Olivia Yan is a playwright, director, actress, teacher and writer who is renowned locally and overseas and has been invited to perform a number of her works in different Asian countries in recent years. Underneath its light-hearted humour and lively wit, the theatre work pulls no punches at the corrupt, chaotic and consumer-oriented society of the modern world, and has scalpels ready to dissect how the human heart has become rotten. It premiered at the Singapore Chinese Theatre Festival in 2011 and had a re-run in the Taipei Arts Festival last year. This production brings together the cream of stage talents from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Singapore, including Isabella Chiam, Hung Chit-wah and Trey Ho.

Another generation of 'revelling demons' emerges and it promises to stay for a long time to come. Compared to what Ah Q was found guilty of, the villagers' greed, hypocrisy, ignorance and selfishness become worse and worse, with the self-delusion for which Ah Q was famous now the spirit of the day and conscience being chased out of the country. Some shudder at the thought of Ah Q's spirit returning for revenge, while others hail Ah Q as a hero. After Ah Q is executed, rumours abound and hearts flutter in fear in the town of Weizhuang. 'The Story After Ah Q' is based on the ending of 'The True Story of Ah-Q' and tells of the rise and fall of a rural town.

The outcome is the powerful 'The Story After Ah Q', presenting the modern mutated forms of Ah Q that exist today. To return the work's insanity to the Hong Kong stage, multi-talented Hong Kong theatre director Olivia Yan has taken apart Lu Xun's classic 'The True Story of Ah-Q' and reinvented it with subversive audacity and a razor-sharp modern perspective. 'The Story After Ah Q' (Re-run), jointly produced by O Theatre Workshop from Hong Kong and the Theatre Practice from Singapore, will be staged in November. Olivia Yan directs re-interpretation of Lu Xun's classic 'The True Story of Ah-Q'

The storyo of ah q