Seminar 1 | 观看 Watching

• 什么是剧评？What is a review?
• 什么是剧场？What is theatre?

Seminar 2 | 概述 Overview

• 什么是文本？What is text?
• 什么是阅读？What is reading

Seminar 3 | 技巧 Techniques

• 有什么方法？What are the methods?
• 怎么样运用？How to apply them?

Seminar 4 | 步骤 Steps

• 怎么样选题？How to select a topic?
• 怎么样准备？How to prepare?

This is a programme presented under The Theatre Practice’s Practice Lab, in partnership with Centre 42. All sessions are conducted in Mandarin.

Conceived and edited by Dr Robin Loon, and organised by NUS Thespis, Project Understudy explores sequels, scruples & satire using a collective writing creation process.

In this presentation, the creators and writers shared the experiences of developing a new play through writing collectively, and making documentation a key element in the process. Selected character monologues and scenes were read by the actors to give an insight into the outcomes of this first phase of writing development.

The 60-minute Process-Performance has been repackaged into an 4-part video recording:

Part 1: The seven writers introduce their project to develop a sequel to Tan Tarn How’s play Undercover. Titled Understudy, the writers briefly share their strategies for writing the sequel collaboratively, which include, writing for only one character each, monologue-writing, taking turns to write lines for scenes, and collectively following one master narrative.

Part 2: Four of the seven writers read out the monologues they wrote for their characters in Understudy. These monologues were writing exercises for them to explore their characters and better understand their histories and motivations. Some parts of these monologues were even used in the first draft of Understudy.

Part 3: The seven writers read out four scenes they had worked on collectively over the past few months, voicing the characters they had picked to write for:

SCENE 1 – JANE, ALBERT, KK, VIKRAM
Minister for Cultural Affairs (MCA) Jane has caused controversy awarding the Cultural Medallion to ‘dissident artist’ Qiang. KK Chan, Director of Institute of Public Consensus (IPC) challenges her decision. We discover that the Director and the Minister have crossed swords before – as have their deputies, Vikram and Albert.

SCENE 4 – DEREK, QIANG, JANE
Derek flies Qiang back – they understand each other and reconnect. Jane enters the picture and issues from their past surface – they clash but begrudgingly agree to negotiate further.

SCENE 5 – ALBERT, VIKRAM, SOPHIE
In what is supposed to be a Cultural Medallion negotiation, the three representatives – Vikram, Albert, and Sophie – are sent to negotiate in proxy. Vikram and Albert clash and Sophie mitigates. They create a small zone of understanding – Albert senses Vikram’s fondness for Sophie.

SCENE 9 – KK, JANE, QIANG
KK confronts Jane with the blackmail only to be rebuffed. Qiang enters to fight off KK, leaving KK humiliated. Jane comes clean with Qiang and their secret is revealed.

Part 4: “It will end with a monologue,” said Dr. Robin Loon, the Chief Editor of “Project Understudy”. Five of the writers were assigned to write monologues for their characters in the final scene of the play. In this final part, these writers read out the scenario briefs that they were each given to develop for the finale Scene 11.

The Vault: Project Understudy revisits Tan Tarn How’s Undercover and reimagines its sequel set in 2016 through a collaborative writing creation process. Conceived and edited by Dr Robin Loon and organised by NUS Thespis.

Access the full suite of materials about The Vault: Project Understudy here.

Dr. Robin Loon chats with Singaporean playwright Tan Tarn How about his plays. In a span of two decades, Tan Tarn How has written nine plays, several of which have won numerous awards. Collectively, his work examines the socio-political environment and machinations of the Singapore state.

The 100-minute Living Room Chat has been repackaged into a 4-part video recording:

Part 1: Robin introduces Tarn How and dives into his most recent play, “Fear of Writing” (2011). The two discuss the play’s links to Alan Bennett’s “Talking Heads” series, a prophetic line from the play, and the capacity of theatre for social change.

Part 2: Robin chats with Tarn How about his plays “Machine” (2002), “The First Emperor’s Last Days” (1998), and “Six of the Best”(1996). The two discuss topics such as the Pinteresque, working with Ong Keng Sen, and theatre as artistic response to social issues. Tarn How also addresses audience members’ questions about the content produced by today’s playwrights, and the commercial viability of a theatre production versus its artistic merit.

Part 3: This part features Tarn How’s “Undercover” (1994), which Robin believes is his best play, and “The Lady of Soul and Her Ultimate ‘S’ Machine” (1993), Tarn How’s most famous play. The two talk about satire, English and Singlish in Singapore plays, challenging audiences, and censorship and regulation in Singapore theatre. Tarn How reads from his entries in The Diary of Censorship, which is appended to the published text of “The Lady of Soul” and documents his experiences with the regulatory authorities when staging the play for the first time.

