A Tale of Two Cities: Blood for Blood Chung Ying Theatre Company (HK) Limited

Blood For Blood is A Tale of Two Cities thrillingly re-imagined for today. Holloway's version of Dickens' unbearably moving story of grief, retribution and self-sacrifice is here reinvented as a twenty-first century paean to obsessional grief, whether it be for a lost child, a lost love or the lost dignity of a nation.

This cool, elegant, emotionally punishing production reverses expectations as it expels cosy Dickensian theatricality. No wigs. No period frippery. Very few of Dickens' original words. Seven actors are set adrift in a sea of empty chairs and discarded shoes reminding us of the 'disappeared'. Expressionist lighting half illuminates a world of shadows and fakery.