VISTA kena censored!

MDA contacted Theatreworks and asked for us to remove one line of my Confucian timeline poem/monologue from our "Impetus" performance. (Ka Fai says he's never had any problems before with his performances... but this time the MDA specifically requested a copy of the script. Am I officially known as a troublemaker already? :/ Mixed feelings.)

The line cryptically referenced the 1982 death of Wong Ming Yang - Lee Hsien Loong's first wife, who had a fatal heart attack 3 weeks after giving birth to their albino son Lee Yi Peng.

Have to change the line to maintain its rhythmic value. Some loss of semiotic impact inevitable. Sigh.

ROJAK 09

Like I said on my personal blog, Torrance and Willie from Farm.sg invited me to design the invite for the quarterly artists' and designers' forum Rojak 09. And here it is:


The design's based on Chua Mia Tee's "National Language Class", of course. The event'll be held at the Central Green Patch of the new LaSalle campus, with socialising from 8pm and presentations from 9pm till late. Bring drinks!

And since we're at it, I'll show you some of the other pastiche designs they turned down:


Based on Raphael's "The School of Athens" (with Leonardo and Diogenes as our interlocutors).


Based on Rembrandt's "The Anatomy Lesson of Nicholaes Van Tulp". I liked this one best, personally. Let the dead work speak for itself.

Let's talk about love
The third ContraDiction event will focus on lesser-known poets and musicians.

Ftw! Stephanie Yap actually managed to get ContraDiction 3 advertised in the Sunday Times! 12 August 2007, L25. Sappy headline, but that's ST branding apparently. :P

Love will take centrestage at poetry and music event ContraDiction – including its myriad joys and heartbreaks.

Now in its third year, the annual event celebrating gender and sexuality will be held at arts venue 72-13 this Sunday.

Curating the event this year is poet and playwright Ng Yi-sheng, whose recently staged works include the musical Georgette and the play 251.

Ng, 27, who participated as a reader in previous years, says that this year's event differs from past ones due to its even gender distribution.

While five women and five men will be performing on Sunday, including STOMP star blogger Maia Lee, Ng says the event was testosterone-driven in previous years.

"There are more published writers and poets who are male than female, so I'm glad we've got more women readers this time," says Ng, himself a published writer who will read from his debut poetry collection, Last Boy.

Another change this year is the absence of established writers like Cyril Wong and Alfiaan Sa'at, who both participated in previous readings.

Says Ng: "I want the focus to be on lesser-known artists, as well as people not traditionally considered writers."

Thus, he has rounded up budding poets like Foyle Young Poet Teng Qianxi, musicians like singer-songwriter Iris Judotter, and even bloggers like Maia Lee and Lee Gwo Yinn.

Another participant is civil servant Chan Sze Wei, who works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Chan, 27, will be reading "two little love poems" – one about falling
in love and the other about breaking up.

An extract from a play she wrote last year with the Singapore Repertory Theatre Young Company, about teenage depression, will also be performed.

She hopes the audience will be touched by the stories they hear: "I hope that for each audience member, there will be something in the stories and ideas that will resonate with them, something that they'll take away with them as a new gift."

ContraDiction is on this Sunday at 7:30pm at TheatreWorks, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road. Admission is free. Rated R-18.

--

ContraDiction 3: A Queer Literary Evening

An evening of queer writing - including poetry, drama, blog entries and songs. Readers will include myself, Teng Qian Xi, Chan Sze-Wei, Zhuang Yisa and Maia Lee. Also featured will be original music composed and performed by Iris Judotter and Yak Aik Wee.

Licence from MDA approved. Rated R18.

Date: Sunday, 12 August 2007
Time: 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Venue: 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road

LEE LOW TAR

For the short story that MDA banned, please click here - Alex Au's posted it on Yawning Bread.

I wrote it for the "Tall Tales and Short Stories" event on Sunday. I won't be able to read it at this point, but come anyway - Ovidia Yu will be reading from her story "Pierced Years" and I'll be giving a talk, because indoor talks do not require a licence.

"Tall Tales and Short Stories"
Organised by Sayoni.com
Sunday, 5 August
7:30pm
72-13, Mohamed Sultan Road

Below is the rejection letter we received:

****************************************************************
To: JEAN CHONG
CC: Amy TSANG <Amy_TSANG@mda.gov.sg>, Liane LOO <Liane_LOO@mda.gov.sg>,
Norsabariah TUBI <Norsabariah_TUBI@mda.gov.sg>
Subject: Arts Entertainment licence - "Tall Tales and Short Stories"
From: Veronica Vivien LOOI <Veronica_Vivien_LOOI@mda.gov.sg>
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 14:25:02 +0800

Dear Ms Chong

Your application for a story reading session, entitled "Tall Tales and Short Stories", has been approved on condition that the reading of Lee Low Tar is taken out

The content of Lee Low Tar has been disallowed as it had gone beyond good taste and decency in taking a disparaging and disrespectful view of public officers.

