In this ‘board game theatre’ project in Hong Kong, the audience are players

This grander, “more devious” version will take place at WestK’s The Box this September and October.

“Covid-19 hit and then I was playing board games five days a week – at least six to eight hours a day,” Wong says. He describes board games as a particularly “engaging and interactive” storytelling medium in which every choice that each player makes can house layers of consequences.

When the World is Your Enemy casts its audience members as active players rather than passive spectators: one either takes on the role of a power-hungry “god” or a “human” among warring civilisations as they navigate broad story arcs alongside in-character performers.

Wong is keeping his cards close to his chest to avoid spoiling the show. But he says that the human players must aim to create their own civilisations through trade and alliances. They are the players who, depending on their personal philosophies, create dramatic moments of coalitions and betrayal.