BITTEN: Return to Our Roots is a closer look at what fundamentally roots all of us, in our generation’s attempt to reconnect with out cultures and lineage, yet giving a fresh spin on how we interpret our traditions. How are elements of family history passed down from one generation to the next? Are bloodlines the only way to understand heritage, family and human ties? How do our different traditions and cultures coalesce to create the unique Singapore identity and kampong spirit?

Creators Nidya Shanthini Manokara and Thong Pei Qin embark on a journey to weave together the collective stories, oral histories and shared heritage of Kampong Bugis. Inspired by their own grandparents’ stories and homes that were situated within the vicinity in the 1930s to 1960s, the two friends wish to invite audience members to remember this site with historical significance, and to find out what binds people of diverse origins and cultures. This endeavour is urgent as new developments have been announced to give the Kallang Riverside a new look, with works beginning end of 2018.

The process of developing Bitten started in 2016:

Bitten was first read to a small private audience of theatre practitioner friends to garner feedback for the script in July 2016. This phase was supported by Centre 42’s Guest Room platform. You can find out more about the reading here.

In January 2017, a more developed script was presented as a work-in-progress to a small audience as part of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2017’s Fresh Fringe.

In 2018, the work was developed and presented as a site-specific work with the title Bitten: Return to Our Roots. The performance comprised an element of a walking tour, in and around Kampong Bugis including the 130-year-old Sri Manmatha Karuneshvarar temple,  the former Sam Tat building and the former Kallang Gasworks Holder No. 3.

Director – Thong Pei Qin

Pei Qin likes connecting with people and creating conversations. She also has a penchant for bringing experimental works out of the conventional theatre space.

BITTEN: Return to Our Roots is a constant discovery of the ties that bind her and her trusted life-long friend & collaborator Shanthini. The idea sparked off when they both realised their grandparents had lived around the vicinity of Kampong Bugis and had strong connections with the space.

Choreographer & Lead Dancer – Dr. Nidya Shanthini Manokara

In her avatar as a performance-maker, Shanthini enjoys exploring the resonances her bharata natyam practice has with contemporary issues in Singapore.

The physical structures that are still present today in Kampong Bugis, the sights and sounds from the formative years of the place that had been shared by the past residents including their own families, and the constant reflection on what it means to forge relationships (with spaces and people) have all deeply influenced both Shanthini and her dear friend Pei Qin.

Actor – Masturah Oli

Masturah Oli is an actor, host and theatre-maker. She graduated with a BA(Hons) in Theatre Arts from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts validated by the University of Essex (East 15 Acting School) in May 2018.

Her roles in theatre include: Teen Chorus in Pursuant: The Musical (Singapore Lyric Opera), Am I Singaporean (1N THE ACT PRODUCTIONS), Hecuba in Trojan Women (NAFA), Breathless: The Mixtape (Buds Theatre Company), and Harper in Far Away (NAFA).

Masturah performed in Step Outta Line as part of M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018. Later this year, she will be a part of Singapore Asian Youth Theatre Festival, a festival that celebrates the importance of youth in theatre. As a Youth Ambassador, Masturah will host the main stage events, alongside youths from all over Asia.

She feels extremely privileged to be sharing her love and knowledge of theatre to the coming generations. She hopes to one day inspire youths the way she was inspired by her teachers. Having just graduated, Masturah hopes to do all kinds of theatre, work
with all kinds of people and travel to all kinds of places.

Actor – Seong Hui Xuan

Hui Xuan is a professional actor, singer, dancer and choreographer. She holds a First-Class Honours in Musical Theatre from LASALLE College of the Arts (Singapore), where she now lectures and choreographs part-time. A multifaceted performer, she recently was invited to perform a physical theatre piece for young audiences with Australian company The Paperboats in the 2018 Commonwealth Games festival village on the Gold Coast.

You’ve seen her on stage in Coraline, Tropicana the Musical, Rent, The Last Bull: A Life In Flamenco and more, and you’ve seen her choreography on Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress (Associate), Forever Young, Chicken Little and Lao Jiu the Musical.

Theatre practitioner Nora Samosir and dance practitioner Nidya Shanthini Manokara come together to envision a conversation between Mary Magdalene and Draupadi.

Using both Western conventions of acting and Indian classical dance form of Bharata Natyam, in this work, the duo seeks out novel ways to weave together spoken text and movement. They draw on existing texts – ranging from The New Testament to Jesus Christ Superstar, and from Mahabharata to speeches by Mahatma Gandhi – to guide their understanding on the admirable women. They also rely on ethnographic fieldwork to shape the text investigations, movement explorations and work-in-progress performance.

To ensure that there is a common methodology between the fields of dance and theatre, Nora and Shanthini will engage in the following processes to investigate text and movement in depth.

1. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS:

• Focus on two canonical texts – The New Testament and Mahabharata – to investigate the roles played by Mary Magdalene and Draupadi
• Explicate their contemporary literary resonances through modern writings including poetry and prose

2. MOVEMENT MATERIAL:

• Site Fieldwork to obtain visceral experiences and kinesthetic material for movement exploration
• Magdala, Israel – the birthplace of Mary Magdalene and site of an ancient synagogue from the time of Jesus Christ– and
• Kurukshetra, India – the site of the Mahabharata war that had been triggered by Draupadi
• Observers during Sunday service and Firewalking Ceremony

Due to the close links between the traditional art forms (of theatre and dance) and the places in which they had developed, such an ethnographic approach is important for Nora and Shanthini as art researchers. Moving through the architecture of the sites and spaces will provide rich kinesthetic material that can then be worked into the movement exploration. It will also sharpen the performance of the chosen texts. As part of their research, Nora and Shanthini will embark on a field trip to India and Israel from 28 May – 16 June 2018.

They will be sharing their research and development processes through the following talks and demonstration sessions:

• 23 June 2018, 3pm at library@esplanade:
  The processes of bringing back memories of a space through (1) embodied movements and (2) film footage.
• 8 December 2018, 2pm at Woodlands Library
  15 December 2018, 2pm at library@esplanade
  Lecture-performance showcasing some excerpts from the performance piece.

The work was originally titled Praying Women and has since been changed to Wandering Women. 

Artists – Nidya Shanthini Manokara
Nidya Shanthini Manokara (PhD NUS) is a dance researcher-practitioner who is classically trained in bharata natyam. Her practice and research interests include evolving Asian performance practices and their affective registers. Shanthini is currently the Resident Dramaturg with RAW Moves.

Artists – Nora Samosir
Nora Samosir has more than 30 years of professional theatre experience in more than 90 stage productions. She has also appeared on television and in films. Nora has a Postgraduate Diploma in Voice Studies from the Central School of Speech and Drama, London and an MA in Theatre Studies from NUS.