Regards,

Veronica
****************************************************************

There's a small parallel case here of Tan Tarn How's play "The Lady of Soul and the Ultimate S-Machine", which was not permitted to be staged for some time because (among various reasons) its main character was a male civil servant who was having an affair with a male Minister-of-State.

But it's a different Singapore now. The arts scene has progressed to an extent where people (including journalists) are interested in the cases of censored work, and the Internet's technologies allow banned texts to be distributed freely (go watch Royston Tan's "Cut" on blip.tv, or Martyn See's "Zahari's 17 Years" on googlevideo, or Tan Pin Pin's "Lurve Me Now" on her university's site).

And while a filmmaker or stage director will suffer large financial setbacks if his/her work is banned for screening/performance - a writer loses very little. Isn't that odd? (Authorities may now try and prove me wrong by making it difficult for me to have future works staged - maybe they'll claim "Georgette" espouses Marxist values?)

This being said, "Lee Low Tar" is an amateur piece of writing - I am not an experienced short story author, after all. And the entire setup is, on a certain level, a wanky artistic gesture, an attention-getting device (compare with the works of Lim Tzay Chuen). And it may hurt the gay movement or the socially-engaged arts community in the long run. I don't know.

But I do like how it works in testing the bureaucratic systems of censorship we have in this country - they are such strange, antiquated, self-sabotaging entities, like warthogs on Pulau Tekong, that it seems to be vital to engage with them before they go extinct (which they will, dear children, they will - someday they'll set up the artist-run system of self-appraisal based on ratings systems rather than muzzling, just like FOCAS suggested).

You see, yes, censorship is violent and stupid.

But it is possible to dance with violent and stupid people.

I gave MDA a test, and they failed it. I'm not the victim. They are.

INDIGNATION 2007 (update! My story kena banned!)


Heya! I'm involved in two events for IndigNation, our Queer Pride Festival- doing a short story reading with Ovidia Yu on Sunday 5th August and organising/curating ContraDiction, a poetry/literary/music performance on Sunday 12 August, both at 7:30pm at 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road.

MDA licences pending. And really, we can't take anything for granted - they just banned Alex Au's Kissing Project photo display, according to the calendar. Not unexpected - the point for us is to keep on pushing the limits, to keep on challenging the unjustified rules until they change.

UPDATE (31/7.07): Jean Ng of Sayoni got a call from Veronica Looi at MDA saying that my short story was not approved for licensing. (Poor Veronica, she's only an Admin Assistant but she has to deliver the dirty news with all her bosses - she's been involved in several bans for IndigNation over the years. How can she live with herself? Especially when she never even gets to read the things she bans.) We might have a mass reading of the short story, though.

Love Slave Slam!

I'm hosting a poetry slam at Zouk tonight! Will be dressed in accordance with the theme.

Please come and join us for The Love-Slam Slam, a celebration of love and eros - poetry that stirs the passions. Who is a slave to love, who is your love-slave? Bring your special friends and meet new one in this special edition of the Singapore Poetry Slam™ this Tues, 7.30pm. Full details below.

Slam Host: Ng Yi Sheng
Features:
Singer-songwriter Anjana Vasan
The Lady and the Vamp,' A short film by Shaun Koh
Share your poems originals and covers
Chris Mooney Singh, Programme Director
Word Forward

The Love-Slave Slam
Tues 31 July 07
Velvet Underground, Zouk
7,30-10pm, Smart Casual
A Non-Smoking Event
$10, drinks 1+1
(Under 18s must register at the Slam Desk)
Slammers and open mic readers must register at the Slam Desk

Photos by Yish

Until my 2-month iWeb trial offer runs out, I've got my weirdo conceptual photos up at http://web.mac.com/ng.yisheng. Do check it out.

Peculiar Inspirations

Oh dear... My appearance at the Arts and Life Forum for Asian Boys Volume 3 kena clash with my SDEA play. :( I'll be speaking with a few other guests, including poet Teng Qian Xi...

Sunday 29 July 5.30pm
PECULIAR INSPIRATIONS: The Muse - Of Sirens And Tyrants
Many of our artists have been greatly influenced by other Singaporean artists. From actual mentors to literary forebears, the creative process often involves a dialogue with the past. But how do we engage with traditions without inheriting its baggage? Do we climb on the shoulders of giants, or find our dwarfed selves obscured by their long shadows?

We round up a group of artists--poets, playwrights and filmmakers, to discuss the book, the play, or the film, that first made then want to embark on their artistic careers.

"Frostbite" to be performed on Sunday 29 July as part of SDEA's "Celebrate Drama"


"Frostbite", the suicidal 10-minute play I wrote in college and submitted for Short and Sweet, is going up at the Arts House next Sunday. It's directed by Andrew Lua, as part of an event organised by Singapore Drama Educators' Association - further details of the lineup here.

