On the rooftop of a skyscraper in Tokyo, shut off due to the pandemic, two strangers meet by chance. One is a writer from mainland China; the other, a creative team from Hong Kong.
Seemingly unrelated elements come together in Love Out of Reach — the first production presented under the "Text Testing Zone" format of Project Kite by the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre.
The story follows Masako, a woman who attempts to enter the planetarium on the top floor of a local skyscraper. Mr. Fuyuki, who is responsible for cleaning the area, stops her from entering, leading to a dialogue between the two about Pluto, the theatre, and fathers.
However, after this conversation, Fuyuki disappears without a trace. Who was he? Where did he go? Had he ever existed? These unanswered questions linger in the minds of Masako and the audience, an enigma with no resolution.
A sense of distance
Set in Tokyo, the story's sense of distance is first and foremost spatial.
The playwright, He Yufan, a Beijing native, describes it as "a fascinating collision:" a story set in Japan, written by a mainland Chinese writer, and brought to life by a Hong Kong creative team.
The idea of spatial distance also permeates the script. The original script sought to evoke a tone reminiscent of Japanese or semi-Japanese expression.
"The original distance lay between Mandarin and Japanese, but there's yet another layer between Cantonese and Mandarin," says director Chung.
He notes that the final adaptation was crafted to be intelligible to the audience, yet deliberately a little strange and unfamiliar, as he described, "wasn't exactly how people around us usually speak."
Set in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the story is grounded in a world shaped by isolation, which subtly reinforces its central concept of distance and lends greater plausibility to the plot.
Amid the profound solitude brought about by the pandemic, it becomes believable that two strangers would open up and share such deeply personal emotions.
A sense of play
As the story draws to a close, Masako searches in vain for Fuyuki. A security guard named Tanaka appears and asks her to leave. The original script notes that Fuyuki and Tanaka are portrayed by the same actor.
With this setup, Chung believes the entire play could turn into a "game with the audience."
He offers two interpretations of the ending: in the realistic version, Fuyuki is not a real person, but rather a figment of Masako's imagination. In the more romantic version, Fuyuki could be Tanaka, an imagined being, a visitor from another world, or even Masako's father. "
"To me, how I want the audience to interpret it isn't what matters most," says Chung, "What truly matters is that moment of genuine kindness one person offers to another."
A love letter to the audience
At the end of the interview, Chung expressed that this play is a love letter tribute from playwright He to his audience, and also a sincere offering from the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre to the people in Hong Kong.
He candidly admits that during the pandemic, more and more people grew accustomed to consuming works via streaming platforms. Even though live performances have since resumed, only a trickle of audiences have returned to the theatre.
Chung hopes that Love Out of Reach, a simple yet tender story about two strangers connecting, can inspire people to come back to the stage.
"No matter what you're going through in life, no matter how difficult it may be. I still believe that when you step into a theatre, you will find a kind of warmth waiting for you there."
(Reporter: Kelly Yang; Cameraperson & Editor: Xing; Translator: Zheng Xiaoyi; English Editor: Darius)
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