Two versions of The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road were presented – one written and performed in Singaporean Cantonese by Gary Tang, and one written and performed in Malaysian Cantonese by Tan Cher Kian.

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My Grandfather’s Road was first presented in 2015 as an English-language monologue, a photo exhibition and a book. It was conceived and written by Neo Kim Seng as a way of reconnecting with childhood memories of living on Neo Pee Teck Lane, which was named after his paternal grandfather. In 2017, Kim Seng revisits the text of My Grandfather’s Road, refreshing it in the spoken language of his childhood – Cantonese. He also explores Cantonese as it is spoken on both sides of the Causeway. There will be two versions of The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road – one in Singaporean Cantonese performed by Gary Tang, and one in Malaysian Cantonese performed by Tan Cher Kian. Both versions will be presented with English surtitles.

《我阿公的路》在2015年以英语单人剧，摄影展和书籍的形式首次呈现。作者梁金成借此回顾了在梁丕德巷所度过的童年，该巷是以金成的爷爷命名的。2017年，金成将该作品译成小时候常说的广东语，同时探索新马两地广东话的差异。新加坡版的广东话由本地的邓官洪诠释，马来西亚版的则由陈子健呈现。此两个单人剧皆附上英文字幕。

The text for My Grandfather’s Road was written as fragments of stories and reflections of growing up until 1973 at a road named after my grandfather, Neo Pee Teck. It’s not a nostalgia trip, but a way of reconnecting with the people and events in my life, past and present. I did not set out to research the full histories and stories: selected memories can be nice, half-truths can be more exciting, the whole truth can be difficult.

My Grandfather’s Road is a storytelling session about personal stories and histories. Our little stories all help to create the social fabric that we live in and make us who we are.Neo Kim Seng

REGISTRATION

Performed in Singaporean Cantonese
新加坡广东话演出
| 23 Nov, 8pm & 25 Nov, 3pm |

Performed in Malaysian Cantonese
马来西亚广东话演出
| 24 Nov, 8pm & 25 Nov 8pm |

@ Centre 42 Black Box

Admission: Give-What-You-Can
(Cash only, at the door)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Neo Kim Seng
Neo Kim Seng is a cross-disciplinary practitioner and has been involved in independent and large-scale projects in Singapore and overseas.

Tan Cher Kian
A middle-aged avid theatre goer who’s finally taking the plunge performing on stage. Be gentle, it’s his first time.

Gary Tang
Gary Tang, a Cantonese, feeds his soul by performing, on stage, for film and in life.

Reading Material

#1: INTERVIEW WITH NEO KIM SENG

#2: ABOUT MY GRANDFATHER’S ROAD (2015)

#3: PASIR PANJANG LAND RECLAMATION

Interview

Recorded on 8 June 2018 in Meeting Room, Centre 42
Conducted by Gwen Pew
Recorded and edited by Daniel Teo

Programme Handout

The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road in Singaporean Cantonese, written and performed by Gary Tang. (40 minutes)

The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road in Malaysian Cantonese, written and performed by Tan Cher Kian. (36 minutes)

We presented the final edition of our Vault programme of 2017 from 23 to 25 November. Titled “The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road”, the monologue was created by Neo Kim Seng as a way to reconnect with his childhood on Neo Pee Teck Lane, a road that’s literally named after his grandfather. The piece was first staged in English in 2015 as part of CAKE’s 10th anniversary celebrations, “Running with Strippers”. This time, he worked with actors Gary Tang and Tan Cher Kian (CK) to refresh the work in the language that he grew up with – Cantonese – so that his mother could understand. Through this project, KS also hoped to explore the regional variations in the language. Therefore, Gary performed his version in Singaporean Cantonese, while CK’s version was presented in Malaysian Cantonese. Photos: Gwen Pew & Daniel Teo.

Source: Centre 42 Facebook

 
The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road 我阿公的路 revisits My Grandfather’s Road (2015), refreshing it through an exploration of how Cantonese is spoken in Singapore and Malaysia. Conceived and written by Neo Kim Seng, and performed by Gary Tang and Tan Cher Kian.

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Neo Kim Seng revisits his 2015 text My Grandfather’s Road, based on his childhood memories, refreshing it in the spoken language of his childhood – Cantonese. Working with two actors, he also explores the Cantonese spoken in Singapore and Malaysia.

