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By Angie Teo and Jessie Pang
TAIPEI (Reuters) - A&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;theatre&nbsp;is showcasing a&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;play&nbsp;about&nbsp;Tiananmen&nbsp;Square&nbsp;to mark the 34th anniversary of the crackdown in Beijing, saying almost as much&nbsp;about&nbsp;shrinking freedoms in the former British colony as it does&nbsp;about&nbsp;the 1989 bloodshed.
Taiwan's Shinehouse&nbsp;theatre&nbsp;group, with the support of rights group Amnesty International, is putting on six performances of "35th of May" in Taipei from June 2-4. The&nbsp;play&nbsp;is&nbsp;about&nbsp;parents grieving for their son killed in&nbsp;Tiananmen&nbsp;Square.
Restrictions on dissent in&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;have all but snuffed out what were once the largest vigils marking the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in&nbsp;Tiananmen&nbsp;Square, leaving cities like London, New York, Berlin and Taipei to keep the memory alive.
"It's not only talking&nbsp;about&nbsp;June 4 in 1989, it's talking&nbsp;about&nbsp;all kinds of authoritarian and totalitarian situations," Shinehouse&rsquo;s director, Chung Po-yuan, told Reuters, explaining the importance of bringing the&nbsp;play&nbsp;to&nbsp;Taiwan.
The last time the&nbsp;play&nbsp;was shown in&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;was in 2020 before the enactment of a national security law that Beijing imposed on the city later that year. It was shown online because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The&nbsp;theatre&nbsp;group that staged it, Stage 64, disbanded in 2021, citing pressure under the national security law.
The&nbsp;play&nbsp;has not been officially banned in&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;but few doubt that authorities in a city where the&nbsp;Tiananmen&nbsp;crackdown has become taboo would move to block it.
An alliance of&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;activists that used to organise the annual&nbsp;Tiananmen&nbsp;vigil was disbanded after the arrest of several of its leaders in 2021. Three were charged with inciting subversion and face up to 10 years in prison.
"May 35th", by&nbsp;playwright Candace Chong, is&nbsp;about&nbsp;a husband and wife dealing with the loss of their son who was killed when troops opened fire on democracy protesters in and around&nbsp;Tiananmen&nbsp;Square&nbsp;34 years ago.
'IMPORTANT PLATFORM'
Even in&nbsp;democratic&nbsp;Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, actors have been nervous&nbsp;about&nbsp;taking part in the&nbsp;play, Chung said. Some worried&nbsp;about&nbsp;their careers or the fate of families and friends in China.
"Everyone has an invisible fear. The actors are actually quite brave," Chung said.
Some actors will use stage names and two&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong&nbsp;actors will wear masks.
"On the one hand, we want to safeguard the freedom of performing this show, on the other, we need to ensure that everyone's safe, including families in&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong," said Chiu E-ling, secretary general of Amnesty International&nbsp;Taiwan.
The founder of&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong's Stage 64&nbsp;theatre&nbsp;group, Lit Ming Wai, is working on an English version of "35th of May" to spread its message and keep it alive.
"After facing some difficulties in&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong, now we can re-enact this story in another place," said Lit, who is now based in Britain but was visiting&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;to see the performance.
"Taiwan&nbsp;has become an important platform. Works banned in different places can be published here, everyone has the opportunity to exchange ideas," she said.
Chung, like everyone in&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;mindful of Beijing's vow to take the island back, by force if necessary, said the&nbsp;play&nbsp;had a simple message: "Freedom and democracy should not be taken for granted."
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(Reporting by Angie Teo in Taipei and Jessie Pang in&nbsp;Hong&nbsp;Kong; Additional reporting by Fabian Hamacher in Taipei; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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Theatre in democratic Taiwan stages Hong Kong play about Tiananmen square