In the final phase of the Hong Kong–France Theatre Exchange Project Let the Mirror Speakt, playwright–directors Wu Hoi Fai (Hong Kong) and Nicolas Kerszenbaum (France) will share their experiences and creation processes throughout the project. 

The running time of the salon is approximately 30 minutes. In English. 

Let the Mirror Speak
Hong Kong–France Theatre Exchange Project 

Through the looking glass, enter the parallel universe of theatre.

French May Arts Festival presents Let the Mirror Speak, a two-year Hong Kong–France theatre exchange project. Playwright–directors Wu Hoi Fai (Hong Kong) and Nicolas Kerszenbaum (France) have been residing in Paris and Hong Kong, respectively, across multiple project development phases. During the process, they have constantly searched for their self-identity, reflecting their inner dialogue like a mirror, tracing back to their own culture and history. Together with materials collected during their residencies, their research and self-reflection has developed into a series of activities, lectures, and theatre works adopting parallel perspectives, reflecting Hong Kong and French culture in double layers. 

Nicolas Kerszenbaum

A director and playwright with a degree in performing arts and economics, Nicolas Kerszenbaum founded the theatre group franchement, tu in 2005, with which he has created over twenty works.  

He recently collaborated with the Thai company B-Floor Theatre on A Thai Mirror (2022) and Persephone (2022). His other works include A Beautiful Stranger (2019) for La Poudrerie – le Théâtre des Habitants, Two Ghost Cities (2018) in La Habana, and Swann s'inclina poliment (Artcena Winner, 2017), which was adapted from the novel Un amour de Swann by Marcel Proust. He was also the writer of A New Hero (2014), which has been performed over 150 times.  

In 2023, he adapted Conrad's Heart of Darkness in the form of a night walk in a forest and was awarded the Villa Médicis Hors les Murs for his work Kairos (2023), a four-episode theatre series.  

He has also worked with the Tréteaux de France – Centre Dramatqiue National on the creation of L'enfance à l'oeuvre (Festival Avignon, 2017),Oblomov (2020), and Ping Pong, which has been performed more than 300 times. He is a regular theatre teacher for La Sorbonne University and several French high schools.

Wu Hoi Fai

Wu Ho Fai is the artistic director and co-founder of Pants Theatre Production, an examiner of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and a head adjudicator of the Hong Kong School Drama Festival.  

Wu has degrees from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (BA in English), the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (BFA in Drama – Directing), and the Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London (MA in Advanced Theatre Practice – Dramaturgy). He is a recipient of the Yiqingzhai Foundation Arts Fellowship, the Asian Cultural Council, Outstanding Young Director Award from the 2001 Hong Kong Drama Awards, and the Award of the Secretary for Home Affairs’ Commendation Scheme in 2017.