2019–2020↗
Shixiang
Photographing and viewing alternate. Participants encounter their own image and decide whether it becomes public.
Selected works2020 / Proscenium theatre and production practice
Hallucination
A theatre production connecting Shixiang with the emergence of the 3P group.
- He Fa’s role
- Production collaborator, according to his 2022 retrospective
- Production collaborators
- He Fa and Zhang Shaohua; Huang Lucang subsequently joined the production
- Announced performance
- 15 August 2020, P4 Theater
Complete chapter contents
The work and its production context
A P4 notice dated 8 August 2020 invited audiences to Hallucination on 15 August. The brief notice preserves the title, announced performance and original visual. He Fa’s 2022 retrospective situates the work within a longer sequence: after returning to China, he resumed Shixiang with Zhang Shaohua, then worked on Hallucination; Huang Lucang joined the production, and the 3P group formed in this period.
Within this personal archive, Hallucination documents He Fa’s involvement in bringing a production into being. A proscenium play provided a defined production format, while rehearsal, collaboration and documentation extended the work beyond the stage. Reading the documents together helps explain the later intertwining of watching, performing and recording within P4. This account of continuity is an editorial reading across the dated sources.
He Fa’s retrospective · 2022
“We then resumed work on the proscenium play Hallucination. At this point Huang Lucang also joined the production, and the 3P group was formed.” This retrospective is the direct basis for identifying He Fa’s production involvement and collaborators.
From Shixiang research to an open call
In A Future That Seems to Be but Is Not, dated April 27, 2021, He Fa recalls that he and Zhang Shaohua had been developing Shixiang before seeking wider participation through Hallucination. He describes an online call, numerous applications, several interview rounds, cast selection, intensive rehearsal, and set and lighting work. His account explicitly says the production was successfully staged, adding an organizer’s retrospective confirmation to the earlier recruitment material.
The same essay places Hallucination, Cocoon and The Rooftop Howler in a sequence of projects assembled through open calls. Calling himself one of the venue’s organizers, He Fa also acknowledges that his judgments could affect scripts and collective decisions. The account documents production conditions and the organizer’s position; it does not supply a director’s credit, complete plot or final performance version.
Moving image & related documents
Archive note
The performance date is taken from the 2020 announcement; He Fa’s role comes from his signed 2022 retrospective. The announcement is presented as an announcement rather than a complete performance record.
Continue exploring
2020↗
Cocoon
Sixteen days and nights bring unfamiliar bodies, disagreements and shared work into the theatre.
Collaborative practice
2021↗
Kill the Rose: 3P—Watching, Performing, Recording
Cameras and writers enter rehearsal, making documentation a form of participation that can affect the event.
Collaborative practiceWork record
Hallucination, 2020. Proscenium theatre and production practice. He Fa’s role: Production collaborator, according to his 2022 retrospective.
- Work / series
- Hallucination
- Date
- 2020
- Medium
- Proscenium theatre and production practice
- He Fa’s role
- Production collaborator, according to his 2022 retrospective
- Catalogue section
- Collaborative practice
Cite this record: Hallucination · 2020 · Production collaborator, according to his 2022 retrospective · https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/hallucination
TAKE A PATH ACROSS
Other paths from this work.
Working together
How an organizer enters rehearsal
HallucinationBreaking the Moon
Accounts of Hallucination record recruitment and organizational intervention; a Breaking the Moon performer describes the supervising producer helping revise a role. Organization occurs within rehearsal too, while each work retains its distinct directing and collaborative credits.
Continue from this work ↗Read the source materials
- Later accountFrom Shixiang research to an open call ↗
The 27 April 2021 account A Seemingly Uncertain Future recalls recruitment, rehearsals and organizer intervention from Shixiang to Hallucination and explicitly records a performance.
- Period documentThe supervising producer within collaborative rehearsal ↗
An actor’s account of 7 December 2023 records an observer role becoming a participant through discussion, with He Fa contributing as supervisor; actor and character remain distinct.
- Later accountFrom Shixiang research to an open call ↗
Working together
Who arrives beyond the pair
He Fa’s public recollection links the move toward more participants after Shixiang to producing Hallucination. This is a documented project connection, but it does not mean an ensemble play resolved every question raised by the two-person portrait research.
Continue from this work ↗Read the source materials
- Later accountFrom Shixiang research to an open call ↗
The 27 April 2021 account A Seemingly Uncertain Future recalls recruitment, rehearsals and organizer intervention from Shixiang to Hallucination and explicitly records a performance.
- Period documentEight and a half acts. ↗
The 2020 project text sets out photography in odd acts and viewing and expression in even acts within an eight-and-a-half-act structure; this is the method announced at the time.
- Later accountFrom Shixiang research to an open call ↗
2026-10-04 / ARCHIVAL ADDITION
Source materials, process and versions
Numbered source photographs show hanging rings, bodies and stage lighting. Folder dates remain source labels rather than confirmed performance dates for each photograph.
FROM HERE, ELSEWHERE