In the Living Room with Michael Chiang

This cosy session saw Dr Robin Loon in conversation with Singaporean playwright Michael Chiang, chatting about his play-writing journey, the development of the local theatre scene in the 80s and 90s, and his personal responses to some of the harshest critiques of his work. The 75-minute Living Room Chat has been repackaged into a 3-part video recording.

SynopsisVideosPhotos

Michael Chiang. The playwright who began his writing-for-the-stage journey in 1984. 30 years and 10 plays later, he is one of the most familiar names in Singapore and Singapore theatre. Lesser known was his role as editorial director at Mediacorp Publishing (1990 to 2009).

With casual chit-chat and open conversations, we go beyond the playwright and his plays to uncover and re-frame themes, obvious and obscure, in his body of work. We invite you to join Michael in our Living Room for a time of reflection and rethinking, to relate what is discussed to yourselves and the environment we live in, and to evaluate it against your own experiences and beliefs.

EVENT DETAILS

Thursday, 30 October 2014
8pm @ Centre 42 Black Box

Admission is free by r egistration.

Part 1: In the Living Room with Michael Chiang

Dr. Robin Loon gets Michael Chiang to share the stories behind creating the plays which kick-started his prolific play-writing career. The plays talked about in Part 1 include “Beauty Box” (1984), “Love and Belachan” (1985) and “Army Daze” (1987). Along this journey down memory lane, Michael also talks us through how he creates unique characters and his experience of bringing the page to the stage.

Part 2: In the Living Room with Michael Chiang

This segment is all about the play “Private Parts”. In a surprise appearance during the live session, Michael Chiang and Dr. Robin Loon are joined by two special guests, who performed in the inaugural production of “Private Parts” in 1992. This clip comprises key highlights of the “Private Parts” conversation among the Living Room guests, about their shared experiences with creating and staging a controversial work in conservative, early 90s Singapore.

Part 3: In the Living Room with Michael Chiang

The conversation moves on to more of Michael’s work, including “Beauty World” (1988), “Heaven II” (1994) and “Mortal Sins” (1995). Dr. Robin Loon gets Michael to talk about how he chooses the subject matter of his plays, as well as his process of creating musicals and revising his plays when they are restaged. Dr. Loon also has Michael responding to charges from his harshest critics over the years.

Centre 42 presents the first of its Living Room series: Dr Robin Loon invites Michael Chiang to a casual chat and an open conversation. About some of his plays, his responses to critics and theatre-making in the 80s.