"We are constantly in search of more, to help make us more complete. Do something that will help you find a lost piece, do something that makes you feel more whole. That's the point."
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.
Eric Ng is a lawyer by day, theatre director by night. He has built an impressive body of work with English language theatre shows in Hong Kong with a wide range of plays including last year’s HK Players’ Sleeping Beauty the Pantomime, Yellow Face, The Laramie Project, 9 Circles, The Pillowman and many more. Eric talked to us about his theatre experience and opinions on acting, directing, auditions, creativity and much more.
How would you describe yourself?
I'm about 5 ft. 11in tall, large build. Asian-American that is too American for the Chinese and too Chinese for the Americans. I've been an actor, a director, a waiter, a bartender, a freelancer, a teacher...these days I'm a lawyer in Hong Kong. At heart though, I'm still that guy who gets excited about auditions and who knows the backstage of a theatre better than my own home.
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| Poster for The Pillowman production |
When did you first realize you wanted to create theatre?
When I was about 6 years old and living in Ohio, my mom wanted to get me out of the house so she took me to see a touring musical that was happening to stop through town (Evita). Since then, I knew I wanted to be on stage, doing everything from drama camp up to school performances, college theatre groups, working in everything community, semi-pro, and professional. I started off doing crew work, moving stuff backstage so that I could learn how shows worked, then started doing more technical things, eventually getting cast in a few shows and working as an actor. Every role helped me to understand the process a bit more and to understand that I was helping to create something that would make people laugh, cry, or something in between.
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| The Pillowman |
Which do you prefer, directing or acting?
I still love being an actor. But when I was starting out in the field, there were very limited roles that people would consider me for. There were roles that I dreamed about, but at the time there was no way that people would cast me. So I started thinking about directing pieces, shows close to my heart, shows that I could see on the inside of my eyelids when I went to sleep at night, shows where every fiber of my being wanted to see on stage but which people weren't willing or thinking of doing. So at one point, I just decided to do it, and never really looked back.
Do you have other ways that you express yourself creatively other than through theatre?
One of the reasons I became a lawyer is that I'm able to get creative with certain things, and get to think about how things should go together, which fulfills a lot of the same cravings that I get about performing and directing. I write a lot as well, though rarely anything good enough where I would let other people read it. Theatre is the main outlet for me. There's less of a barrier between thought and action there. I have an easier time expressing myself when it's a stage and some props than I would with a guitar or a paintbrush. So I try and do that instead.
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| Cowboy vs Samurai |
How do you balance your workload?
I don't really. It's a lot of work and it takes a lot of time and there's really no shortcuts, so oftentimes when I'm in the middle of putting together a show, I have a lot of sleepless nights! What helps though is that I always make sure I'm working with people I can trust, whether those people are my cast, my assistant director, or my stage manager. When I can trust people to share the same passion and drive, it takes a lot of load off of my shoulders. They've been every bit as important as me in making the shows pop, if not more so.
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| Poster for 9 Circles |
What attracted you to darker stories and plays?
When I started directing in Hong Kong, most people thought that the only way to draw an audience in was to do comedies - the thought of doing something that wasn't "light comedy" was practically unthinkable. I like comedy too, and in fact most of my shows have a lot of comedy in them. But you need dark to temper light, a bit of shadow to make the brighter bits...brighter. I wanted to do some shows that would tell good stories first and foremost, and that would make audiences leave and actually think about the show. That's why I named my old company Looking Glass - because we were turning the mirror onto human issues. Granted, some of the shows are a little darker than others, but for me I don't do a show because it's dark. I do a show because the darker elements help make a better story. I get to paint with all the colors, and only then do I approach something that feels more impactful.
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| SCMP Article on The Laramie Project |
How would you advise actors who have to deal with plays with heavy themes or psychologically complex characters? What do you suggest to help them perform the roles and not get too negatively impacted the work?
I'm probably the worst person to ask this question! I like performing because I get to be someone else for a time, and I don't have to be myself. For me I enjoy getting into the heavy stuff and the psychologically complex characters because it's cathartic to me as an actor as well. So when I step through the stage door, I want to feel that burden. I want to go through the crying, the yelling, the anger, the depression. I'm not myself when I cross that threshold. But once the rehearsal or the show is done, I take a deep breath once I step outside, and I can leave the character in the theatre. I don't need it anymore - by doing it on stage, I've managed to satisfy that psychological need. I think the key then is to understand that by being on stage you are getting a rare chance to be someone else and to tap into the elements of yourself that sometimes you wouldn't be comfortable expressing in public - and that you're allowed to do that! But then afterwards, understand that once you've expressed that, that you're also allowed to be yourself again once you leave that space.
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| The cast and crew of From Page to Stage |
Can you explain your process with directing? Once you have chosen a script, how do you plan for the performance?
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| The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui |
Choosing the right script goes a long way. There are some scripts that I read and I don't like. There are some that I think about and then put away. Then there are scripts that I read and I can see the faces of the characters, the colors of their outfits, the furniture, the lights, even in some cases, the smell of the scene. I can't put those scripts down. Those are the ones I put on stage and so having the good script does wonders for your planning.
