Theatre as Transitional Infrastructure: Flow, Freedom and the ‘Long Middle’ of Change in Hong Kong

In the aftermath of the 2019 pro-democracy protests and amid the pandemic, Hong Kong theatre collective Zuni Icosahedron staged two productions, Bach Is Heart Sutra and 2 or 3 Things about Interrupted Dream. Bach draws on Buddhist concepts to retrain the senses and unlearn perceptions, inviting audience–participants to reflect on the forms and concepts that define Hong Kong. 2 or 3 Things revises a section of the kunqu opera Peony Pavilion to revisit the protests and offer an explicit statement on censorship. Both productions provide a space for experimentation and reflection within a city that has seemingly foreclosed on practices of questioning, exploring and gathering. Situating these works in relation to the protests, as a distinctly infrastructural movement, and drawing on Lauren Berlant's conceptualization of infrastructure, this essay examines Zuni's theatre as an infrastructure, of sorts, mediating a moment of transition and trying out new ways of moving within it.