Piccadilly Revisited
Outdoor film and live music performance
Click to view more photos of Piccadilly Revisited...
Piccadilly Revisited was part of the Thames Festival held on
Sat 12 September 2009 (8.15pm - 10.00pm) at the East-facing facade of the Royal Festival Hall
BFI Stills, Posters and DesignsPiccadilly Revisited was a film and music performance inspired by the life and loves of Hollywood's first Chinese film star, Anna May Wong, and the classic British silent movie Piccadilly (1929) in which she played a starring role.
Composers Suki Mok and Ruth Chan performed their new contemporary score to the backdrop of an outdoor screening of the silent film, Piccadilly.
The score is based on a storyboard developed by co-writers Alice Lee and David Tse Ka-Shing.
Wong is the only Asian-American actress with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. She worked with Dietrich and Olivier, graced the pages of Vogue, Tatler and Vanity Fair, and the song These Foolish Things was written for her. She has experienced a renaissance in recent years, and Chinatown Arts Space is delighted to celebrate her achievements in Piccadilly, her seminal film directed by E.A. Dupont.
"Bold, beautifully crafted...one of the truly great films of the silent era" Martin Scorsese
The performance on 12th September was the first work-in-progress showing of a cross-artform production to be completed next year, which will incorporate dance, drama and video against a backdrop of the original silent movie.
The completed work will explore the contradictions of Anna May Wong's life, the impact of the stereotyped ‘orientalist' roles she was forced into, and release Anna May Wong's spirit through the intervention of a team of British East Asian artists. Contemporary sensibilities will bring a fresh, vibrant interpretation to the film and her life. Like a Chinese ‘hungry ghost' coming back to right a wrong, these modern mediums will exorcise her demons and satisfy all artistic appetites.
This work is funded by |
and supported by the |
Click for further details of Piccadilly Revisited at the Thames Festival
An interview with David Tse Ka-Shing and Ruth Chan on the BBC Chinese website:
Link 1 | Link 2
