In this seminar-styled presentation, Margaret Chan shares her investigation of Kuo Pao Kun’s metaphors of Big Bird and the Cat. Features readings from Kuo Pao Kun’s plays by Ali Khan, Margaret Chan and her students from the Singapore Management University course THAR003: Nathan Al Taei, Terri Tan, Lou Shixun, Tai Jie Xin, Phua Jie Yun and Hiroshi Kondo. The 70-minute Lecture-Performance has been repackaged into an 8-part video recording.

SynopsisThe PlaysThe ArtistResourcesVideosPhotos

In this instalment of The Vault, Margaret Chan remembers Kuo Pao Kun (1939-2002), her dear friend and creative collaborator. Kuo was a humanist and patriot whose life and work indelibly shaped the course of Singapore theatre.

Margaret was tasked by Kuo in the last year of his life to produce The Eagle and the Cat. He told her the play was his most important, even though it had not received much attention. To Margaret, the play is clearly autobiographical, a precious capsule in which Kuo shares his beliefs that fuelled his vocation as a writer of theatre. She proposes that there are no clues but clear meaning in the tropes of “Big Bird” and “Cat” which appear in this script.

Join Margaret Chan in her investigation of Kuo Pao Kun’s metaphors of Big Bird and the Cat. Features readings from four of his plays by Ali Khan, Margaret Chan and SMU students – The Eagle and the Cat (Chinese 1990, English 1995), The Evening Climb (1992), Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral (1995), Mama Looking for Her Cat (1988).

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Monday, 12 October 2015
8pm @ Centre 42 Black Box

Admission is FREE.

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About the Playwright:
Kuo Pao Kun (1939 – 2002) is an important figure in Singapore’s cultural history whose life and work incontrovertibly shaped the local theatre landscape. He was a prolific playwright whose oeuvre spanned linguistic, cultural and artistic boundaries. His iconic plays have been performed multiple times across many different countries and translated into many languages. He also founded many of today’s prominent and enduring arts institutions, most notably The Theatre Practice, The Substation, and the Intercultural Theatre Institute.

About the Plays
The Eagle and the Cat was first staged in 1990 for the opening of The Substation. It is a monologue that tells a surreal tale of a man who turns into a cat. The Evening Climb premiered at the Singapore Festival of Arts 1992 and is a strange tale of three 70-year-old characters in search of a mythical big bird. Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral is one of Kuo Pao Kun’s most acclaimed works. First staged in 1995, Descendants is a lyrical play based on the ancient mariner Zheng He which comments on the trappings of modern life. Mama Looking For Her Cat is recognised as a ground-breaking play for its use of multiple languages. First premiered in 1988, the play is about a mother, who speaks only Hokkien, in search for her lost cat.

Margaret Chan
Margaret Chan is a familiar face and name in local theatre, television and film. As a pioneering actress in Singapore English-language theatre, she is best known for her iconic performance as the titular matriarch in the monologue Emily of Emerald Hill. She was also a journalist and food critic. Margaret received her PhD in Theatre/Performance Studies from Royal Holloway, University of London in 2002 and is currently an Associate Professor of Theatre Associate Professor of Theatre/Performance Studies (Practice) at the Singapore Management University.

Reading Material

#1: FOUR KUO PAO KUN PLAYS

#2: KUO PAO KUN – LIFE EVENTS

#3: HISTORY OF THE THEATRE PRACTICE

#4: THE ARTIST – MARGARET CHAN

Programme Handout

Part 1: Introduction

Margaret Chan introduces the structure of her seminar, as well as her students from Singapore Management University (SMU) who will be reading excerpts from several of Kuo Pao Kun’s texts. She also shares the main thesis of her presentation.

Part 2: The Eagle and the Cat

Margaret goes through the story of Kuo Pao Kun’s The Eagle and the Cat. SMU students Nathan Al Taei, Terry Tan, Lou Shixun and Tai Jie Xin read excerpts from the play.

