Hirokazu Kore-eda’s celebrated classic
Rebuilding memories, beholding life at this moment
If memories must be measured palpably, are they two or three grams of feather? A bouquet of flowers? Or a hundred-ton ship?
If only a single memory can be replayed, how much should it weigh? Time with family or leisurely moments alone? After adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing—two or three grams for cuddling, several dozen for a passionate romance, a hundred tons for dialogue and murmurs—what else is left? After death, one must stop briefly at a transit station en route to Heaven. At this layover, guides help revive a precious memory for the deceased. Would it be about attachment or separation, something important or frivolous?
What if you… are me?
Olivier Award-winning Playwright Jack Thorne adapted Hirokazu Kore-eda’s classic film After Life, which opened at London’s National Theatre in 2021. The HKRep Cantonese version that premiered in the 2024‒25 season was a blockbuster. This season we remount After Life, continuing to ponder memory and experience, laying bare our true feelings to the audience as we contemplate life and death.