The managing body of the West Kowloon Cultural District cancelled an LGBTQ-themed play on Saturday, hours before tickets went on sale, after complaints alleging the drama “defames Hong Kong.”
The production team of the play We Are Gay, written by award-winning playwright Candace Chong, said in a statement on Saturday that the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) notified them of the cancellation at around 9am that day, roughly two hours before tickets were to go on sale.
According to the production team, the WKCDA’s notification did not mention the reason behind the cancellation. We Are Gay, which tells the story of a love triangle between three men, was set to run from November 28 until December 4 at the Xiqu Centre.
Reposting the statement on Facebook and Instagram, Chong, a vocal critic of censorship fears in the city’s arts scene, said: “The elephant. Is here.”
In an emailed reply to HKFP, the WKCDA said on Saturday that it had received “a large number of complaints,” which alleged the play “promotes confrontation and defames Hong Kong.”
“To be prudent, the Authority considers it inappropriate to stage the programme at [the West Kowloon Cultural District]’s venues,” it added.
Separately, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau told HKFP on Saturday that it had been consulted by the WKCDA and that it supported and consented to the venue’s decision.
Hours after the announcement of the cancellation, actor Anthony Wong, who plays a leading role in the play, said in a Facebook post that the script contained no depiction of the government and any of its policies.
“Instead, it contains a few lines saying that society nowadays is inclusive, filled with love and freedom,” Wong wrote in Chinese, rejecting the complaints against the play.
State-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po published a commentary article on Saturday, alleging that Chong “stirred political confrontation under the guise of a cultural worker and incited social division.”
The article also criticised the WKCDA for allowing Chong’s play to be staged in the Xiqu Centre.
We Are Gay was first performed as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2022.
The production team said it would continue rehearsing and seek other possible ways to stage the play.
Chong has been a vocal critic of a perceived oppressive environment for the city’s artists, as authorities vow to crack down on “soft resistance,” a vague term referring to national security threats in areas such as arts and the media.
In June, the playwright said authorities’ search for soft resistance would harm artists and creative freedom, as “innocent people and works had been wrongly accused.”
Last month, Chong accused her alma mater, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, of cancelling her appearance in the school’s anniversary promotional campaign without justification.
Around a week later, on September 9, the playwright suggested that We Are Gay could be cancelled due to her outspokenness, as pre-sale ticket sales were put on hold. But on September 20, she said that the play had been “given the green light” for performance.
