After its lauded production of Scottish playwright David Harrower's controversial and intense Blackbird last year, it would be tempting for Theatre du Pif to stage another acclaimed script.
'But we prefer to do something different,' says Sean Curran, who co-founded the company with Bonni Chan Lai-chu in 1992.
'We want to work on something of our own.'
Hanako's Pillow is exactly that: in the same vein as Dance Me to the End of Love, a drama inspired by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen's music and German writer Hermann Hesse's classic Siddhartha, this new production is also original as well as a fusion of eastern and western theatre aesthetics and will be staged at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre this weekend.
Created jointly by Theatre du Pif and Australian stage director Robert Draffin, Hanako's Pillow is essentially a ghost story revolving around a mysterious woman living deep in the forest. Rumoured to be a witch, she has in the past attracted several ambitious men all keen to kill her, but none has returned. One day, a wounded warrior arrives at her door and stays over. Unknowing to him, he sleeps on her magical pillow, which allows his dream to become intertwined with hers.
'We are fascinated with ghosts, witches and warriors,' says Draffin. 'What will happen if a witch and a warrior meet? Is he seeking healing and love, or is he going to kill her?'