Part 3: Ruminations on Big Bird

The discussion about the metaphor of big bird from several perspectives, drawing from linguistics and art history to support her claim that the big bird in Kuo Pao Kun’s plays refers to the revolutionary spirit.

Part 4: The Revolutionary Spirit

Margaret argues that Kuo Pao Kun was inspired by the revolutionary writers of China.

Part 5: Ku0 Pao Kun & Lu Xun 

Drawing out the similarities between Kuo Pao Kun and Chinese revolutionary writer Lu Xun. SMU student Phua Jie Yun reads an excerpt from Lu Xun’s Medicine.

Part 6: The Stories of Ordinary People

Margaret argues that Kuo Pao Kun’s works (those inspired by the Chinese revolutionary writers) were written in the manner of social realism, in that they often highlighted the plights of ordinary people. She cites The Coffin is Too Big For the Hole and No Parking on Odd Days as prime examples of Kuo Pao Kun’s social realist writing. SMU student Hiroshi Kondo reads an excerpt from The Coffin is Too Big For the Hole.

Part 7: The Writer’s Dilemma

Margaret argues that the trope of castration, surfacing in Kuo Pao Kun’s The Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral and The Evening Climb, signaled Kuo’s dissatisfaction and feelings of helplessness as an artist and writer in Singapore.

Part 8: Mama Looking For Her Cat

Margaret Chan and veteran actor Ali Khan perform an iconic scene from Kuo Pao Kun’s Mama Looking For Her Cat

On 12 October 2015, actress-academic Margaret Chan presented a seminar exploring the metaphors of big bird and the cat in Kuo Pao Kun’s oeuvre and life. The seminar highlighted iconic Kuo Pao Kun plays such as “The Coffin Is Too Big for the Hole” and “Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral”. The seminar featured readings by students from Margaret’s SMU course, and ended with a special performance of an excerpt from “Mama Looking For Her Cat” by Margaret and Ali Khan.

Source: Centre 42 Facebook

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The Vault: Big Bird and the Cat revisits four of Kuo Pao Kun’s plays, refreshes and retells the stories in them through the eyes of theatre veteran Margaret Chan and in collaboration with SMU students.

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Theatre veteran and educator Margaret Chan remembers Kuo Pao Kun (1939-2002), her dear friend and creative collaborator. Kuo was a humanist and patriot whose life and work indelibly shaped the course of Singapore theatre.

In this seminar-styled presentation, Margaret Chan shares her investigation of Kuo Pao Kun’s metaphors of Big Bird and the Cat. Features readings from Kuo Pao Kun’s plays by Ali Khan, Margaret Chan and her students from the Singapore Management University course THAR003: Nathan Al Taei, Terry Tan, Lou Shixun, Tai Jie Xin, Phua Jie Yun and Hiroshi Kondo.

The 70-minute Lecture-Performance has been repackaged into an 8-part video recording:

Part 1: Margaret Chan introduces the structure of her seminar, as well as her students from Singapore Management University (SMU) who will be reading excerpts from several of Kuo Pao Kun’s texts. She also shares the main thesis of her presentation.

Part 2: Margaret goes through the story of Kuo Pao Kun’s The Eagle and the Cat. SMU students Nathan Al Taei, Terry Tan, Lou Shixun and Tai Jie Xin read excerpts from the play.

Part 3: The discussion about the metaphor of big bird from several perspectives, drawing from linguistics and art history to support her claim that the big bird in Kuo Pao Kun’s plays refers to the revolutionary spirit.

Part 4: Margaret argues that Kuo Pao Kun was inspired by the revolutionary writers of China.

Part 5: Drawing out the similarities between Kuo Pao Kun and Chinese revolutionary writer Lu Xun. SMU student Phua Jie Yun reads an excerpt from Lu Xun’s Medicine.

Part 6: Margaret argues that Kuo Pao Kun’s works (those inspired by the Chinese revolutionary writers) were written in the manner of social realism, in that they often highlighted the plights of ordinary people. She cites The Coffin is Too Big For the Hole and No Parking on Odd Days as prime examples of Kuo Pao Kun’s social realist writing. SMU student Hiroshi Kondo reads an excerpt from The Coffin is Too Big For the Hole.

