Pursuit of happiness

A modern twist on Charles Dickens' masterpiece Great Expectations, the play tells the story of the complicated relationship between three young people in a contemporary urban setting.

Young and beautiful Baby is waiting for her Prince Charming, while ex-boyfriend Little Devil dreams of becoming a superstar. Both are hired by grifting companies to pose as a happy couple at marketing events. Aspiring architect Moses is so attracted to Baby that he asks her to live with him and continue to act to inspire his works. Going through various changes in their lives, the three young urbanites face an unforeseeable future.

Although the play seems to be a love triangle between one woman and two men, the director explained that it is actually about one woman confronting three different aspects of herself, presented in the form of love.

The play is about "how everyone can leave his or her past but doesn't pursue the future blindly because it can also come back to face reality," said Lam, also a screenwriter best-known for his 1994 adaptation of Eileen Chang's Red Rose, White Rose.

The message the director wants to convey is that happiness is not what an apartment can bring you. True happiness only comes when "your inner ideals come true." Commissioned by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government for the Shanghai Expo, it has received critical acclaim since its debut in Shanghai in July.

However, the three-and-half hour play is seen by many as lengthy and overly detailed. The director explained that he made it so on purpose, to engage theatergoers in experiencing and feeling the meaning of his plays.

"Theater should not only be about money, nor entertainment. It should be meaningful as well," he explained, adding that without patience and details, life will become unitary. "Actually there are lots of secret codes hiding in our communications. If we lose the ability to detect such codes, then we miss the meaning of communicating."

Challenging and rewarding role

Malaysian actress Sinje Lee, who portraits Baby, said that the role is challenging as she goes through big shifts in her emotions but it also inspires her to reflect on her own life as well.

"Baby is suffering all the time and it is only in the last act of the six-act play that she sees happiness, " said Lee, winner of the Taipei Golden Horse award for Best Actress in 2002. In one scene, she is seen having a nervous breakdown but in the following one has to be on stage with a big smile.

"I have never engaged myself in a character as long as I do with Baby," said the actress. "At first I was worried that I would repeat the same things, the same role, speaking the same lines to the same persons on stage. But later I found out that acting is like real life…when I read the script it is not only about acting but also a mission to explore the meaning of happiness. "