The Typist 打字經 (2014)

When Jason Wong reports for work as a typist, he makes it clear to his fellow worker, Miss Lee, that his employment is strictly temporary.

Jason, a married man, is studying O Level at night, and with his uncle already in successful practice there is every hope that his future will be a promising one. Miss Lee, the “supervisor” of the two-employee office, has a few dreams herself mostly of the romantic variety so often indulged in by not so young spinsters with widowed mothers to support.

Jason and Miss Lee hit it off well, and as Jason’s “temporary” tenure stretches on from weeks to months to years they become involved in the shared experiences of close daily contact. And, within the short span of the play, they begin to age and grow grey. While they go on chattering of the important things that have happened to them and of the bright future that will be coming up any day, the futility of their existence becomes increasingly evident. And when they finally dodder off with friendly “good night” to their unseen employer we have witnessed a cycle of life complete with the humour, sadness, self-delusion and reconciliation that underlie and infuse the human condition.