Part 7: Margaret argues that the trope of castration, surfacing in Kuo Pao Kun’s The Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral and The Evening Climb, signaled Kuo’s dissatisfaction and feelings of helplessness as an artist and writer in Singapore.

Part 8: Margaret Chan and veteran actor Ali Khan perform an iconic scene from Kuo Pao Kun’s Mama Looking For Her Cat.

The Vault: Big Bird and the Cat revisits four of Kuo Pao Kun’s plays, refreshes and retells the stories in them through the eyes of theatre veteran Margaret Chan and in collaboration with SMU students.

Access the full suite of materials about The Vault: Big Bird and the Cat here.

Even as a child, Margaret Chan had a dramatic streak. The third child amongst four in a Peranakan family, young Margaret was often called to perform:

“My mother told me that the neighbours used to like to come and see how I play with my dolls. I would give each doll a name and a complex role.”
At home and in school, Chan would invariably be the child called upon to sing. “I didn’t enjoy it. When you are performing for adults you have a fixed repertoire. You have to be cute and polite. You cannot really express yourself,” she says with a laugh.”Chan merry Chan by Steven Lee. In The Straits Times (18 May 1992), http://tinyurl.com/neue7b6

In her twenties, Margaret began acting in a number of amateur theatre productions. In 1977, she played the maidservant Cicada in Li Lien Fung’s The Sword Has Two Edges, produced by the Experimental Theatre Club (founded by pioneering Singapore English-language playwright Lim Chor Pee).

“As Cicada, Margaret Chan has given what I consider her most inspired performance to date. But I do wish she would stand straight on stage.
She has overcome her tendency to overact and was able to lose herself in the role so that I was moved by Cicada’s plight.”Source: Breathes life into history… by Violet Oon. In New Nation (26 August 1977), http://tinyurl.com/qhy7pfe

But her breakthrough role was in 1985 as the titular Nonya matriarch in Stella Kon’s one-woman play Emily of Emerald Hill, directed by Max Le Blond. Even while heavily pregnant with her second child, Margaret’s solo performance as Emily was highly acclaimed:

“By the time Margaret Chan had taken her second curtain call, the tears hadn’t yet dried on some faces though they were wreathed in smiles…
But how Margaret brought Emily to life!
Dr Mark Kon [Stella Kon’s husband], who had seen last year’s staging of Emily of Emerald Hill in Kuala Lumpur, was equally enthusiastic not just about Margaret’s performance but also about her interpretation.
“While Leow Puay Tin who played the part of Emily in the KL production was more the nonya, Margaret plays Emily as the person who comes from the outside and controls the family,” agreed Robert Yeo, chairman of the Ministry of Community Develoment’s drama advisory committee, and the man who had approached both Max [Le Blond] and Margaret to do the play.”Source: Tears and smiles greet Emily by Rebecca Chua. In The Straits Times (6 September 1985)., http://tinyurl.com/qhy7pfe

Margaret’s stage career forged ahead with leading roles in productions such as Beauty World (1988), The Evening Climb (1992), Lao Jiu (1993) and No Parking on Odd Days (1994). In the 1990s, she also starred in television shows such as The Ra Ra Show (1993), Masters of the Seas (1994) and The Golden Pillow (1995), and played Malcolm’s mother in the 1996 feature film Army Daze based on the play by Michael Chiang.

Margaret also led a second life as a working journalist, holding editorial positions in New Nation (now defunct) and Wine & Dine magazine. A large chunk of her journalistic writing was devoted to food criticism – her adventurous palette and knowledge of food made her a natural at reviewing restaurants and food places. In 1992, she published a guide to Singapore restaurants called Foodstops – 1000 Places to Eat and Drink in Singapore.

