One of the highly anticipated theatre productions at this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) is "Book of Ghosts", an experiment in the fusion of Asia’s traditional performing arts in the context of contemporary theatre, aiming to preserve and develop Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia Pacific region.

Inspired by Zhong Sicheng’s “Lu Gui Bu” (“Book of Ghosts”), written in the Yuan dynasty, Danny Yung, one of the most highly renowned Hong Kong directors, invites four traditional Asian arts masters to experiment with dance and theatre using the theme of ghosts.

Patravadi Mejudhon will perform her new 15-minute solo work, adapted from Phra Wai’s Defeat episode of “Khun Chang Khun Paen”.

“There are not many ghost stories or characters in classical Thai theatre,” says Patravadi. “So I’ve picked Wanthong and aimed to show that although she passed away, she’s still worried about her son Phra Wai: she cannot let go of her worldly, or motherly, bonds.”

The other three masters--who have been working on the same simple production guidelines, such as no set, no live music, and no installation--include Nanjing’s Ke Jun, Director of the Jiangsu Kunqu Opera Troupe and a National Class One performer; Jakarta’s Sardono Kusumo, a Royal classical Javanese dance artist and theatrical imagist and founder of Indonesia’s first experimental group Canthang Balung; and Taipei’s Li Baochun, descendent of the legendary Beijing opera Li family and director of Taipei Li-yuan Chinese Opera Theater.

The production is part of the three-year performance and research project that, in the next phases, will allow different generations of traditional and contemporary artists to work together in the cross-cultural setting. Through workshops, lecture demonstrations, and forums at many arts centres across Asia, performances, documentation of creative process, and education materials will be created and disseminated. The Thai cohort, apart from Patravadi, includes Silpathorn Award recipient Manop Meejamrat and this writer.