巴托比

About the show

At first, he was the perfect employee in the office—diligent, quiet, and impeccable. Until one day, faced with an extra simple instruction, he said softly yet with absolute clarity: "I would prefer not to." When nothing else was within his control, he chose to hold tightly onto the right to say no. From refusing to proofread documents, to refusing any work at all; from staring for long hours at the brick wall outside the window, to then refusing to leave the office that no longer belonged to him, and finally refusing to eat... This is his most radical declaration of freedom in the only space left to him. Is it the last weapon to defend his soul, or a slow path to self-destruction? When this silent cog chooses to stop turning, will this vast city pause for even a second to notice him? Adapted from the timeless work of *Moby-Dick* author Herman Melville, this story captures the absurdity and sorrow of the everyman, written in the 19th century and echoing endlessly through the centuries. Following *Les Misérables* and *A Tale of Two Cities*, Chung Ying Theatre Company (中英劇團) once again invites renowned British playwright and director Jonathan Holloway to adapt and direct, reimagining this tragic Wall Street tale as a desperate cry that confronts the spiritual dilemmas of our contemporary age.

Synopsis translated by KinoHK — the performance itself is not in English unless stated above.