Centre 42 presents the first of The Vault series on 22 September 2014: a revisit of two English-language plays written in the ’60s – When Smiles Are Done (by Goh Poh Seng) and A White Rose At Midnight (by Lim Chor Pee). Nora Samosir, Serene Chen, Casey Lim and Robin Loon refreshes and retells the stories they see in these plays, in this one-night only Lecture-Performance.
1964 – Singapore was part of Malaysia.
1964 – The year of racial riots between ethnic Chinese and Malays.
1964 – The year when two pioneering Singaporean dramatists wrote English-language plays in response to the lack of local plays that reflected recognisable themes, characters and speech. Prior to 1964, Lim Chor Pee’s Mimi Fan (1962) stood alone in the scene. In 1964, Goh Poh Seng wrote his first play and then, there were two.
2014 – We respond to these two writers’ sophomore creations respectively and collectively. We remember the plays while we refresh our perspectives on them – and retell the stories we see in them. Nora Samosir, Serene Chen, Casey Lim and Robin Loon investigates the texts of When Smiles are Done (Goh Poh Seng) and A White Rose at Midnight (Lim Chor Pee). They will suggest critical relationships between the present and the past while ruminating on their own connections with the texts, Singapore and Singapore theatre.
For one evening only, we invite you to share in these artists’ personal responses in an intimate lecture-performance.
REGISTRATION
Monday, 22 September 2014
8pm @ Centre 42 Black Box
Admission is FREE.
When Smiles Are Done
When Smiles Are Done was written by Goh Poh Seng and was first presented by Centre 65 in 1965. This play, set in contemporary Singapore in the 1960s, analyses the tensions in the life of a working-class Chinese family. The eldest son is disillusioned with their way of life while the only daughter wishes to marry a non-Chinese against her parents’ wishes.
A digital copy of the manuscript is available on NLB’s National Online Repository of the Arts (NORA). View it here.
Read more about the playwright here.
A White Rosa at midnight
A White Rose at Midnight was written by Lim Chor Pee and was first staged in 1964 by The Experimental Theatre Club. This play, set in contemporary Singapore in the 1960s, revolves around an attempt to bring together Chinese pragmatism and Western scepticism in the characters of a night club singer and an assistant lecturer at the university. It raised the issue of the status of the English educated in Singapore during the 60s and their search for identity in a society steeped in multi- traditions and languages.
The manuscript is currently not available in public domain.
Read more about the playwright here.
Reading Material
#1: THE (UNOFFICIAL) 1964 THEATRE GUIDE
#2: THE DESIRE & IMPETUS FOR LOCAL THEATRE
#3: THE EXCHANGE – LOCAL VS EXPAT CLUBS
#4: THE LOCAL ‘MAD MEN’ ERA
#5: CABARET GIRLS IN THE LIMELIGHT
#6: THE GOLDEN AGE OF SINGAPORE MUSIC
#7: A YEAR OF TENSION, 1964
Lecture-Performance Handout #1
Prior to the event, the “Insider’s Guide to Enjoying Nineteen Sixty-Four” was emailed to participants who had registered to attend the Lecture-Performance. The guide contains quick tips and explanations on what to expect at our ‘Lecture-Performance’ and who our artist-collaborators are.
Download and read here.
Lecture-Performance Handout #2
The “Participant”s Notes on Nineteen Sixty-Four” was a handout given to all who turned up at the Lecture-Performance. The content within was designed to guide the participant to follow the Lecture-Performance, if required, and provided insight into the working relationship of the artist-collaborators.
Download and read here.
Part 1: Introduction, Frame & Context
Robin Loon, Casey Lim, Nora Samosir and Serene Chen introduce The Vault programme and its tenets, and explain what iteration 1.1 will cover. Robin then talks about the year 1964, specifically the significant events within the year, both in and outside of Singapore, as well as touches upon writing for the English-language stage in 1960s Singapore.
Part 2: An English Education
Nora and Serene read excerpts from Act 1 of A White Rose at Midnight. Robin intersperses the reading with excerpts from an interview with playwright Lim Chor Pee and an early history of English-medium schools in Singapore.
Part 3: The Malcontent & Smoking on Stage
Nora and Serene read from Act 1 Scene 1 of When Smiles Are Done. Serene also shares her personal responses to the character of Chong Kit and the smoking in the script.
Part 4: Romance and Melodrama
Nora and Serene read from Act 2 Scene 1 of A White Rose at Midnight. Robin shares excerpts from a 1961 Straits Times report on Shirley Wong and a study by Krishen Jit.
Part 5: The Cabaret Girl
Nora and Serene read from the bar scene (Act 2, Scene 1) of When Smiles Are Done. Robin reads an excerpt from a 1960 Singapore Free Press article on cabaret girls, and Nora shares a personal childhood memory of cabaret girls.
Part 6a: The Nightclub Singer
Nora and Serene read from Act 2 Scene 2 of A White Rose at Midnight.
Part 6b: The Nightclub Singer
Casey responds to this excerpt with a video montage of media portrayals of nightclub singers. (This video may not be viewable on mobile devices. Please view on a desktop browser.)
Part 7: Racial Tensions
Nora and Serene read from Act 3 Scene 1 of When Smiles Are Done. Robin intersperses the reading with excerpts from news articles on the 1964 racial riots in Singapore.
Part 8: The Unexpected Nation
Nora and Serene read from Act 3 Scene 1 of When Smiles Are Done and Act 3 of A White Rose at Midnight. Robin shares excerpts from articles on Singapore English-language theatre and Singapore’s English-educated. Nora and Serene conclude by reading the final scenes from both plays.
Centre 42 presents the first of The Vault series on 22 September 2014: a revisit of two English-language plays written in the ’60s – When Smiles Are Done (by Goh Poh Seng) and A White Rose At Midnight (by Lim Chor Pee). Nora Samosir, Serene Chen, Casey Lim & Robin Loon refreshes and retells the stories they see in these plays, in this one-night only Lecture-Performance.
Source: Centre 42 Facebook
.
The Vault 1.1 – Nineteen Sixty-Four revisits When Smiles Are Done and A White Rose at Midnight, refreshes and retells the stories in them through the eyes of four artist-collaborators.
.