“It was feeding time at the zoo. Last Saturday night, at the Okoh, it took all of my self-control to keep from sticking my tongue out at the seeming hundreds that gaped through the glass windows as we dined…
We enjoyed the meal though the rice was cold. Didn’t the Japanese invent rice cookers?
Incidentally, an enormous cockroach crawled up the wall next to me – you should have seen me jump.”Okoh’s OK but for gawkers and cold rice by Margaret Chan. In New Nation (19 July 1981), http://tinyurl.com/q7xn5tf

“Margaret is the kind of eating companion we would all love to have. She is game to try anything (remember her account of that strengthening soup made of bill’s penis and recently, of eating monkey flesh and other exotic meat?). Margaret has sought out dishes and delicacies in all kinds of places, from food palaces in Hong Kong to decrepit stalls hidden in back lanes.”Tasters range from cooks to gourmands. In New Nation (26 June 1981)., http://tinyurl.com/ow6c3p3

In 1996, she embarked on postgraduate studies at the University of London, earning a Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education (Distinction) and Master of Arts (Distinction) in performance studies in 1998. She then pursued a doctoral degree in theatre/performance studies and, in her 50s, was awarded a PhD in 2002.

Margaret returned to Singapore and joined the Singapore Management University (SMU) in 2003. She is now an Associate Professor Associate Professor of Theatre/Performance Studies (Practice) at the School of Social Sciences, where she teaches creative thinking, ethnography and postmodern theatre studies. As an academic, she has written, presented and published work on theatre and ritual in Chinese spirit medium worship.

(Source: Singapore Management University)

Margaret as Emily in 1985. (Source: youth.sg/National Arts Council)

Selected Theatre Lead Roles

2001 – Blithe Spirit by W!ld Rice (Available in The Repository.)
1994 – No Parking on Odd Days by Practice Theatre Ensemble
1994 – Lao Jiu  by TheatreWorks (Available in the TheatreWorks archive.)
1992 – The Evening Climb by Practice Theatre Ensemble (Available in The Repository.)
1988 – Beauty World by TheatreWorks
1985 – Emily of Emerald Hill
1977 – The Sword Has Two Edges by Experimental Theatre Club
1975 – Goa by University of Singapore Drama Society

Selected Academic Publications

2014 – Tangki War Magic: The Virtuality of Spirit Warfare and the Actuality of Peace. Social Analysis, Vo. 58 (1).
2012 – The Spirit-mediums of Singkawang: Performing ‘Peoplehood’. In Chinese Indonesians reassessed: History,religion and belonging. London and New York: Routledge.
2010 – Tan Ah Choon: The Singapore ‘King of Spirit Mediums’ (1928-2010). In South China Research Resource Station Newsletter, 60.
2009 – The Magic of Chinese Theatre: Theatre as a ritual of sacral transmogrification. In Change & Innovation in Chinese Opera. Singapore: The National Museum of Singapore and The Chinese Opera Institute.
2003 – Kuo Pao Kun: The Spirit of the Eagle. In Contemporary Theatre: The Director as Cultural Critic, Vol. 13 (3).

Margaret’s full CV is available here. [Click on “CV”.]

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By Daniel Teo
Published on 10 October 2015

The Vault: Big Bird and the Cat revisits Kuo Pao Kun’s plays in Margaret Chan’s exploration into the metaphors of Big Bird and the Cat, on 12 October 2015, 8pm at Centre 42 Black Box. Admission is free. Find out more here.

In 1965, Kuo Pao Kun and Goh Lay Kuan returned from Melbourne to a newly-independent Singapore and opened the Singapore Performing Arts School.

It still exists, half a century later, now as The Theatre Practice, a stalwart and driving force in the local theatre scene for bilingualism, multiculturalism and arts education, as its founders once envisioned. In its 50-year history, The Theatre Practice was also fertile ground from which many other arts institutions developed.

Trace how The Theatre Practice has grown, evolved, and spawned other arts establishments in this infographic below.

