Faust International Youth Theatre

Stage Group has had the privilege of performing some of the world’s best-known plays including The Crucible, Waiting for Godot, The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet, King Lear and more. After 3 years of masked performances, we are thrilled to bring you an unmasked performance of Hamlet at the Hong Kong Arts Centre from April 27 th to 29 th 2023 .   Everybody has heard of Hamlet - most people can probably identify him as “that guy who thinks too much and holds a skull” or characterise the play as “the one where everybody dies at the end.” However, Hamlet is also considered a significant, serious piece of literature with ever growing literary criticism, reinterpretations, homages, references and parodies.    In our adaptation of Hamlet, we have decided to strip down the tragedy to its core and let the characters breathe and be recognised as fallible, strange and relatable humans. We also wanted to play with the play, taking big creative swings with our interpretation....

Peter and the Wolf is a show that has been toured and performed by Faust for ten years in different forms. We’re so passionate about this piece, and in this article, we wanted to explain what amazing insights students and audience members can gain from the show! The piece is performed by three professional actors and a technical operator with set props and music all provided by Faust. Drama and Classical Music Peter and the Wolf was originally a piece of radio drama to introduce children to the magic of classical music. Each of the instrument groups represents a character in the story. In our version, a little girl finds and listens to the original version on a record player. Our cast then act out the dramatic tale with the music to bring the story to life. We hope that the production will make classical music more accessible to your students and show them how art different performance art forms can combine. Costume, Comedy and Puppets The production is also comic in tone a...

Faust's Drop-In Workshops are designed to be a whole heap of dramatic fun for returnin g students, and even those who are new t o drama or Faust! In each session,  students will participate in games and exercises which will excite and entertain them. Each a ge group  will run differently with session customised for each level - please read on below for a works hop breakdown on each age group! Workshops for Tots (Ages 3 to 4) Our Tots groups will begin with a creative activity such as coloring and crafts that will be based around our theme of the day. Then our leaders will run engaging warm-up exercises that will help develop your mini performer’s vocal and physical skills. The group will then explore a book and, through songs and movement, bring different parts of the story to life. These sessions are a great introduction to drama and as they encourage confidence and creativity.   Workshops for Ages 4 to 5 The 4-5 age groups will begin with activities which will help deve...

Today we have an interview with the team responsible for Hong Kong Live Play Readings, bringing actors in the US and HK together to perform plays online.  Could you let us know who you are please? We are Rebecca J Merritt and Davina Lee Carrete and we are freelance artists in Hong Kong. You both run Hong Kong Live Play Readings – a group on Facebook. And can you let us know how HKLPR got started ? Davina:  Rebecca told me about her actor friends in the US reading plays together online and I said we should do that here! We created a Facebook group, added performers we know in Hong Kong and Rebecca then invited her pals in the US. We have been reading together for the last month. Rebecca:   Davina actually mentioned to me she wanted to read some plays online with friends and has been doing that to test scripts and projects for Treasure Chest Theatre once the Pandemic ends. I mentioned it in my stories and then my friend who’s an actor in Chicago added...

"This journey made me realise that there are many, many ways to contribute to the arts  landscape – you’re not a failure, you just need to find the one that best works for you." During this period, we would like to share with you a series of interviews from our leaders, other creative members in our community and behind the scene glimpses of our youth theatre. Kat Roma Greer is the founder of Micro Galleries, a free global arts initiative and virtual creative hub that uses art as a vehicle to create positive social change. This includes creative interventions in public spaces, workshops, art tours and more, working together with communities who are in some kind of social or creative need. Kat is also a former Faust Leader who led our teen programmes almost a decade ago. Caught in the act in Kathmandu, Nepal Secret Origins I grew up in a pretty low socio-economic area in Australia. It was a sport-focused town, and I  even went to a sports high school, but weird...

"Everyone was saying that the song cheered them up which I felt like is one of the best things you can do when you’re performing." During this period, we would like to share with you a series of interviews from our leaders, other creative members in our community and behind the scene glimpses of our youth theatre. Kathy Mak is a writer and performer whose recent musical parody performance of the song TORN about recent hardships in Hong Kong went viral across the globe. She shared with us her approach to creating and performing.  Caught Between Two Cultures I was born in Hong Kong and have been back and forth New Zealand and here since I was 7 years old. I always have culture shock whenever I move ba ck to another country. Even now I always feel like thoughts, values and behaviour is a unique mixture of HK and western culture. Performing at the Australian Bush Fire Fundraiser Event that started it all About that Torn Parody… I prepared the...