Two versions of The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road were presented – one written and performed in Singaporean Cantonese by Gary Tang, and one written and performed in Malaysian Cantonese by Tan Cher Kian.

You can view recordings of both performances (recorded on 25 November 2017) below. English subtitles are provided.

The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road in Singaporean Cantonese, written and performed by Gary Tang. (40 minutes)

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The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road in Malaysian Cantonese, written and performed by Tan Cher Kian. (36 minutes)

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The Vault: My Grandfathers Road 我阿公的路 revisits My Grandfather’s Road (2015), refreshing it through an exploration of how Cantonese is spoken in Singapore and Malaysia. Conceived and written by Neo Kim Seng, and performed by Gary Tang and Tan Cher Kian. Find out more here.

Left: Aerial photograph of Pasir Panjang in 1949. (Image credit: National Archives of Singapore)
Right: Satellite image of Pasir Panjang in 2017. (Image credit: Google Maps)
Neo Pee Teck Lane is highlighted in yellow in both images.

Singapore’s fast-changing landscape has always been rich fodder for the work of local theatremakers. There was Stella Kon’s landmark monologue Emily of Emerald Hill (1984), in which an aged Emily Gan laments the new apartment blocks surrounding her mansion on Emerald Hill. There was also Drama Box’s It Won’t Be Too Long (2015), a two-part work about spaces in Singapore, comprising The Lesson, a forum theatre piece charging audiences with selecting a fictional site to be torn down for a new MRT station, and The Cemetery, one-part movement work and one-part verbatim theatre based on the demolition of Bukit Brown Cemetery. And most recently, there was Haresh Sharma’s musical Tropicana (2017) based on the infamous cabaret and night spot in Orchard Road which closed in 1989 and was subsequently demolished. Our relationship with our ever-shifting physical environment has spawned such dramatic works and more that deal with themes like memory, loss, politics and governance.

For Neo Kim Seng, My Grandfather’s Road was a chance to consolidate memories of his childhood on Neo Pee Teck Lane. Present-day Pasir Panjang, the area where Neo Pee Teck Lane is located in, has changed much since Kim Seng was a child. The beach, in particular, used to be a stone’s throw away from his house. In fact, Pasir Panjang means ‘long beach’ in Malay.

My favourite seaside activity was walking barefoot, rubber slippers in hand, on the black-greyish muddy seabed at low tide, running after the small crabs on the soft sandy shore and overturning the rocks to see the small colourful fishes hiding underneath.

Source: My Grandfather’s Road by Neo Kim Seng (p.37).

But just a few years into Singapore’s independence, land reclamation projects had already begun on the East Coast of Singapore, changing the very shape of the island and driving the sea further away from inland. And there was talk of similar projects in the southwest of the island.

The Minister for Law and National Development, Mr. E. W. Barker, told Parliament today that in future land might have to be reclaimed from the sea along Pasir Panjang to provide a warehouse zone.

Source: Reclamation along Pasir Panjang in future. In The Straits Times (8 September 1967), http://tinyurl.com/y7ygstqs

For Pasir Panjang residents, the threat of land reclamation was looming over their seafront existence.

This fear [of reclamation] may be unfounded,” said executive Mr. Tan Heng Kee, 33. “But a lot of people wonder if we’ll lose our precious seafront.”

“It’s bad enough that the increasing sea traffic and offshore oil refineries have polluted our part of the sea with oil…

“But there are strong rumours that when the Government is finished with its East Coast project it will turn in our direction. It’ll break our hearts.”

Problem No. 1 on the western front by Lawrence Basapa. In The Straits Times (4 August 1970), http://tinyurl.com/ydbcrpxf

In 1971, their fears came to pass when the government announced that the coast along Pasir Panjang would be reclaimed to create new land for warehouses. Land reclamation works were to be undertaken by the Port of Singapore Authority. The residents were unable to stem the tide of progress.

The House gave its approval to the reclamation of 91 acres of the Pasir Panjang foreshore for ware-house development.

In seeking approval for this reclamation scheme, Minister for Law and National Development Mr. E. W. Barker said: “As a result of industrialisation and expansion of trade, the need for warehousing facilities has become acute.”

He said the reclamation would cost $20 million and would take two years to complete.