Sunday 29 July @ 5pm, Arts House

*ACJC - Bang Bang You're Dead by William Mastrosimone ( Produced with licensed permission from the author)

Bang Bang You're Dead is a thoughtful and provocative examination of the inner world of a young killer in the wake of a horrific school shooting. The motivations are twisted and obfuscated and the intent behind the deed remains shrouded by ego as well as despair. ACSian theatre invites the audience to unravel the mystery of teenage angst and malcontent and why it erupts into murderous rampage and soul destroying alienation. Bang Bang Your'e Dead was written in 1999 in memorial to the various teenage dead of school killings in the United States. It remains a painfully relevant piece of work in the light of the death at Virginia Tech, USA, in 2007.

*Two ten-minuters: Fat and Frostbite

Fat, written by Dew M. Chaiyanara, was first performed at Short & Sweet Festival 2007 in its Top 20 category. The play won the hearts of the audience with its honest yet funny tale of a girl’s struggle with being fat in a “perfectly thin” society. Meanwhile, Frostbite, also shown at the Short & Sweet Festival Top 20 category, takes a dark and ironic look at those seemingly unstoppable voices in our heads. What happens when these voices become too much to endure? Can we turn them off, distract them by conjuring tricks and chastise them with our screams? How do we make them stop? Frostbite is written by Ng Yi-Sheng. His plays Hungry and Serve were staged in Celebrate Drama 2005 and 2006 respectively

World Interplay!



Just so people don't call my phone: from 3 to 17 July, I'll be at World Interplay, the world's biggest international festival /workshop for young playwrights.

I was picked by Ivan Heng as a delegate (yes they seriously call us that) to represent Singapore, together with Cheryl Lee of Buds Youth Theatre and Laremy Lee. (I got review Cheryl's play "Size00" for Straits Times before, as part of the triplebill "From Scratch"! I hope she has the clipping!)

More info about the event here. It's reserved for playwrights aged 18-26, so I *just* qualify as young enough to go.

It's also a biannual event, so hopefully there's an opportunity in the future for other young deserving writers in their early 20's to go. I mean, how come I got picked but not Zizi Abdul Majid or Jocelyn Chua, both of whom are far more immersed in the theatre world than I am? (And who've written plays *far* more polished than 251, may I add.)

I'll be workshopping "The Final Temptation of Stamford Raffles". My workshop tutors are from the UK, Australia and Turkey. Hopefully, I'll have time to blog.

>theatre
The Train
Cho-In Theatre
Esplanade Theatre Studio
Saturday [23 June 2007]
Ng Yi-Sheng

This review was first published in the Straits Times Life! Section circa Tuesday 26 June 2007.

Back in 1998, director Park Chung-euy began to develop a new style of drama, drawing from both Korean traditions of masked dance and modern Western techniques of physical theatre. The Train was his first production using this new dramatic language, and it remains effective after nine years: a bittersweet tale of hope and desperation, told through mime and music.

The play is set in a train station during wartime. An old magician and his wife arrive in tattered hanboks, eager to flee the surroundings, but they find they have lost their tickets and must beg alongside the two orphan children who live there.

Although the narrative is slow up to this point, it picks up as the train unloads its passengers and the four characters compete as beggars – the mad scramble for tricks to hold the attention of the different passers-by allows the accomplished cast of seven to excel at their feats of acrobatics and clowning, amusing child and adult alike in the audience.

But The Train – despite its billing as a mime performance – is not a work of children’s theatre. Darker elements are present: the train passengers include lecherous sailors, corrupt colonels, even a terrorist holding a bomb in the shape of the Earth. Suffering is evident in the quiet agony of the old magician as he slowly, painstakingly stands on his head to earn a spectator’s coin. Even prostitution is hinted at, as the females try to pretty themselves up for the passers-by. Most nightmarish is the figure of the pimp - a woman in boots, cracking a whip, who extorts the children’s money and physically abuses them. Poverty is not merely material for laughter here; it is genuinely frightening.

There is thus a darkness that suffuses this play, as the beggars wait in despair as the trains, with all their promise of escape, enter and leave the station, attended by sinister, faceless conductors. Yet there is also a great spirit of hope and redemption, as the magicians use music to revive the abused children, and demonstrate forgiveness to even the pimp.

Cho-In Theatre has achieved a strangely beautiful fusion of several things in this piece: here is the subtlety and intelligence of social realism blended with the untempered joy and terror of pantomime; the grand scope of epic theatre beside the gentle goofiness of slapstick. Certainly, Park’s new theatrical style has the power to move.

ContraDiction 3

Hey All,

I'm curating an event for IndigNation: a queer literary night, where we'll be reading bits of poems, plays, songs, stories and blog entries by and/or about queer people in Singapore. It'll be held on the night of Sunday, 12 August, 2007, at 72-13 home of Theatreworks.

Anyone who wants to be involved, please e-mail me entries and enquiries by next Saturday, 23 June 2007.

