A major concern

History is one of Hirata's major concerns in creating dramas. "We shouldn't forget history, nor do we limit ourselves in history. Thinking about how to deal with history is one of our responsibilities in modern society," he said. "Every time we talk about the history of China and Japan, the topics are always concentrated on wars and invasions. However, as artists, we should take another perspective on this question."

Talking about the cooperation with Chinese actors, Hirata said the interesting difference between the actors of the two countries is that Japanese actors are inclined to rehearse a play starting with segments and moving on to the whole work, while Chinese do just the opposite. "The Japanese actors start rehearsals section by section according to the script one hour earlier than the Chinese every day, and then both sides rehearse the whole drama. After that, the Chinese actors stay to discuss the details further," Hirata said.

Li added that Japanese actors work very hard step by step to make every detail perfect, and bycomparison, Chinese actors show another kind of style: they are serious about the art but they show this attitude in a relaxed way."

The 13 actors in this drama, eight from China and five from Japan, speak their native languages on stage. However, speaking different languages does not present a problem since they can communicate with each other through body language. Hirata said the five Japanese actors practice Chinese very hard every day and one of them can speak quite a few Chinese words.

"The tone of Japanese is very smooth, not as cadenced as Chinese. The function of language in drama is just like music. Our two different languages will play a symphony on the stage," said Lin Xiyue, a Chinese actor who plays the role of Piao Ge.

As an unprecedented collaborative theater project among the the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the National Theater Company of China and the New National Theater in Tokyo, the play has finished its show at the China National Children's Art Theater in Beijing and will be performed at the New National Theater in Tokyo in May.

"The Hong Kong Arts Festival can become the best platform for artists from both China and Japan," Li said, "One of the purposes of this festival is to strengthen cultural communication among people from different backgrounds and lay a cultural foundation for the next generation, and Lost Village fulfills this purpose," he said.

"I hope that this drama can reflect the real conditions of how the people of both countries react to history," said Hirata.