โThese premises are under CCTV surveillance for your personal safety and security.โ
This ominous message on wall-mounted screens greets the audience in the auditorium of Kwai Tsing Theatre as they arrive to watch Mr Blank 2.0, by Hong Kongโs City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC). When the curtain rises, the same words appear on the back wall of the stage.
The visually dazzling dance work, with its use of multilayered video projections and intense performances, offers a bleak picture of a world from which basic humanity has disappeared.
There is no denying its visceral power, but ultimately its lack of hope or possibility of redemption make it more a work of horror than a moral tale.
Sang Jijiaโs first creation since becoming CCDCโs artistic director at the beginning of 2025 is the latest permutation of a work originally staged in 2018, then again in 2020, and most recently in a film version in 2021.