You don't have to be queer to read, but we are specifically hoping to give exposure to overlooked voices in the community - very interested in the writings of queer women and non-Chinese writers in Singapore, for example, as well as hoping to portray a variety of generations and genres.

A bit of background: the first year, ContraDiction was held at Utterly Art, and the second year it was held at Mox. Both events commanded a large turnout, and featured readings by mostly emerging queer poets (the only published ones have been myself, Cyril Wong and Alfian Sa'at).

There's more info on previous ContraDiction events here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IndigNation#Contra.2FDiction:_A_night_with_gay_poets
http://www.plu.sg/indignation/?p=100

Hope to hear from ya!

ST Life!, Tuesday 12 June 2007

This Georgette is witty
This musical about the life of art pioneer Georgette Chen says much with little
Stephanie Yap

There's just something about a woman looking enigmatically out of a painting that seems to fire the imaginations of storytellers from print to screen.

Georgette, about the life of art pioneer Georgette Chen before she came to Singapore in her late 40s, is an exquisite work of theatrical art that mixes whimsy with wit and a sizeable dose of pathos.

Opening with the ensemble contemplating the "woman on the wall" – a slide projection of Chen's iconic self-portrait – we are soon brought to the gay Paris of the late 1920s, where a young Chen (Seong Hui Xuan) has arrived to become an artist, though her fat-cat parents are on hand to cramp her style.

There, the rebellious young woman falls in love with the Chinese foreign minister Eugene Chen, beginning a partnership that was ended by the ravages of World War II.

This no-frills staging had a cast of 11 accompanied by music director Chris Nolan on piano, in a manner charmingly reminiscent of café theatre.

Local composer Clement Yang's melodies are lush, haunting and emotionally varied, from the Caribbean-flavoured Islands In The Sun to the sweet and simple love song Always Together and the gorgeous anthem to art, Bowl of Fruit.

Meanwhile, playwright Ng Yi-Sheng must be lauded for his economy. His scenes never go on for too long, and he supplies the sharpest lines that establish his characters' personalities quickly while entertaining the audience.

"I'm not beautiful," sings Eugene self-effacingly during their courtship. "But that's modern art," retorts Georgette.

The omniscient narrator (Lina Lim) is useful at the start as she helps with the introductions, but peters into insignificance as the show runs its course.

As for Chen, she is portrayed as both plucky and lucky, a sympathetic yet initially self-centred character whose motivations, both artistic and personal, warrant more examination than was given.

To the creative team's credit, they dared to poke fun at their heroine, such as in a hilarious moment when she flounces out of her parents' house denouncing them as outmoded aristocrats – even as she ignores the rows of servants who obligingly back out of her way.

Seong, with her almond-shaped eyes and delicate features, looks astounding like Chen's self-portrait. The actress also has a compelling, self-possessed presence and a lovely contralto voice, and it is a great pity that she gets anything close to a show-stopping solo only in the second half of the show.

Eu Jin Hwang as Eugene Chen impressed with a chocolately tenor and effortless gravitas, while as Chen's parents, C.C. Leong's woundrously large head and Joyce Liang's tai-tai look were perfect physical manifestations of their character's personalities, though one feels that the duo could have hammed it up even more. Indeed, it seemed at times as if the entire cast, directed by Lee Yew Moon, was only singing and acting at half-power.

Still, this elegant musical, saying much with little, is a breath of fresh air in Singapore's musical theatre scene.

Today, Tuesday June 12, 2007

Short, but sweet
Musical on Georgette Chen packs in the laughs, while it lasts
by Juliana June Rasul

Going by the young Georgette Chen's early declaration that she wants to be an artist who "sets fire to cathedrals ... and dies of opium poisoning", laughs are the last thing you'd expect from a production of her life story.

And yet Musical Theatre Limited's Georgette, which ran on Saturday and Sunday at the Esplanade Theatre Studio, packs laughs aplenty, albeit for some strange and possibly unintentional reasons.

At one point, to illustrate the pioneering Singapore artist's fight for her work while surrounded by art-shunning communists in China, the ensemble splits into two camps. One rattles off the names of artists like Van Gogh and Picasso, and the other battles back with names of celebrated Marxists like Sun Yat-Sen.

This had the strange effect of reminding this reviewer of the song We Didn't Start the Fire, Billy Joel's names-only rundown of key events of the 20th century.

Meant to be a condensed, no-frills version of what playwright Ng Yi-Sheng hopes to turn into a proper musical, Georgette's brevity leaves little room to explore anything at great length.

Even the romance between Chen (played by Seong Hui Xuan) and her husband Eugene (Eu Jin Hwang), which was meant to be the focus of the musical, gets short shrift.

However, Ng earns some rather well-deserved giggles for art-themed in-jokes such as: "I'm not beautiful ... but that's modern art".