From my perspective as well, 90% of the job of a director isn't actually doing blocking or character work or tweaking line deliveries. It's casting. I absolutely make sure that when I'm casting a piece, I want someone who isn't just talented (and a lot of people are), but someone that I know wants to do it, who has the passion and drive to see it through. I also want actors/actresses that will work with me, that I know will not just listen, but understand what I want to do and will work well with others to help deliver. You can't choose your family, but you can choose your cast, and I want to make sure everyone has a good experience while still being able to do as good a job as possible
What surprises have you had between what you imagined and what is actually achieved on stage?
Too many to count or detail. I see directing as a semi-collaborative process. I lay down the bones at the start - go here, do that, etc. But the muscle and the flesh are provided by the actors. They do the bulk of the work in bringing the characters to life, and more often than not they deliver a line or make a gesture, or do something which I entirely didn't expect, and that's OK! That's what they're comfortable with - and if I want to tweak that I'll work with the actor to come at it from a different way, which feels comfortable to them. Being comfortable is important. If I tried to manage every gesture, intonation, or tic, I might get what I imagined, but it'd be robotic, and it wouldn't feel natural. When it's two, or three, or four of us working the scene, the actor feels more natural, which means a better performance. 9 times out of 10, it winds up better than I could have imagined.
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| Sleeping Beauty The Pantomime |
You recently directed the Sleeping Beauty Panto and it was everything a panto should be but you had the audacity to tell a really engaging story with twists and turns. What was writing the panto like and what was your thought process in planning the story?
Writing the panto was definitely one of the hardest things I had to do! The process actually began a year before panto even went up, and there were definitely kernels of what would eventually become the story floating around my head. I knew that panto was about a lot of tropes, some of it baked into the history and traditions of panto from ages back. I wanted to bring a little of that history back into the script but also play off of those expectations a little bit. And I always hated how villains were made villains just because of the color of their skin - so the little twists were things that I wanted to include. And with the events of the past couple years being what they were, some of the character notes and story beats were just too good to pass up. After that it was just about finding the right music and the right people to help bring it to life. But I have to say, it was nerve-wracking from start to finish, from the moment I hit the last key to the moment the curtain came up. I'm not often seen as a funny person and I'm just glad that at least the writing was funny!
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| The cast of Yellow Face |
Another highlight was Yellow Face, a satire about identity politics in the US by David Henry Hwang. That featured a lot of characters, a fast pace and an interesting subject matter. Was this the most personal play for you to direct, given your background?
It was definitely one of the most personal for me as an Asian-American actor and director. I had previously done an "Asian" play, Cowboy v Samurai, directed by a very close friend of mine, and that one was also quite close to my heart. But Yellow Face hit on themes and subjects that I'm personally very passionate about and it dealt with issues which have affected me very personally over my time on this earth. It's often difficult for me to express just how much these issues are important to me, that we as Asian-Americans have just as much right to express ourselves on stage or on camera, that we are more than just the stereotypical kung fu extras or the heavily accented shopkeeps. This is an issue that plagues us even in Hong Kong, where the majority of the population is Chinese and yet we see so few Asian faces in the English language theatre scene. We want to and need to be represented, and Yellow Face was a chance for me to provide that opportunity.
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| The cast of Sleeping Beauty the Pantomime |
Your best advice for actors coming to audition for you? You’ve had so many great actors work with over the years. What stood out?
Come prepared. Know what you're auditioning for and the kind of show it is. Always have two monologues in your back pocket (under 2 minutes). Don't do a monologue just because its popular. Do something which resonates with you, that makes you happy or makes you think because that's how you're going to really feel it. Be prepared to work with a director in the room - part of the audition is impressing on me that you are someone that I can work with and that I know will work well with others. Don't be afraid.
The best actors I've worked with knew what they wanted to do the moment they came into the room - they were confident, they were friendly, and they were willing to work.
Last question - anything you think young people should know when staging a play or planning to pursue the performing arts / creative arts?
There are a lot of people with talent. There are a lot of people with passion. You have a better chance of winning the lottery than making it big in this industry. That's what people will say to you.
Forget them.
There isn't a single person in this industry that hasn't failed. Nobody gets every audition. Nobody wins every role. Nobody gets every part that they ever wanted. But every moment is experience. And acting is all about experience. It's about taking elements of experience and putting it into a character to make it more real, more subtle, more nuanced. So a failed audition is just an opportunity for you to get better.
But don't take that to mean that you will get what you want just because you're talented. There are no guarantees in life. There are no shortcuts. To work in the creative industry is to understand that life is tough, and if you're not passionate, if you don't have a drive to you, then that will be a problem. Talent will get your foot in the door. Work ethic will let you live in the house.
Maybe a bittersweet thought to leave on. In my view, we as actors are all, in some way, shape, or form, broken. It's the only way I can explain it. We are all in some way, broken people. We search and search for our lost pieces, to find something to make us whole, and for those of us who choose this path, we find those pieces in the characters we create and the roles we take on. We put ourselves into those characters and parts of those characters help fill the holes in our own selves. We are constantly in search of more, to help make us more complete. If you're staging a play or performing in one, do something that will help you find a lost piece, do something that makes you feel more whole. That's the point.
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| Getting ready for the performance at the HK Arts Centre |
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