Land to be reclaimed for warehouses. In The Straits Times (31 July 1971), http://tinyurl.com/ybov8pnd

In the years to come, tons of sand and soil would be dumped along the Pasir Panjang coast, driving the sea back over four kilometres away. The new land remained barren in the years following the land reclamation as well, to allow the soil to settle and stabilise enough for construction and development.

Those of us living along Pasir Panjang Road have been hoping for quite some time that something will be done to obviate the need for us to keep our windows closed from dawn to dusk because of the lorries carrying earth for land reclamation in this area.

Dawn to dusk dust problem. In New Nation (5 October 1971), http://tinyurl.com/y8563hdj

But for a young Kim Seng, the beach of his childhood would forever disappear.

…When the sea was being reclaimed, I would walk up the dunes of sand in the seabed, but it never felt the same without the seawater and sea creatures.

I can’t remember exactly how I felt. Maybe a little sad, as I was also moving out from Grandfather’s road soon. I was too young to remember. Maybe it was better that way. It must have been quite an ugly sight as more of the sea was reclaimed. But my beautiful seabed always remained in my heart.

Source: My Grandfather’s Road by Neo Kim Seng (p.37).

By Daniel Teo
Published on 22 Nov 2017

The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road sees independent theatre-maker Neo Kim Seng revisiting his 2015 work My Grandfather’s Road. Kim Seng refreshes his original English text with translations into Singaporean and Malaysian Cantonese in an exploration of regional variations within the language. The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road is presented 23 -25 November 2017 at Centre 42 Black Box. Find out more here.

In November 2015, independent theatre producer Neo Kim Seng presented a multidisciplinary showcase called My Grandfather’s Road as one of nine performances at Cake Theatrical Productions’ 10^th anniversary celebrations, Running with Strippers. My Grandfather’s Road comprised a photo exhibition, a book, and a monologue performance.

It was the second time that Kim Seng created a work with Cake – the first being a 2014 performance titled Decimal Points 810, which he conceived and directed.

“Decimal Points and Running with Strippers have always been about our commitment to experimentation, the alternative and innovative. [They showcased] works to which you couldn’t assign labels or categorise simply, but were about research and wilder artistic exploration,” says Natalie Hennedige, Cake’s artistic director. “Kim Seng’s creations would be an artistic extension of himself and of his current mind-space. What’s important to us is that each piece offers a facet into what the creator is expressing at that moment in time, and facilitating an environment where audiences can share in that creation.”

While Decimal Points 810 was inspired by Kim Seng’s open heart surgery in 2013 – “810” referred to the number of minutes for which he was unconscious – My Grandfather’s Road was more of an homage to his childhood growing up on Neo Pee Teck Lane, which was named after his paternal grandfather.

In an interview with The Straits Times published on 10 November 2015, Kim Seng said: “I’m very, very happy to be a part of [Running with Strippers]. When I wrote [My Grandfather’s Road], I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but at the end I realised it was about mortality and, more importantly, about renewing your relationships with people.”

He added in the same interview that the process of creating the work helped him come to terms with the difficult relationship he had with his late father, and brought him closer to his mother.

The photo exhibition for My Grandfather’s Road opened on 19 November 2015. For three days, it was displayed along the corridor outside Cake’s studio at Goodman Arts Centre, beneath the original Neo Pee Teck Lane street sign that Kim Seng successfully bid for in an online auction by the Land Transport Authority to sell off older white street signs in 2003. He won the sign at a price of $62. There was only one other bidder – his older sister, which he only found out about after the auction.

The images from the exhibition were taken from his parents’ old photographs and negatives. As he wrote on the wall text description for exhibition, however, his “parents collected quite a lot of photos, but they […] were limited to certain people, events and places.”

That is why Kim Seng supplemented the exhibition with a book – which is still available for loan at the National Library – and an English-language monologue, which was performed by Bjorn Lee Varella on 20 November 2015. The monologue is, in a way, a condensed version of the exhibition and the book. Together, they tell the story of his childhood, and of his relationship with his family.

Kim Seng received positive feedback for My Grandfather’s Road. Reviewing Running with Strippers for Today, Mayo Martin wrote that the entire event reminded him of “the alternative theatre scene of an earlier time (and of the gritty performance art events that still take place today), what with sweaty people waiting expectantly outside before cramming inside the room to see performances in less-than-polished circumstances, but certainly done with a lot of heart.”