The play's general naughtiness also comes through at times, especially when Chen's father, Mr Zhang (CC Leong), a businessman, proclaims his sense of nouveau riche elitism by rhyming "business class" with "peasants, you can kiss my ****".

Yet even these funny moments add to, rather than diminish, the audience's incredulity at a work that has Chen donning a straw hat and salsa her way through a song celebrating her husband's intriguing early life on the Caribbean island of Trinidad.

Georgette: the Feedback

The musical's been absurdly well-received. Kenneth Lyen's provided a run-down of comments from the feedback forms:

"As the flood of congratulations kept on pouring in, the comments that kept on repeating themselves were, firstly, Seong Hui Xuan looked uncannily like Georgette, and secondly, this is one of the best, if not the best, Singapore musicals. Here are some quotations: "Ng Yi-Sheng's lyrics are multi-layered, intelligent, and captured the subtle shifts in emotions." "Clement Yang's music perfectly expressed the humor, the love, the pathos, the conflicts, and above all, the sadness." "I cried at the end of the first act, and again when the father sang the eulogy." "I wanted the musical to go on longer, I didn't want it to end." "Unquestionably, Georgette is a landmark Singapore musical." "This musical is part of National Education, and should be seen by all Singapore schools."

Ampulet's blog: "Later that day, J and I overcame our dislike of musicals and watched

Georgette, a musical by a young writer and a team of "volunteer"/amateur performers. It was surprisingly enjoyable - well-paced, clever funny lyrics, and a spirited performance by the cast."

Lecter's Blog: "A musical. An artist and her romance. A turbulent time and a bowl of fruit. A good performance, a good evening. Georgette worth its admission. Viva La Musical Theatre Limited!"

TimeMaker's Blog: "The production team isn't exactly world famous. But what caught my attention is the subject of the musical. Georgette Chen is one of the pioneer artists of Singapore. If you didn't know that, then you are probably not in the fine arts circle. I think she was also one of my father's teachers at NAFA. Personally, I like her painting style. But that is no guarantee on the quality of the musical. The more adventurous can give this show a try. If not for anything else, at least you get to learn more about one of Singapore's important art personalities."

Even my friend who gave up watching part of the Federer-Nadal match in the French Open finals, admitted that he was glad he did not miss Georgette. Please allow me to congratulate everyone involved in this brilliant musical! Well done!!!!

Nice, huh? And we've got it in writing too, with a review in the Business Times:

Homegrown musical with great potential
by Charmian Kok
Business Times Monday June 11, 2007

Exploring the life and influences of one of Singapore's most established artists is never an easy task to being with. However, for a relatively small-scale, no-frills musical like Georgette the Musical , writer Ng Yi-Sheng managed to spin a story that is both entertaining and engaging.

Created as part of Musical Theatre Limited's Five Foot Broadway musical incubation programme, Georgette the Musical is based on the life of China-born artist Georgette Chen, and largely centres on the love story with her first husband Eugene Chen.

In the opening act, we are first introduced to Georgette as a Woman on the Wall -- a self-portrait displayed on stage, and also the musical's opening song. From this somewhat serious mood, the scene changes to that of a bustling modern Paris, where Georgette moves to pursue her studies in art. The ensemble cast delivers a playful song, Modern World which sets the light-hearted tone of the first half.

Composer Clement Yang and music director Chris Nolan both did a commendable job, creating a repertoire of songs that drives the plot and provides a window into the characters' world of cross-cultural clashes and modernisation -- especially in the first half of the musical.

The question of East vs West, for example, was explored in a memorable scene set in the house of Georgette's parents -- a privileged and wealthy couple -- over a traditional Chinese dinner. Don't cross your chopsticks , goes the song, describing a long list of Chinese etiquette, that ends with a heated argument between feisty, unconventional Georgette and her more traditional parents.

In the second half of the musical, the theme of clashing cultures was revisited but in a more serious setting -- the communist revolution in China. The romance between Georgette and Eugene also takes on a darker mood, as they get engulfed in the tragic events of the Japanese Occupation.

Seong Hui Xuan, who plays Georgette, brings a vivacious energy to the stage, drawing out the non-conformist aspects of the late artist with conviction. However, the love story between Georgette and Eugene, while touching at times, felt rather undeveloped and somewhat unconvincing. Still, if Seong's portrayal of the romantic side of Georgette lacked tenderness, she did compensate to an extent with some heartfelt singing.

Overall, the musical was more successful in its comical, light-hearted first half, and fell short of delivering the weightier issues of the second half.

Though musicals tend to be lighthearted, works like Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables show that the darker side of life can be explored successfully as well; in this respect, more could have been done to explore the tragedy of Georgette's romance and deeper aspects of her character.

Nevertheless, Georgette the Musical is a surprisingly enjoyable homegrown musical. This engaging Singapore story about a passionate woman and pioneering artist has great potential for further development.