Sources:

• Images at the Margins: A collection of Kuo Pao Kun’s Plays. (2000). Singapore: Times Media.
• Tribute.sg – Kuo Pao Kun
• The Theatre Practice – Milestones
• The Substation – History
• The Finger Players
• Intercultural Theatre Institute

By Daniel Teo
Published on 9 October 2015

The Vault: Big Bird and the Cat revisits Kuo Pao Kun’s plays in Margaret Chan’s exploration into the metaphors of Big Bird and the Cat, on 12 October 2015, 8pm at Centre 42 Black Box. Admission is free. Find out more here.

The timeline below presents selected events from Kuo Pao Kun’s life. Click on each tab to find out what happened during the year.

This timeline is not meant to be a complete record of Kuo Pao Kun’s life — for more information, please consult the additional sources listed below.

Additional Sources:

• Images at the Margins: A collection of Kuo Pao Kun’s Plays. (2000). Singapore: Times Media.
• Two Play by Kuo Pao Kun. (2003). Singapore: SNP Editions.
• Tribute.sg – Kuo Pao Kun
• The Theatre Practice – Milestones

By Daniel Teo
Published on 8 October 2015

The Vault: Dialects and Dialectics revisits two monologues by the late local theatre doyen Kuo Pao Kun: No Parking On Odd Days and The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole. Nine Years Theatre’s artistic director Nelson Chia explores the cultural sentiments and grassroots sensibilities of these plays by staging them in Cantonese and Teochew respectively. Find out more here.

The Vault: Big Bird and the Cat revisits Kuo Pao Kun’s plays in Margaret Chan’s exploration into the metaphors of Big Bird and the Cat, on 12 October 2015, 8pm at Centre 42 Black Box. Admission is free. Find out more here.

• THE EAGLE AND THE CAT
• MAMA LOOKING FOR HER CAT
• THE EVENING CLIMB
• DESCENDANTS OF THE EUNUCH ADMIRAL

• Synopsis:

  A man of foreign origin is frustrated by his treatment in Singapore, when he turns into a cat and later meets an eagle.

  Premiere:

  1990 (Chinese) by Practice Theatre Ensemble
  Part of the opening programme of The Substation.
  

  Date:	15 September 1990
  Venue:	Guinness Theatre, The Substation
  Director:	Kuo Pao Kun
  Cast:	Wang Wei (China)

  1997 (English) by The Theatre Practice
  Presented as Mother Daughter Eagle Cat alongside the English translation of Zhu Cai Zhen’s My Mother’s Chest. (More details in The Repository.)

  Date:	1-4 May 1997
  Venue:	Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel
  Director:	Kuo Pao Kun
  Cast:	T. Sasitharan (replacing Remesh Panicker who fell ill)

  Response:

  “When the action reached moments to test the audience’s credulity, these went down smoothly as comedy rather than improbabilities.
  On top of that, Sasitharan also conveyed his character’s emotional uncertainty about where he stood in the argument between idealism and pragmatism, which was the play’s essential theme.”Source: Sure-footed cat tale and brave use of long pauses by Susan Tsang, The Straits Times (3 May 1997), http://tinyurl.com/qf7jk3f

  “Kuo’s poetic voice emerges with an evocative simplicity as the protagonist recalls his childhood of squatting in caves of his poor village. He remembers fondly how he used to watch the eagle spread out its wings and glide towards the sun., how the sky offered freedom and space…
  The final moment has the human well out of the way and two spotlights on the canvas background, revealing an eagle and a cat. The Chinese title literally translates into Eagle Cat Can and writer, director and actor have shown that these two animals can evoke a wealth of responses from the sensitive listener and viewer.”Source: Simply Good Theatre by Sherrie Lee. In The Flying Inkpot (1 May 1997)., http://tinyurl.com/q2t58md

  Text Availability:

  Found in:

  Images at the Margins: A collection of Kuo Pao Kun’s Plays. (2000). Singapore: Times Media.

  The Complete Works of Kuo Pao Kun, Volume Four: Plays in English. (2012). Singapore: Global Publishing/The Theatre Practice. (See our Book Den listing for more information.)

