1 t2c @ ITI

One Table Two ChairsCultural Exchange Project

ITI Music Theatre NOW International meeting

Jönköping, Sweden, 22 – 26 May 2013

Danny Yung

One Table Two Chairs (1T2C) is a standardized set design in traditional Chinese theatre.

A different arrangement of One Table Two Chairs is symbolic of a different scene.

Grand Seat (大座 ), with the table in front a chair, suggest the office of military general, high-ranking mandarin or the like.

Grand Seat in an oblique direction (斜場大座 )

Double Grand Seats (雙大座 )

Casual Seat (小座 ), with a chair in front of the table, may suggest a lobby, or a small living room, among other scenes.

Casual Seat with One Side Chair (一旁椅 )

Table put lengthwise with one chair at one side and another on top (高台 ), symbolizes a tall platform or a mountain.

Table with a chair at both sides aligned in a straight line, symbolizes a bridge or a hill.

One Table Two Chairs has been adopted by Danny Yung since 1997 as a platform…

… to initiate creative cross-region, cross-discipline and cross-cultural dialogue, negotiation, critique and collaboration.

The project has commissioned more than 100 20-minute contemporary stage works since its inception.

Collaborating Artists

Zuni Icosahedron



One Hundred Years of Solitude 10.0 – Cultural Revolution (2011 Hong Kong; 2012 Singapore)

Zuni Icosahedron, founded in 1982, is a Hong Kong based international experimental theatre company.

Zuni has produced more then 180 original productions of alternative theatre and multimedia performances...


...and has been active in video, sound experimentation and installation arts…


…as well as in areas of arts education, arts criticism, cultural policy research and international cultural exchange.

The Trial (1994)

Over the years, Zuni has been invited to more than 30 cities in Europe, Asia, and America for cultural exchange and performances.

The Trial (1994)

Zuni is one of the nine major professional arts companies in Hong Kong...

The Trial (1994)

and has established itself as a premiere experimental theatre locally and internationally.

Two or Three Things You Want to Know About Hong Kong (2004)

Since 2009, Zuni becomes Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s venue partner, and produces a series of theatre works and outreach education programmes.


Theatre is a real time real space experience.


In the theatre, we laugh, cry, think, and experience all the vicissitudes of life together in the same space and in the same period of time.

Corbu and Kahn (2009)

Zuni Theatre starts with exploring all of the possibilities in the theatre –


traditions and technologies, dialogues and movements, politics and entertainment, history and philosophy, sense and sensibility…


Theatre is not life, but life can be enlightened by theatre –

Hua-yen Sūtra (2007, 2008, 2013 Hong Kong; 2008 Taipei)

regaining lost feelings and memories, recounting the good and bad of the world, searching for various possibilities of living and life.


This is Zuni Theatre; this is the power of real time, real space of theatre.


Avant-gardes are elite warriors who lead the troops to explore the future.

Tears of Barren Hill (2008 Hong Kong; 2009 Yokohama; 2009 Rotterdamse; 2009 Singapore)

Avant-garde art is a pursuit of ideal and a mission to reinvent culture:


to revisit the past, to criticize the present, to subvert the mainstream, to guide thinking, to inspire imagination,


…to resist the kitsch and the superficial, and to create experiences that reflect intellectuality, humanity and diversity.

Looking for Mies – God is in the Details (2009, 2011)

Avant-garde art is of relative force of constructive revolution which pushes for social, political, and aesthetic evolution.


It is neither entertainment consumption nor political propaganda, nor is it purely an artistic behaviour.


It interacts with the society and influences social development.

A Tale of The Forbidden City (2009, 2010, 2013 Hong Kong; 2012 Suzhou)

Zuni’s avant-garde art looks for all boundaries in social systems and artistic value,


…and challenges all sorts of ideological bottom lines; through experimentations in different areas –


…creative theatre, installation arts, cultural exchanges and policy initiatives, exhibits a progressive and pioneering force.

Book of Ghosts (2009)

“…their success was based on meticulous preparation and creative talent.” — Professor Jonathan D. Spence, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus,

Department of History, Yale University


“Zuni's efforts in promoting and instigating developments in arts and culture have been highly remarkable.” — Hans-Georg Knopp, Secretary-General of Goethe-Institute


"…the essential cultural asset of Hong Kong." — Lin Hwai-min, Founder and Artistic Director of Cloud Gate Dance Company

Stage Sisters (2010, 2012)

"The experimental theatre of Zuni has become an exchange platform for exploring spirits of humanism.” — Toshio Mizohata, Programme Director of BankART 1929


"Nourishing generation after generation of cutting-edge talent." — Professor Zhang Longxi, Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities


Danny YungExperimental Theatre



Flee by Night

2004 Oslo; 2010 Shanghai, Yokohama, Hong Kong, Singapore; 2011 Taipei; 2012 Hong Kong

A revamp of the kunqu solo act Flee by Night.

Yung's closing sequel in his Experimental Traditional Theatre Trilogy following The Outcast General and the award-winning Tears of Barren Hill.

The Spirits Play

2011 Hong Kong; 2012 Tokyo, Singapore

Inspired by work of the same title by the late Singaporean director Kuo Pao Kun.Joint Venture between Hong Kong, Nanjing and Tokyo.

Experiments the combination of Kun opera and Noh theatre while addressing the issues of war and memory.

Lao Jiu

2012 Singapore

In search of Singapore theatre doyen Kuo Pao Kun, based on the set of One Table Two Chairs.

A 20-minute contemporary stage work by exploring Kuo’s most popular and accessible work, Lao Jiu.

THANK YOU

1 t2c @ ITI

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