Part 4: Robin has Tarn How talking about his first attempts at play-writing. Tarn How wrote “Home” (1993) during his stint at TheatreWork’s Writers’ Lab, which the two former participants discuss. They also talk about the landscape of play-writing and theatre in the early 1990s. Robin ends off this journey through Tarn How’s works with his earliest successes — “Two Men, Three Struggles” (1987) and “In Praise of the Dentist” (1986, co-written with his wife), award-winning submissions to the NUS-Shell Short Play Competition. During the audience Q&A, the discussion returns to differences between the generations of Singaporean playwrights.

The Living Room is a programme by Centre 42 that welcomes chat and conversation. Through focused but casual dialogues and face-to-face exchanges, this programme encourages participants to re-examine trends, happenings, people (on & off-stage) and phenomena in Singapore theatre.

Find out more about the Living Room programme here.

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.

Sound artist Darren Ng presents a thought-provoking aural experience of melting ice. In an installation piece augmenting the sound of ice as it transitions between states, the work highlights the restlessness of the ephemeral and liminal state of “now” and the meaninglessness and futility of living in the present.

For four hours each day, visitors enter this installation of transition and immerse in the soundscape it creates.

This documentation video contains highlights from the installation set against a soundtrack created by Darren.

This extended version contains more footage from the installation and the unadulterated sounds of ice melting.

The Vault: #3 three revisits Invisibility, refreshes and retells the stories in them through the eyes of theatre design collective INDEX. #3.2 For The Time Being by sound artist Darren Ng is the second of three installations.

Access the full suite of materials about #3.2 For The Time Being here.

Haresh Sharma’s short play Sea was revisited in this installment of The Vault, by playwright Robin Loon, director Casey Lim, and actresses Serene Chen and Zelda Tatiana Ng. Robin translated the English play into Chinese, titled <<汐>>, based on his memory of the production staged in 1997. Serene and Zelda reprise their roles as the sisters in the play. Casey Lim directs this performance-presentation, which combines the reading of both the English and Chinese scripts and the actresses’ reflections on their journey as practitioners.

Here is video recording of the 60-minute Performance-Presentation:

汐/Sea comprises three main parts:
1. [00:35] The PROLOGUE which introduces the methodology of this Vault and the actresses’ memories of 1997 production.
2. [09:35] “汐/Sea”, an amalgamation of Haresh’s English text and Robin’s Chinese translation, with Serene and Zelda reprising their roles as the sisters.
3. [44:07] The EPILOGUE, in which the actresses present their reflections of the Vault process and how the theatre industry has changed over the past 18 years since they performed in “Sea”.

The Vault: 汐/Sea revisits Haresh Sharma’s Sea and refreshes it with a Chinese translation and memories of the 1997 production. Performed by Serene Chen and Zelda Tatiana Ng, in collaboration with Robin Loon and Casey Lim, on 23 November 2015, 8pm at Centre 42 Black Box.

Access the full suite of materials about 汐/Sea here.

Kok Heng Leun (Artistic Director of Drama Box, Singapore), director of “Chronology on Death” Koh Choon Eiow (Co-Artistic Director of Approaching Theatre, Taiwan) and director of “The Struggle: Years Later” Liu Xiaoyi (Director of The Theatre Practice’s The Practice Lab, Singapore) explore the relationship between censorship and theatre-making in a two-hour open and casual dialogue.

The 115-minute talk was in Mandarin and has been repackaged into a 2-part video recording with English subtitles:

A time-coded chapter menu is available in the YouTube description boxes of the videos. Please click on the links below to take you to the YouTube page and use the time-coded menu to advance to specific portions of the video.

Part 1: The three directors each give their take on censorship and theatre-making based on past experiences in their personal and professional lives.

Part 2: The three directors respond to questions and comments from the audience.

The Living Room is a programme by Centre 42 that welcomes chat and conversation. Through focused but casual dialogues and face-to-face exchanges, this programme encourages participants to re-examine trends, happenings, people (on & off-stage) and phenomena in Singapore theatre.

Find out more about the Living Room programme here.

Lighting designer Lim Woan Wen presents her interpretation of Quah Sy Ren’s play Invisibility using only light. Stripped of actors and spoken words, Woan Wen seeks to express the play in relation to the space of the Centre 42 Black Box based on the structure, circumstances, characters, emotions and themes of the script.

Woan Wen created the immersive experience live onsite for all of the 9 sessions. Each session accommodating up to 10 audience.

This is a full-length documentation video aimed at capturing the entirety of the 30-minute performance as best as possible.The recording was done without the presence of any participating audience. For the best viewing experience, please watch this video in a quiet, darkened space with headphones on.

The Vault: #3 three revisits Invisibility, refreshes and retells the stories in them through the eyes of theatre design collective INDEX. #3.1 In/Visibility by lighting designer Lim Woan Wen is the first of three installations.

Access the full suite of materials about #3.1 In/Visibility here.

This sharing is led by Dr. Robin Loon, the Centre’s chief consultant for documentation, dramaturgy and discourse and contributed by reviewers Isaac Tan, Andre J. Theng and Gan Soon Rui.

The sharing session held on 22 December 2014 was part of a get-together for the 2015 batch of Citizen Reviewers.