The British Council is proud to be continuing our partnership with the Hong Kong Arts Festival in bringing to town one of the UK's most exciting companies – Nottingham Playhouse. Transforming a classic Oscar-winning film to stage performance, Steven Berkoff, prolific British director and actor, directs and acts with a strong ensemble of eleven in On The Waterfront using his trademark style of bold physical theatre. Along with eight performances, he will get up close and personal with audiences through the British Council Plus Series.


Honoured with a Total Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1997, Steven Berkoff is a highly acclaimed UK writer, playwright, actor and director, for performances on both stage and screen. Berkoff successfully transforms Schulberg’s On the Waterfront with an elegant and highly theatrical style. He puts his distinctive stamp on the play by using a spare black-box design and adding stylised slow motion and mime.


“…a terrific production - exhilarating, moving and with real directorial vision and panache about it.” - Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph


Set in 1950s New York, On the Waterfront is a drama about corruption on the docks in Brooklyn. Terry Malloy, a failed boxer turned longshoreman, gets beaten up by the Mob for testifying against organised crime, before rising to his feet and winning the respect of his fellow longshoremen. Originally premiered at Nottingham Playhouse in 2008, this is the production’s exclusive premiere in Asia.


On the Waterfront

Performance dates and venue:

Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

13 March 2010, 8.00p.m.
14 March 2010, 8.00p.m.
15 March 2010, 8.00p.m.
17 March 2010, 8.00p.m.
18 March 2010, 8.00p.m.
19 March 2010, 8.00p.m.
20 March 2010, 3.00p.m.
20 March 2010, 8.00p.m.

Performed in English with Chinese subtitles

The play lasts approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes including one interval

For further details on the programme and ticketing, please visit the Hong Kong Arts Festival Website.