Two years on, Kim Seng has decided to revisit the monologue as part of Centre 42’s Vault programme.

“My Grandfather’s Road first started out as a project with the encouragement of Cake Theatrical Productions to think about a project that may have a life after its initial presentation,” he wrote in his proposal to the Centre.

Cake’s Natalie is delighted that it will take on a second life. “It is always a great thing for a work to keep evolving and for Kim Seng to keep discovering and exploring his work in its various iterations,” she says. “We are extremely happy that he is visiting it again at C42’s Vault.”

The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road will be presented at the Centre 42 Black Box from 23 to 25 November 2017. This time, Kim Seng is working with actors Gary Tang and Tan Cher Kian to perform the piece in Singaporean Cantonese and Malaysian Cantonese respectively.

Just like the original project, this version of My Grandfather’s Road is also about renewing relationships. The main reason he wanted to present the monologue in Cantonese this time is so that his mother – who is Cantonese – can understand better. But it is also a chance for Kim Seng to reconnect with his childhood through language.

As he puts it: “I would like to use the Cantonese version of the monologue to renew my relationship with a language that has been imparted to me as a child, and had never gone away but relegated for a long time because of personal and societal circumstances.”

The original “My Grandfather’s Road” was performed by Bjorn Lee Verella on 20 November 2015, as one of nine performances at Cake Theatrical Productions’ 10th anniversary celebrations, “Running with Strippers”. (Image credit: Neo Kim Seng)

Title:	My Grandfather’s Road
Date:	19-21 November 2015
Venue:	Block E #03-32 Goodman Arts Centre
Playwright:	Neo Kim Seng
Director:	Neo Kim Seng
Cast:	Bjorn Lee Verella

The programme booklet for “Decimal Points 810″ is available in The Repository. Click to view.

Title:	Decimal Points 810
Date:	25-26 April 2014
Venue:	The Substation Theatre
Playwright:	Devised
Director:	Neo Kim Seng
Cast:	Al-Matin Yatim Chang Ting Wei John Cheah Chin Rui Yuan Rachel Poh Anita Set Paula Sim Jean Toh Yazid Jalil

 

By Gwen Pew
Published on 16 Nov 2017

The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road sees independent theatre-maker Neo Kim Seng revisiting his 2015 work My Grandfather’s Road. Kim Seng refreshes his original English text with translations into Singaporean and Malaysian Cantonese in an exploration of regional variations within the language. The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road is presented 23 -25 November 2017 at Centre 42 Black Box. Find out more here.

In 2015, independent theatre producer Neo Kim Seng presented a work titled My Grandfather’s Road as part of Cake Theatrical Productions’ 10th anniversary celebrations, Running with Strippers. It comprised a photo exhibition, a book launch, and an English-language monologue, which together form a montage of his childhood memories growing up on Neo Pee Teck Lane – a road in Pasir Panjang that’s named after his paternal grandfather.

Two years on, Kim Seng has decided to revisit the monologue as part of Centre 42’s Vault programme. This time, he is working with two actors to present the piece in Cantonese, the spoken language of his childhood. Two versions will be showcased – one in Singaporean Cantonese, and one in Malaysian Cantonese – so that he can explore the regional variations in the language.

We chat with Kim Seng to find out more about My Grandfather’s Road.

How did the original My Grandfather’s Road in 2015 come about?
Cake Theatrical Productions invited me to be part of their Decimal Points project, spread over two years. I presented Decimal Points 810 in 2014 which was inspired by my open-heart surgery in 2013. The second presentation eventually became part of Cake’s 10^th anniversary celebrations, Running With Strippers. I originally wanted to continue with the second part of a planned trilogy, but Cake suggested that I think of a project that can have a life after its first incarnation. So I decided on a three-part project, a photo-installation, a book and a monologue about growing up on a road named after my paternal grandfather Neo Pee Teck Lane. It was not a nostalgic research project but looked at reconnecting with things and people from my past and present.

Why did you decide to revisit it now, and why in Cantonese?
My mother sat through two of my theatre projects and her grasp of English is not that strong. My original intention was just to make a project that she could fully understand. She was very animated and excited when she saw her photos on display at the photo-installation in 2015.

I have received encouraging response to the book. Some suggested that the book could be translated into Mandarin to reach out to more people. Then I thought, why not do a Cantonese version?

