of Mozart’s work in the context his lovelife and an exhibition of some of Claude Monet’s artworks. The festival aims to promote Hong Kong-French cultural exchange. Good luck with that, mes amis.