Playbox a hit in HK

Business Asia, May 17, 1999

Melbourne-based Playbox Theatre has continued its long association with the Asian region this year through the production of "Confidentially Yours" at the Hong Kong Fringe Festival.

The performance is the second in Hong Kong since 1998. The group also participated in the Hong Kong Youth Arts Festival through the Starry Starry Night project.

Playbox Theatre develops and presents new Australian plays and seeks out cultural circuits in Asia for the plays.

The group also initiates and manages Australian tours of leading Asian performing arts troupes. Playbox made history in 1987 when its production of "The Imposter" by playwright Sha YeXin became the first modern Chinese play to be produced professionally in Australia.

Playbox followed up this achievement by performing Jack Hibberd's "A Stretch of the Imagination" in Shanghai and Beijing. It was the first Australian play to be produced in China.

The group has initiated and managed leading Asian performing arts troupes, including five companies from China, three from Japan and one each from India and South Korea.