I grew up speaking Cantonese. I recently found out that my paternal grandmother was a renegade ma cheh (domestic helper) and I am more Cantonese than I thought. I am less fluent and speak less Cantonese now than when I was younger but somehow a language that you learn orally never goes away and becomes embedded in you. There is a strong emotional attachment to the sound of Cantonese although I may not fully understand the words. The project is about reconnecting to a relegated language, sound and people.

I also like to surprise people and challenge myself because not many people know that I can speak Cantonese.

Neo Kim Seng (right) poses with relatives at the 2015 presentation of “Running with Strippers”.

The Vault monologue presentation will have two versions – one in Singaporean Cantonese, and one in Malaysian Cantonese. Why are you interested in exploring the regional differences of the language?
This is mainly to explore how languages evolve and adapt over time and space/location. The Cantonese that we speak here adopts other Chinese and non-Chinese words over time. Even Hong Kong Cantonese words have crept into Singaporean Cantonese. I thought it would be interesting to find out how pronunciation differed and also different words were used.

Let’s talk about the process of creating The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road. Firstly, how did your actors, Gary Tang and Tan Cher Kian, get involved?
In the many years working in the performing arts field, what I enjoy most is working with new people, because I get a lot of new ideas and energy interacting with them. I had an open audition in June this year. Some friends recommended more experienced actors to me. I was also on the lookout for non-Chinese female performers who could speak Cantonese, because they would approach the stories differently. The first version of My Grandfather’s Road in English in 2015 was performed by a young male actor and I deliberately created a version where on-stage I was this vulnerable person telling bittersweet stories.

Gary was introduced to me by our mutual friend. Gary is very passionate about Cantonese and was on the lookout for opportunities to work on Cantonese projects, something not so common here. He was also very keen to explore the authentic sound of Cantonese and how it evolved over time.

Cher Kian (CK) responded to the audition call and at first only wanted to help with the presentation. He has not acted before but he’s an avid arts lover and attends lots of performances. So we spoke and I found out he is keen to be on the other side of the stage as well. I was very taken by his enthusiasm and interest. The bonus was that he grew up in Sabah and spoke Cantonese fluently.

“This photo is the only photo I have of Neo Pee Teck Lane. The cart on the right is Thaatha’s mee goreng cart!” says Kim Seng

How did you and Gary work to come up with the Singaporean Cantonese version? Was the process very different when you worked with Cher Kian on the Malaysian Cantonese version?
My original plan was to have the English script translated into Mandarin and from there translate the Mandarin into Singaporean and Malaysian Cantonese, for the presentation. The content for both versions will be the same. So I had the script translated into Mandarin by Low Kok Wai.

Gary is born Cantonese and a fluent speaker. Gary decided to rework the original English text into a storyteller version. So he’s a storyteller telling the stories of people who lived on Neo Pee Teck Lane. He wrote the Cantonese text based only on the original English text. Gary’s version is a remixed, reconstructed and reimagined version of the English stories.

CK’s version will be adapted from Kok Wai’s Mandarin translation and the original English text. CK will be performing as me/the narrator telling the stories and is more similar in style to the English monologue and written text.

So the two versions are different variations of the same stories. Since the book was published, I found out some new information and some of this was updated in the Singaporean Cantonese version. I did not want to update the Malaysian Cantonese version. The original English text had a lot of details and fragments of stories and it was impossible to condense all of them. So I went through the original script separately with each actor and we picked the smaller stories that resonated for each of their versions. Their personal response to the original stories was also crucial in shaping their reinterpretations.

I told Gary and CK that, for their presentations, they must speak Cantonese in a way that they are familiar and comfortable with. Their personal language is important in capturing the essence and sound.

And finally, tell us about one of your fondest memories growing up on Neo Pee Teck Lane.
My father once built this imposing fortress-like rectangular structure below our huge rambutan tree from old timber planks, for us to play. I can’t remember where he got those timber from. It was in the shape of a lorry. It was huge, maybe longer than a 14-foot lorry. The neighbourhood children had such great fun playing in it. But I think after a heavy thunderstorm, it became unsafe and father took it down. When I grew up later and see those wooden fortresses and buildings in Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films, I always remember our own wooden fortress under the rambutan tree.

By Gwen Pew
Published on 14 October 2017

Find out more about The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road here, and join us at Centre 42 on 23 – 25 November 2017 by registering for a seat here.