Georgette: Behind the Scenes

The stage is set...
The boys are putting on their makeup...
...and so are the ladies.
Yikes! It's only 7pm, and there's already a queue!
Standby...
...and the doors are open!
Front-of-house gets busy!
And after the show, people pose for photos. With the Yale Association Chairman, who knew Georgette Chen personally.
He liked it so much he asked to meet Seong Hui Xuan, who played Georgette, to congratulate her. From L to R: Hwang Eu Jin (Eugene Chen), Lina (Narratrix), Hui Xuan, the Chairman himself, me and Stella Kon (President of Musical Theatre Ltd).

Georgette: the musical

Time to promote my upcoming musical, based on the life of pioneer Singapore artist Georgette Chen!

It was developed by Musical Theatre Ltd under their Five-Foot Broadway programme, scored by Clement Yang (with arrangements by Chris Nolan and Esther Yang), and is being directed by Lee Yew Moon. It was given a thumbs-up by a panel of theatre luminaries - see here.

Esplanade Recital Studio
7:30pm [corrected from 8pm! Matinees cancelled by Esp :( ]
Sat 9 and Sun 10 June 2007
For tickets, click here.

Of course, some of my avant-garde artsy friends have chided me for elevating such a conventional oil painter adverse to innovation, reliant on personal charm and connections for her success - but I like her paintings, dammit. And I'm a sucker for a strong woman.

Go watch; it's not groundbreaking, but it's quite nice.

Today, Friday June 8, 2007, p54

Despite what the paper suggests, the portrait on the left-hand side is not of Georgette Chen herself - it's her painting of some middle-class Chinese family in Singapore. I do like the fact that Today got that pic published tho - it's a terribly interesting case of family portraiture in which the wife takes centrestage as a powerful, intellectual figure and the husband's more of an adjunct to the scene (unless that guy's a really big son or her boy toy).

Am slightly bugged by the fact that the article seemed to concentrate on issues that weren't directly relevant to the production - SQ21 lah, 251 lah, The Final Temptation of Stamford Raffles lah, my pomo artists friends' reservations (which it doesn't elaborate on enough to be meaningful)... also it misquotes my language into gibberish ("I was gratified over all the hoopla over 251"... huh? I think I meant "after").

Also doesn't pay tribute to the other collaborators in the process: the composer Clement Yang, the cute (but alas straight) Australian arranger Chris Nolan, the Australian vocal arranger Nicole Stinton, the actors themselves... But journalism's a tough job to do within the bounds of a 400-word column. And it's a kickass headline! I kena reference James Joyce! Moocow! Baby tuckoo! Yes and yes.

Song for Georgette

Publicity article for "Georgette" in the Straits Times today (Wednesday, June 6, 2007) Life! p10. Plus a very decent photograph of myself and Lee Yew Moon. (Meh, allow me my moments of narcissicism.) Also a nice block of quotes from our lead actress Seong Hui Xuan (hope this'll lead to further roles for her; she's very professional for someone so young.) Huh. It turns out that composer Clement Yang is lead bassist for a band named "Ugly in the Morning". Who knew?

last boy @ the Singapore Book Club

I'm being presented at the Singapore Book Club soon! Kristina Tom is speaking and Robert Yeo is facilitating.

18 May 2007
7pm
Earshot Cafe @ The Arts House
1 Old Parliament Lane

Admission is free
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED (snarf snarf gobble)

I'll be getting some pre-event publicity on LIVE 93.8FM in an interview with deejay Mr Eugene Loh on Monday 14 May, 1:45-2pm. Tune in if you give a shit. :)

Reading@Library@Esplanade

This Saturday I'll be doing a reading of poems from "last boy" as well as my slam repertoire at the Singapore Art Cafe in Library@Esplanade. Of course, copies of the book will be on sale. Hope people can drop by!

Library@Esplanade
Saturday May 5
4-5pm
FREE

Short and Sweet

My short ten-minute play "Frostbite" is going up this Wednesday as part of Short and Sweet Singapore, a festival of 10-minute plays. Andrew Lua's directing - he was one of the actors for the staged reading of "The Final Temptation of Stamford Raffles".

Week 2
25 April to 29 April 2007, 8pm
Studio Theatre, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
$25
Tickets here.

251

So it's finally the last day of our run for 251, the play I wrote for Toy Factory Theatrical Productions on the life of Annabel Chong that ran for 14 performances from 5 to 15 April at the Esplanade Theatre Studio. I've experienced the ups and downs of theatre and witnessed both the absurdity of commercial theatre hype (we sold out even before the first show!!!!) as well as the thick-headedness of censorship authorities in Singapore (sigh... click here).

Am I proud? Yes, I'm proud. It's a play with 101 flaws, but it's worked for a good proportion of the audience, many of whom are newcomers to theatre. And it's got me a name in the local scene and beyond which I'll be able to milk for a while (sigh... eventually you start thinking like the marketing people).

But for now, I'm skedaddling off to NYC for two weeks! From Sun 15 to Mon 30 April, DO NOT try to call my handphone. I'll be busy trying to peddle my books to the New York public. Wish me luck.

