Academy Drama: Songs of Innocence and Experience

​In a world losing its innocence, what does it mean to grow up?

University students are caught between innocence and experience; between respecting conventions and rejecting the old in favour of the new. 

Songs of Innocence and Experience was created by this group of young people, reflecting on their personal experiences growing up. Their intertextual work exists in relation to John Milton’s Paradise Lost; much in the same way as William Blake’s collection of illustrated poetry, Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

John Milton wrote Paradise Lost after the English Civil War, describing how a group of fallen angels lost the war in heaven, and mankind fell by eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge. This great and controversial work inspired countless later works. Can Milton’s story, along with our own experiences and reflections on growing up, help us to find a way to face ourselves, the present, and the future?

Devised by: Michelle Li*, Ivor Houlker* and Cast 
Co-Directors: Michelle Li, Ivor Houlker
Music Director: Ivor Houlker 
Choreographer: Lee On-sang
Set & Costume Designer: Tracy Giu Yuen-man     
Associate Set Designer: Dominic Yau Man-tat      
Lighting Designer: Bills Tin                             
Sound Designer: Allison Fong Tsz-ching
Video Designer: Fong Hiu-tan
Spear Movement Choreographer: Chew Yu-yeung
Choral Practice Leaders: Sum Cheuk-yiu, Cheung Cheuk-hang
Production Manager: Dickson Chiang Tak-chun    
*With kind permission of Rooftop Productions

Collaborating Cast:
Chew Yu-yeung, Lee On-sang, Lo Man-chak, Mak Ho-tin, Caroline Chan, Cheung Cheuk-hang, Mok Kok-pong, Sin Lok-yan, Sum Cheuk-yiu, Lau Ka-ying, Chin Wing-kar, Sung Kwok-tung, Tsang Yuen-lam, Wu Lui-fung