On October 15, the esteemed Hong Kong theatre director William Yip visited Pao School's Songjiang campus to discuss the finer points of playacting with Years 8-12 students. As the Director of China Musical Association, Vice President of China Children's Musical Society, and Deputy Director of Musical Development Department of China Federation of Social Work, William Yip is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Theatre Noir as well as Member of Cultural Leadership Institute of the University of Hong Kong.
William Yip has been working on more than 50 stage performances as Art Director, Director and Translator. William's original musicals include Animal Farm (20th Hong Kong Drama Awards) and With Love, William Shakespeare, etc. He also directed classic musicals for Broadway and Disney. As the Art Director of "One Table, Two Chairs" Shakespeare Festival and the Shanghai Student English Drama Carnival, William has been dedicating his experience and time to drama education for the recent years.
We have been very fortunate here at YK Pao School to welcome William Yip, a well renowned and experienced theatre director from Hong Kong, to our campus. Pao School’s drama department offers our unique drama programme based upon whole-person educational philosophy. We provide students with inspiring opportunities to develop their curiosity, knowledge and creativity so that they can become open minded and reflective people with strong Chinese, Western and international mindedness.
Jo-Anne Richardson, Head of Drama, High School
William Yip inspired Pao students during his visit with stories of his rich experience onstage and passion for playacting. After completing his presentation and workshop, he opened up the floor to Pao students to provide them with an opportunity to ask questions.
Commenting on Mr. Yip's visit, Year 10 student Dino Zheng noted that students asked William Yip questions about the musical theatre, script composition, his own directing experience, as well as issues related to teamwork and entrepreneurship.
Dino said that Mr. Yip's replies to the questions were quite helpful. He found the comment that "directors are not teachers" enlightening. Now he thinks about theatre directing differently, whether he is in the director's role or working with another director.
According to Richard Liu, Mr. Yip pointed out that people are always making stereotypes toward characters. As a result, students were urged to explore, discover, dig deeper than the first impression. "Do not trust your instinct" and always try to think of different approaches. In the workshop, Mr. Yip offered the students instructions and advises on how to make The Adventure of Tom Sawyer more interesting. He sparked the imagination and creativity and improved students' theatre performances.
Ms. Cora Chen, organizer of the event, commented,
“ Pao School offers drama courses that provide students with the opportunity to participate in both Chinese and international plays, inspiring them in their daily lives and raising their awareness of important social issues. Pao students develop their own unique understanding of characters in plays and learn more about themselves as they take on the roles of others. At the same time, students strengthen their teamwork skills and learn to think more deeply and analytically.
William Yip made a deep impression on students during his visit to Pao School. He not only gave them an opportunity to participate in some fun activities outside of the classroom (which will be beneficial for their classroom learning), but also gave them new ideas that they can apply to their own drama work. We are fortunate to have so many talented students in our drama programme who are eager to explore the world of playacting.
As for the end of semester show, our high school students are working on Oliver Twist in English as well as a Chinese comedy. In addition, the music department and English department will put on a musical. We look forward to seeing the theatre performances by our talented students this semester.