Five Foot Broadway Unplugged

Musical Theatre Singapore will presenting excerpts of my musical Georgette for free general viewing at the Esplanade Concourse tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) at 8:30pm.

Stop by to give us a clap, can?

A production of the full musical will occur during the Arts Fest, on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 June. Tickets are already on sale.

For a full schedule of the excerpts of local musicals presented, click here.

Georgette: the Trial by Fire

Forgot to deliver my report on what happened on the morning of Saturday March 10th, at the Esplanade. The incubationees of Musical Theatre Singapore marketed our work as 30-min presentations to the judges.

My cast did a superb 25-min presentation of my musical, Georgette, based on the life of Singapore pioneer artist Georgette Chen. This success was in spite of the fact that my really talented, ordinarily really responsible leading lady had overslept, and I had had to take over her place... yeah, I know, shit happens. I had to stand there, singing badly, trying very hard to give off neither incongruously masculine nor campily feminine signifiers while the others sang marvellously and talked about my being a "daughter" and a "woman artist" as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The love song was particularly weird.

Anyway, we performed in front of a panel of nine very finicky luminaries of the theatre world... and this was what they said.

KK SEET said the musical displayed a sure grasp of the genre, and appreciated that the songs were spliced to admit an intervening voice [wtf???]. However, he wished that the piece could be less chronological, possibly beginning in medias res, and that it might explore the inner demons of Georgette.

FELINA KHONG said that while dismissive of biographical plays/musicals in general, she was surprisingly entertained by the work. It was cheeky but polished.

TAN KHENG HUA said that she was on the verge of tears during the lovesong, and found the romance very touching. She appreciated the detail in the dialogue and lyrics, and wished the musical could describe more about Georgette's life story.

IVAN HENG asked whether Georgette Chen was truly as extraordinary as I'd made her out to be. He noted that her character appeared very passive, and that the context of her life appeared very privileged. What made this woman paint?, he asked. He wanted a musical to reflect more on Singapore in the period of the 50s and 60s, and suggested that I concentrate on the why and the who of her story. He was unsure about the ending, with the ambiguous circumstances of her move to Malaya. He did say he loved how the story moved, though.

JOBINA TAN saw potential in the script, but agreed that the ending was disappointing. She wanted to see Georgette finding her voice in Singapore, and felt that the final scene was anticlimactic.

GAURAV KRIPALANI noted that he looks out for musicals with a universal appeal, and Georgette qualified. He found the period and setting, in Europe and China in the 20s and 30s, to be especially interesting. However, he felt there was no dramatic tension. He also stated he did not like the music.

DICK LEE, however, said he did like the music, and also said, "I think you're first real lyricist I've come across." He felt the romance needed to be played up, as this work really came into its own as a love story. He also felt I should not feel compelled to bring the story on to Singapore. He felt, however, the story needed to be developed.

The final judgment placed "Georgette" as the most highly recommended piece for a production. "Esther" and "Believe" tied in second place, whereas it was advised that "O Krystal Ball" and "Tuesdays with Joe" be put aside. Felina actually approached me later to tell me she'd be interested in doing an independent staging of the piece.

We'll be doing a series of "Unplugged" performances of the musicals from April 2 to 5 at the Esplanade - I'll be in contact with all of you about this soon.

Theatre Idols + Tempestuous Beasts

I'm finally having my biographical-surrealist play, "The Final Temptation of Stamford Raffles", performed next Wednesday 21 March, 8pm at Action Theatre's 42 Waterloo St theatre. It's just a staged reading, but I've got a solid cast - Gerald Chew, Lim Yu Beng, Janice Koh, Wendy Kweh and Jeremy Lee (the only experienced actor in the current production of the Swimming Instructor, whom I noted has a nose that French desserts should be named after).

I'm going back to back with Tze Chien, and only one of us "upstarts" makes it to the finals the following week. I definitely won't beat him - aside from the fact that TC is a great writer, he's doing a comic drama and I'm doing a weird experimental half-finished piece that's way too long for a 45-min slot. But I'd appreciate it if you guys came - and hell, it's free!

E-mail Action Theatre for comps - 2 to a person.

UPDATE: Damn, that was pretty amazing... we had a resolutely madcap readthrough with Andrew Lua and Claude [insert Italian name?] replacing Jeremy - worked far better than I ever thought it would. Tze Chien's play won in the end (even though so many of my friends came to support me), but who cares? It HAPPENED. (And I made Janice Koh speak Tamil!).

Also! The night after, on Thursday 22 March at 8pm, I'm reading at Tempestuous Beasts, an evening of poetry at the University Cultural Centre lobby. It's part of the NUS Arts Festival this year.

Don't like poetry readings in general? Well, check this out: the other readers are Cyril Wong, Alfian Sa’at and slam poet Pooja Nansi - all of us strong performers, and tempestuous indeed. It'll be a good show, I promise - and I'll try to avoid reading the stuff I've read billions of times before. More info here.