• Synopsis:

  A Hokkien-speaking mother, in search of her missing cat, is faced with a language barrier between herself and her children who only speak English and Mandarin.

  Premiere:

  1988 (Chinese) by Practice Theatre Ensemble
  Referred to as “Singapore’s first multilingual play“. (More details in The Repository.)
  

  Date:	10-15 August 1988
  Venue:	Singapore Conference Hall
  Director:	Kuo Pao Kun
  Cast:	Ko Kim Hong, Yong Ser Pin, Goh Guat Kian, Ang Gey Pin, Kuo Jian Hong, T. Sasitharan, William Teo, Koh Yang Huang, Neo Swee Lin, Verena Tay, John Tessensohn

  Response:

  “But at the end of the 90-minute play, where the dialogue wove in and out of no less than seven languages, I was able to understand exactly how Mama felt. Which was precisely what the play hoped to achieve. In other words, it was a complete success.”Source: A case of lost and found by Sangeeta Mulchand. In The Business Times (16 August 1988), http://tinyurl.com/nd7bpl5

  “Once in a while, a play comes along and touches one’s soul, forcing one to confront and examine one’s conscience. Mama Looking For Her Cat is one such play. My only regret is that more Singaporeans didn’t get to see it…
  Mama is more than just a play; it is, without exaggeration, an experience — a joyous and a bitter-sweet one at the same time…
  Sure we laughed a lot during the play but from the comment I overheard on the way out, Mama was a sobering play at the same time. One chap in his mid-20s told a friend the scenes in the play were so real they could have taken place in his own living room.Source: Bull's eye and we cried silently by Joan E. Cheng. In The Straits Times (26 August 1988)., http://bit.ly/1RqobAZ

  Text Availability:

  Found in:

  Images at the Margins: A collection of Kuo Pao Kun’s Plays. (2000). Singapore: Times Media.

  The Complete Works of Kuo Pao Kun, Volume Four: Plays in English. (2012). Singapore: Global Publishing/The Theatre Practice. (See our Book Den listing for more information.)

• Synopsis:

  Three 70-year-olds climb a hill in search of big bird and come across a hermit living in a cave.

  Premiere:

  1992 (Chinese) by Practice Theatre Ensemble
  Part of the line-up for the Singapore Festival of Arts 1992. (More details in The Repository.)
  

  Date:	2-5 June 1992
  Venue:	Victoria Theatre
  Director:	Kuo Pao Kun
  Cast:	Ren Baoxian (China), Li Jiayao (China), Yang Shipin, Margaret Chan, Lut Ali, Johnny Ng, Goh Guat Kian, Lim Chwee Lian, Tab Tian Tse, Ho Khee Tong, Lim Jen Er, Lan Yuen Kwan, Wendi Tan

  Response:

  “And, while the three climbers are all lonely old people alienated from their families, Kuo [Pao Kun] says that he does not intend to bring the three-act play down to a “mundane, sociological level” about the problems of the aged.
  “Neither is it a political commentary,” he says. “I want it to be more philosophical. The characters are all about 70 years old, because it is the time when people begin to reassess the meaning of life.”
  “You could call it a second childhood, when thoughts and desires that had all along been suppressed in adulthood re-surface.”
  Nevertheless, he says he sees this second childhood not as a form of senile dementia, “but a higher innocence that follows experience”.”Source: A second childhood by Lee San Chouy. In The Sunday Times (2 June 1992)., http://tinyurl.com/o462nvf

  “As they interact on the mountain, the trio do return to the innocence of childhood. It is a difficult transformation to effect on stage — one which runs the danger of appearing ludicrous. But great acting, and a script that is sensitive to the way men and women behave with each other and among themselves, make the change both believable and powerful…
  All in all, The Evening Climb, though predominantly in Mandarin, is for everyone. It is a story about searching, learning, helplessness and the pain of loss.” Source: Mystical pilgrimage by Susan Tsang. In The Straits Times (4 June 1992)., http://tinyurl.com/ngc47fs

  Text Availability:

  Found in:

  Images at the Margins: A collection of Kuo Pao Kun’s Plays. (2000). Singapore: Times Media.

