Edinburgh Fringe Chats (#91): Yat Po Singers, ROCK HARD
As anticipation builds for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025, we’re catching up with a range of exciting creatives preparing to bring their work to the world’s largest arts festival this August. In this series, we delve into the stories behind the shows, the inspiration driving the artists, and what audiences can expect. Today, we’re joined by Yat Po Singers to chat about their show, Rock Hard.
1. Can you begin by telling us about your show and what inspired it?
Rock Hard – A Theatrical A Cappella Adventure is a wordless musical journey through Hong Kong’s past, present, and future. A group of scouts embarks on a hiking trip, their voices echoing through time as they relive the city’s past, myths, and dreams. Without spoken words, only pure vocal expression and movement, the production unveils Hong Kong’s history—reflecting on the past, embracing the present, and looking to the future. Merging tradition with innovation, Rock Hard delivers a genre-defying work that leaves audiences spellbound. This show is also especially meaningful to our group, as it is Yat Po Singers’ debut work, and one of the works that best represents the characteristics of our concept of a cappella theatre.
2. What made you want to bring this work to the Fringe this year?
Originally premiering at the New Vision Arts Festival in 2008, Rock Hard captivated audiences in Hong Kong with its groundbreaking fusion of music and movement. The production has since toured Shanghai, Macau, Shantou, and Seoul, earning acclaim for its originality and innovation. Now, Yat Po Singers makes its Edinburgh Fringe Festival debut with this award-winning and stunning performance. “Rock Hard” is based on Hong Kong’s geological history, featuring mostly non-verbal sounds and tones to produce a picture or to set up a soundscape. Singers recreate the feeling of echoes reverberating between mountains, imitate energetic Chinese percussion during a traditional Chinese wedding scene, sing a childlike and nostalgic lullaby reminiscent of a bygone era... We hope the Fringe audiences will be able to feel the power of human voices beyond language.
3. How would you describe your show in three words?
Cross-cultural, Vocalists, A cappella-theatre
4. What do you hope audiences take away from watching your performance?
We hope to open up a new angle for appreciating A cappella music and the possibilities of the human voice beyond music.
5. What’s your top tip for surviving the Fringe?
This is our first Fringe experience, we’re also very much looking forward to surviving it.
6. Where and when can people see your show?
Where: theSpaceTriplex (Big), The Prince Philip Building 19 Hill Place EH8 9DP
When: 11 – 23 August (not 14 & 17) 2025 12:20
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/rock-hard-a-theatrical-a-cappella-adventure
READ MORE FROM THE FRINGE..