There's a new face on the theatre circuit in Dhaka. The Hong Kong-based Congress Director of International Drama/Theatre Educational Association (IDEA), Mok Chiuyu along with his five teammates has arrived in the city. The objective is to do two collaborative works--a TV film and a stage play--with his Bangladeshi counterpart Mamunur Rashid.

Mok seeks to generate awareness about social issues through stage plays in Hong Kong. Moreover, he is involved with a few remarkable theatre activities such as theatre in education and theatre for the disabled. Besides his theatrical activities, Mok acts in films.

Talking about his interesting theatre activities with the disabled in Hong Kong, Mok says, "I have produced many stage plays with disabled performers. Of those productions, the plays with speech-impaired performers have won plaudits both at home and abroad. In fact, speech-impaired performers stage nonverbal theatre, which has the power to overcome the language barrier. I have visited uSA, Canada, Japan and other European countries with my artistes."

For his lifelong contribution in theatre Mok Chiuyu has won the Drama Achievement Award in 1999 given by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

On his Bangladesh visit, Mok says, "We are here to do two collaborative works with Mamunur Rashid and his troupe. We will jointly present a play on Colombian revolutionist Ernesto Guevara, known to us as Che Guevara, who became a legend during 1970s in Latin America for his bold stand against oppression and inequality. And we will also make a TV film."

The conversation veers to the reason behind a stage play on Che Guevara. Mok says, "In the era of globalisation, we badly need a powerful figure such as Guevara to fight against all forms of injustice. I think, we can take many cues from Guevara's life.

Mok Chiuyu talks about his upcoming project

"His execution in Vallegrande at the age of 39 only enhanced Guevara's mythical stature. I visited Latin America to garner more information on the legend. We also staged five plays over there on him. We will perform the prelude--our search for Che Guevara--to Mamun's script on the play, which will be directed by Faiz Zahir. This multilingual production will be staged in Dhaka as well as in Hong Kong."

The Mok-Mamun duo is also making a TV film on the struggle of the Chinese civilians in Chittagong during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. Mok says, "It is not a film on politics, rather the struggle of people borne out of flawed politics. This will also be a multi-lingual production, which will be aired in the both countries-- Bangladesh and Hong Kong. I will play a shoemaker in the film. Mamunur Rashid is the screen playwright and director. I will translate the Chinese dialogues and the roles will be performed by artistes from Hong Kong."