  The Complete Works of Kuo Pao Kun, Volume Four: Plays in English. (2012). Singapore: Global Publishing/The Theatre Practice. (See our Book Den listing for more information.)

• Synopsis:

  A lyrical play, inspired by the legendary eunuch-explorer Admiral Zheng He, which explores castration as a metaphor in relation to modern living.

  Premiere:

  1995 (English) by ThreateWorks.
  Part of the line-up for the 2nd Festival of the Asian Performing Arts. (More details in the TheatreWorks archive)

  Date:	3-5 June 1995
  Venue:	Victoria Theatre
  Director:	Ong Keng Sen
  Cast:	Janice Koh, Ivan Heng, Casey Lim, Tang Fu Kuen, Jeremiah Choy

  1995 (Chinese) by The Theatre Practice
  (More details in The Repository.)

  Date:	10-13 August 1995
  Venue:	Victoria Theatre
  Director:	Kuo Pao Kun

  Response:

  “Kuo Pao Kun’s play is plotless and director Ong Keng Sen does not really try to steer the play towards any one interpretation. He merely adds sound effects and choreography and projects images onto a gauzy backdrop.
  The result is that Descendants is so abstract that sitting through the play feels like listening to a long poem. The wonderful part is that the script is strong enough to stand as poetry. And Ong has added to the force of the piece by making his actors repeat each other, or speak in a chorus to create a polyphonic effect…
  Top marks to the cast for their excellent recitation. Although the script was not interactive, Ivan Heng, Janice Koh, Casey Lim and Tang Fu Kuen made this poem come alive, whether creating the rush of excitement at an exotic marketplace or feelign lost at sea — “nameless, sexless, restless, homeless”.”Source: Travels with the ancient mariner by Susan Tsang. In The Business Times (5 June 1995).

  “The action, involving 14 actors, takes place in a rehabilitation centre. They are drug inmates, who while away the time in role-playing sessions as they await the day of their release…
  The Chinese version of Descendants is more “popularly accessible” than the English one which has four SHenton Way executives stumbling into a dreamworld, said Kuo, who is also director of the Mandarin production.
  He added: “TheatreWorks’ interpretation of the script was a logical one. It was a creative experiment and a powerful one. But like many experimental works, it fell short of being accessible.”
  In fact, last month’s June show was staged to mixed reviews — some theatre buffs sang its praises, while others regarded it as little more than an abstract offering of a long poem.”Source: New version of play to be staged by Ho Sheo Be. In The Straits Times (28 July 1995)., http://tinyurl.com/qfc2p4l

  “Ticket sales were not great. TheatreWorks sold 60 per cent of the tickets for its four performances at the Victoria Theatre in June; the Chinese version filled a mere 50 per cent of the same theatre during its three-night run in August.
  But the play had a solid international run, later travelling to Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre (1996), International Summer Festival, Hamburg (1998) and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (1998), which all contributed to raising the international profile of Ong as a director.
  Choy recalls that during their trip to Cairo, “we thought the audience hated us, because during the performance itself, they were ordering coffee and tea… we thought we had lost them”.
  But they received a thunderous standing ovation instead.”Why Kuo Pao Kun's Descendants Of The Eunuch Admiral matters by Corrie Tan. In The Straits Times (31 March 2015)., http://tinyurl.com/p3ahcnf

  Text Availability:

  Found in:

  The Complete Works of Kuo Pao Kun, Volume Four: Plays in English. (2012). Singapore: Global Publishing/The Theatre Practice. (See our Book Den listing for more information.)

  Two Play by Kuo Pao Kun. (2003). Singapore: SNP Editions.

By Daniel Teo
Published on 7 October 2015

^Back to top

The Vault: Big Bird and the Cat revisits Kuo Pao Kun’s plays in Margaret Chan’s exploration into the metaphors of Big Bird and the Cat, on 12 October 2015, 8pm at Centre 42 Black Box. Admission is free. Find out more here.