Lighting designer Lim Woan Wen presents her interpretation of Quah Sy Ren’s play Invisibility using only light. Stripped of actors and spoken words, Woan Wen seeks to express the play in relation to the space of the Centre 42 Black Box based on the structure, circumstances, characters, emotions and themes of the script. This is a summary video featuring highlights from the installation.
The first of the series, #3.1 In/Visibility is a light performance-presentation. Stripped of actors and spoken words, lighting designer Lim Woan Wen seeks to express the play in relation to the space of the Centre 42 Black Box based on the structure, circumstances, characters, emotions and themes of the script.
Invisibility, written by Quah Sy Ren, has been described as “a poignant tale about alienation and the search for meaning in modern urban society”. As a term, the word Invisibility alludes to the absence of bodies on stage; as a subject, it relates to the nature of a theatre designer’s work in a conventional production.
In this series of three installations, the focus is brought to a theatre designer’s response to text. In the absence of a prescribed directorial vision, design collective INDEX connects directly with the play, interprets its narrative and re-imagines it using their specialized language of design. #3.2 by sound artist Darren Ng and #3.3 by spatial designer Lim Wei Ling will be presented in July and September 2015 respectively.
Read more about the second of this series, #3.2 For The Time Being, here.
Read more about the third of this series, #3.3 scale 1:333333.333…, here
REGISTRATION
22 & 23 May 2015
7.30pm, 8.30pm, 9.30pm (30min, no intermission)
@ Centre 42 Black Box
Limited capacity for each show | Admission is free.
About the Playwright
“Invisibility” was written by Quah Sy Ren and was first staged (in Mandarin) by The Necessary Stage in 1996. The mandarin play was translated into English by Sim Pern Yiau. A browsing copy of the published play is available in Centre 42’s Book Den. View it here.
Playwright Quah Sy Ren is an associate professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Chinese division at Nanyang Technical University. His main research interests are in Chinese Literature and the history of Singapore Theatre. Quah also sits on the board of directors for Practice Performing Arts Centre and The Finger Players. In addition to Invisibility (1996), Quah has also authored other plays as well as written and edited several books.
INDEX
INDEX is a design collective winged under The Finger Players, comprising of spatial designer Lim Wei Ling, lighting designer Lim Woan Wen and sound artist/music composer Darren Ng. Finding common grounds in quiet aesthetics and subtractive work ethos, the collective focuses on design-centric installations and performances, using space, light and sound to weave meanings and narratives. While the three designers have been working together for a substantial number of years, the collective was kick-started in May 2013 with the performance installation IN:dex, presented under The Studio’s R.A.W series at the Esplanade Theatre Studio.
As a collective that focuses on design-centric installations and performances, INDEX is primarily interested in exploring the possibilities and potential of creating narratives using the elements of space, light and sound. In their third collaboration The Vault: #3 three, the three artists seek to experiment and further expand their vocabulary through developing a series of three entirely separate showcases based on one chosen script.
By Lim Woan Wen
Exploring and making performed installations in which performance venues are engaged as-the-rooms-that-they-are in conversations with light has been a distinct thread in my work. As an extension of this journey, In/Visibility was set out to be an exercise to challenge myself – to see what the possibilities are when a third element is introduced as an anchor and how this would influence the choices I make.
The process of devising methods of translating text into visual vocabularies and drawing up new parameters was much of a struggle, but the exercise proved to be a worthy experiment.
It was particularly interesting to experience the tension between what the space was telling me to do versus where the planned sequence was headed during the first trial in the venue. At certain points, my instinctive response to the room called for light states that were markedly different from the ones determined by the structure of the play or the appearance of a particular character. A conscious decision was made to stick to the latter, and the derived light narrative turned out evidently different.
“The process of devising methods of translating text into visual vocabularies and drawing up new parameters was much of a struggle, but the exercise proved to be a worthy experiment.”
My motivations and internal dialogues during performance were very different as well. Instead of reacting and connecting directly with the space and let it tell its own story, I ran the skeleton of the “external” story of the play in my head and superimposed it on the Centre 42 Black Box through the performance, and also attempted to use aspects of the script to motivate and affect the rhythm and pacing of my playing of faders on the lighting control board.
The introduction of this third element of text also appeared to have had a substantial effect on audience’s response. In contrast to previous pieces, the reactions and feedback were considerably diverse and more complex, providing much food for thought.
Reading Material
#1: THE PLAYWRIGHT & THE PLAY
#2: PAST STAGINGS & RESPONSES
#3: INVISIBILITY & THE HERMIT LIFE
#4: INVISIBILITY & THE CONCEPT OF LIMINALITY
#5: INVISIBILITY & THE CONCEPT OF EXISTENCE
#6: INVISIBILITY & LANGUAGE
#7: THE ARTIST: LIM WOAN WEN
#8: THE ARTIST: DARREN NG
Programme Handout
#3.1 In/Visibility (Summary)
Lighting designer Lim Woan Wen presents her interpretation of Quah Sy Ren’s play Invisibility using only light. Stripped of actors and spoken words, Woan Wen seeks to express the play in relation to the space of the Centre 42 Black Box based on the structure, circumstances, characters, emotions and themes of the script. This is a summary video featuring highlights from the installation.
#3.1 In/Visibility (Extended)
This is a full-length documentation video aimed at capturing the entirety of the 30-minute performance as best as possible.The recording was done without the presence of any participating audience. For the best viewing experience, please watch this video in a quiet, darkened space with headphones on.
The first of the series titled “The Vault: #3 three”, #3.1 In/Visibility is a light performance-presentation. Stripped of actors and spoken words, lighting designer Lim Woan Wen seeks to express the play in relation to the space of the Centre 42 Black Box based on the structure, circumstances, characters, emotions and themes of the script. This album contains a selection of the workings behind-the-scenes and of the preview night. Photo credits: Merissa Tang
Source: Centre 42 Facebook
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The Vault: #3 three revisits Invisibility, refreshes and retells the stories in them through the eyes of theatre design collective INDEX. #3.1 In/Visibility by lighting designer Lim Woan Wen is the first of three installations.
