BackModern Wuxia: To Turn, To Be | A warrior’s shadow shimmers amidst skyscrapers | An urban legend about chivalry and justice
07.08.2026
Immediate Release
A warrior’s shadow shimmers amidst skyscrapers
An urban legend about chivalry and justice
Modern Wuxia: To Turn, To Be
【HKRep】Living among the steel and concrete that make up our heartless city today, do urban dwellers need any “chivalrous spirit”? The brand-new Modern Wuxia: To Turn, To Be — written by Kwok Wing Hong and directed by Chan Suk Yi — adopts an absurdist and humorous approach, injecting classic martial arts gallantry into places such as McDonald’s, paper cardboards in public parks and high-rise buildings in the wee hours of the night. This drama is a veritable contemporary adult fairy tale, but also a heroic epic about losers, attuning audiences to valiant whispers lingering in the winds. Modern Wuxia: To Turn, To Be features Ng Ka Leung, Yau Ting Fai, Mercy Wong, Kalok Chan, Kiki Cheung, Trickle Choi, Eva Mak and Dee To in the cast. The production runs from September 19th to October 4th at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre. Tickets are available now from URBTIX outlets.
Modern Wuxia: To Turn, To Be: The martial arts novelist’s world might have faded away, but neon lights of our reality linger.
At age 53, our protagonist quits his job and goes to Songshan to study martial arts for three whole years. After his return, equipped with physical skills totally out of sync with the times, he tries his best to exercise chivalry in a concrete jungle. He uses French fries as darts, assembles cardboard for a couch, gives his best shot as a loner in the martial arts world countering jeers and rejections. In the real world, there are no villains to be vanquished, only life’s bone-crushing pressures. Yet he stubbornly resists them all, vowing to etch out what “chivalry” means in our material, mundane world.
For playwright Kwok Wing Hong, a martial arts fan since childhood, these novels are vehicles conveying concepts of love and hate, bonds and enmity, together constituting the philosophy of life. It is also through such novels that Kwok was first introduced to poetry and prosody. He states, “What makes the martial arts genre unique is that it creates a fictional world with realistic aspirations and imagination — of romance and marital bonds, brotherhood in life and death, mercurial change from gratitude to vengefulness and the pursuit of a carefree life. Life is like a dream, difficult to differentiate fact from fiction. Perhaps we should behave like dragonflies skimming atop the water surface, flitting through life as time passes. Or we could be like swans stepping in the snow, leaving silent footprints on this ever-changing earth. However, that spiritual realm of our limited lifetimes is warmer and more powerful than the twinkling of an eye.” In the face of contemporary society, Kwok offers the following: “If chivalrous heroes do exist in our real world, what will happen? If someone really wants to be heroic, why not?” Modern Wuxia: To Turn, To Be is written with the express purpose of reflecting our deep aspirations and imagination through a seemingly fantastical story. Through this comedy, the audience can laugh at reality and life’s challenges while bravely chasing the moon, pursuing dreams lodged deep in their hearts.
Director Chan Suk Yi has the following to share:
“The boldness and carefree nature of ‘My broad mind is cleansed by the oceans and lakes, my shadow float among rivers and mountains’
The optimism and confidence of ‘I often enjoy the clear breeze with nothing in my hands, carefree and alone’
These are pop-song lyrics of my youth that shaped my attitude in life
Behind these words is a creed and dogma about life’s values
Times have changed. Today’s Hong Kong is commercial, technological and fast-paced; what is still possible?
Modern Wuxia: To Turn, To Be is an urban fable
The carefree spirit of a roaming wanderer dealing with revenge and gratitude of the martial arts world is injected into Hong Kong today
What chemical reaction will transpire from such a collision?
We’ll find out
Our presentational format is markedly different
With group recitation dominating the storytelling
We hope audiences can imagine reading a novel, bearing witness to and pondering our protagonist’s life choices”
About Playwright Kwok Wing Hong
Kwok Wing Hong is a graduate of the School of Drama of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) with a Master of Fine Arts (Honours) in Playwriting.
Kwok’s Principle was nominated for Best Script at the 2018 Hong Kong Theatre Libre Awards and 2019 Hong Kong Drama Awards; he was nominated for Best Playwright at the 2019 Shanghai One Drama Awards. The screening version of Principle was awarded Best Script for the Hong Kong region at the 2022 Asian Academy Creative Awards. At the 2019 Hong Kong Theatre Libre Awards, his True Lies won Best Script. Later, he was nominated for “Script/Playwright of the Year” at the 2020 IATC(HK) Critics Awards. The State & Denki, a musical script he co-wrote with Hsu Cheng-ping, was among the finalists at the 19th Taishin Arts Award. Principles has been translated into Mandarin Chinese and Korean, with productions staged in mainland China and South Korea. The Mandarin version was recognized as “Best Emerging Theatre Production of the Year” by The Beijing News, while the Korean version won the “Outstanding Production Award” at the Seoul Theater Festival.
Kwok’s recent output includes such plays as Scapin in Jiānghú, Chap. 2023 (Co-Playwright), Landing to Blossom and Principle (HKRep), True Lies (Poor Guy Diary), The Advocate (Chung Ying Theatre), The Courage to be Disliked (Theatre Farm) and the musical The State & Denki (Our Theatre x Theatre Space). His translated scripts include After Life and The Top Restaurant (HKRep), Prima Facie (seeyousoon production), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Mourning Becomes Electra (New Directors’ Movement, Theatre Horizon) and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Project Roundabout).
Kwok Wing Hong currently serves as the HKRep’s Theatre Literature Manager.
About Director Chan Suk Yi
Chan Suk Yi is currently the Artistic Director of Radix Troupe Limited and serves as a part-time lecturer at the School of Drama, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
He received an Advanced Diploma in Acting from the School of Drama at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1992. In 2001, he completed his Master’s Degree in Acting from the same institution. Between 2004 and 2011, he was a full-time Lecturer at his alma mater’s Acting Department. From 2013 to 2016, he held the position of Artistic Director at Whole Theatre Company. He then served as its Head of Acting from 2018 to 2024.
Chan’s career includes full-time positions as an actor at the Chung Ying Theatre Company (1994‒1995) and the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre (1996‒2001). With a career spanning more than a hundred theatre productions as both actor and director, Chan has received multiple accolades. He was awarded Best Supporting Actor (Comedy/Farce) at the 3rd Hong Kong Drama Awards in 1994, Best Actor (Comedy/Farce) at the 6th and 10th Hong Kong Drama Awards in 1997 and 2001, and the 5th Hong Kong Theatre Libre Award for Outstanding Actor in 2013. In addition, he won as Best Supporting Actor (Comedy/Farce) at the 23rd Hong Kong Drama Awards in 2014.
Chan has continued to refine his craft. In 1995 and 2001, he travelled to the UK to study acting and teaching methods under Philippe Gaulier, with whom he developed a strong bond and served as teaching assistant.
