Retina Manoeuvre

Name: Retina Manoeuvre — Ping-Hsiang Wang/ k*hole Karaoke
Start: 2027-02-04T20:30:00+01:00
Location: Schouwburg Kortrijk

Ping-Hsiang Wang/ k*hole Karaoke

A queer love story set against a looming backdrop

Thu 4 Feb ’27 20:30

Theater
CUBO

4 Feb ’27

20:30

4 Feb ’27

20:30

Schouwburg Kortrijk, Kortrijk

Schouwburg - zaal UTOOP

From 11 Jun ’26 10:00

What if Alicia Keys’ pop song “Girl on Fire” weren’t just a gay anthem belted out in karaoke bars, but also a marching song for soldiers heading into battle? A multimedia solo performance about fragile queer love set against the constant threat of war.

“Nobody knows that she’s a lonely girl
And it’s a lonely world
But she gon’ let it burn, baby, burn, baby”

– ‘Girl on Fire’, Alicia Keys

Retina Maneuver begins with an unlikely question: why would a Taiwanese military reservist be obsessed with Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire,” a queer anthem he once belted out in karaoke bars—only to later hear it echo as a marching rhythm for soldiers heading into battle?

In this gripping multimedia solo performance, Berlin‑based Taiwanese theatre‑maker Ping‑Hsiang Wang digs through thirteen years of memories, digital traces and forgotten images. A single accidental Facebook upload—showing him mid‑bayonet drill, shouting “kill”—forces him to confront the collision between pop‑culture nostalgia and the looming reality of war.

What emerges is a haunting self‑portrait: a young reservist navigating hope, fear and the fragility of queer love in a world where conflict threatens to erase everything he holds dear. As Wang constructs a live visual monument from memory, he wrestles with the terrifying possibility that these memories—this life—could vanish in an instant.

In collaboration with Corso & CC Brugge.

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Aftertalk by 'Untold Asian Stories'

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Credits

Concept: Wang Ping Hsiang. Dramaturge: Dan-Dan Liu. Visual Design: Yi-Ju Chou. Artistic Consultant: Kang-Hua Chang. Supported by National Culture and Arts Foundation Taiwan, Tatwerk Berlin, Mestizo Arts Platform/WIPCOOP.