Hraka.

Dear Yi Sheng,

Thank you for coming down to talk to us last Friday, and for the pleasure of reading your application material and becoming better acquainted with recent developments in your literary career. The panel shortlisted and interviewed a number of strong candidates, which is encouraging, but which gave us an unenviably difficult final decision.

I'm sorry to have to tell you that we are unable to award you the Fellowship at this time; however, we would like to make you the (only) reserve candidate, as acknowledgement of the strong potential we saw in you. We had a protracted debate over the relative merits of two final candidates, of which you were one. It really was difficult coming to a final decision, and the second-guessing did not stop even after we made that decision. We certainly feel that you'd be able to add much to this Fellowship, and thus even though in the final analysis we felt it fair to award it elsewhere, we also feel that you should rightly be the reserve candidate. Should the awardee for any reason be unable to accept the Fellowship, the judges will re-confer with the view of awarding it to you.

The judges also impressed on me to communicate, on their behalf, our very favourable impression of your existing work and artistic development, and to strongly encourage you to consider applying for this Fellowship again in the near future (should the present Fellowship go to the awardee instead of to you as reserve candidate). I'm stressing this to try to indicate to you the close nature of our final decision, and the panel's really strong affirmation of what you are doing. Your achievements are particularly impressive given your age and the prospect of your future development.

We expect the awardee to respond to our offer within a week or two, and if for any reason the awardee declines the Fellowship, rest assured that I will be in touch with you immediately.

Best wishes,

Robbie Goh

Residency

In eight hours' time, I'm being interviewed for the Arts House/NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Writer's Residency position. Wish me luck, guys.

YAWP!

I've been invited to perform and judge a competition at Young Adult Writers Perform! 2007, a performance poetry competition, organised by Hwa Chong's English Literature, Drama, Debate and Film Society (ELDDFS).

Friday 2 March
7:30pm
Hwa Chong Institution

According to the Ms Karen Lee, guest performers will include Cyril Wong, Michael Corbridge, Yong Shu Hoong, Marc Nair and Angeline Yap.

Asia Magazine

Hey! Bryan Choong of Oogachaga just sent me scans of the coverage we got in Asia Magazine.

The magazine can be found in all Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlets, ComicMarts, as well as at the Images of Singapore Bookshop on Sentosa, the National Library, the Gallery Hotel, the Pan Pacific Hotel, The Ascott Apartments, SPCA, HiltonHotel KL, Shangri-la Beijing, The Kerry Centre Hotel Beijing, ThePortman Ritz Carlton Shanghai, The Pines Shanghai, The American ClubTaiwan and onboard airlines SIA, SilkAir, Sri Lankan Airlines.

Woot! Pan-Asian outreach! Rock never die, babe.



In other news, I saw a copy of the book selling in the branch of Popular bookstore near my home. How Heartland!

UPDATE: Hold on a gosh-darned minute! My dad did NOT stand up with tears in his eyes at a launch at Borders! It was at the launch at Mox, and he didn't cry either - all he did was wave clownishly to say "yeah, yeah, I'm the one who sired this crazy brat". But I do still appreciate the gesture. :)

Guess what? I can write prose!

Or at least a six-word long short story. I've just found out I won Culturepush's Very Short Story Competition.

This was my winning entry:

“Thanks, Singapore – the experiment ends now.”

Others that I sent in include:

Singapore colonises Britain. Speak good Singlish.
LKY Clones himself. Global domination!
Actually, Soon Juan, you’re the Messiah.
Fuzzy logic air-conditioners take revenge!
“I loved you, Kuan Yew. Goodbye.” [my favourite!]
Bomoh creates zombie army: no NS!
Haw flake ingredient: soylent green
They said I was gifted, once.
Huh? You mean I’m a robot?
Astronomy’s a hoax: green cheese, anyone?
“Guess whose cock you sucked, Papa!”
Don’t be silly, pontianaks don’t exi-
Lesbian pontianak! Quick, throw your tampons!
Sentosa’s independent! (Led by waxwork LKY)

I know, it really was a case of data-bombing. So sue me. Actually, sue them. It's been almost two weeks since they uploaded the results and they still haven't e-mailed me - nor did they print my name in the report. (shrug)

UPDATE: They've made the updates and sent me my $50 Books Actually voucher. Hooray! (Apparently they wrote and dated the article about a week before uploading it, so their sin of forgetfulness is not quite so grievous.)

Beating a Retreat

On Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 February, 2007, our director Loretta Chen dug into her own pockets and booked a chalet at Changi Sailing Club.

This was where we held a retreat-cum-workshop for 251 - photos here.



Lemme introduce the cast:
From left to right: Cheryl Miles, Lee Weng Kee and Paul Lucas...


The irrepressible Amy Cheng:


And playing Annabel herself, Cynthia Lee Macquarrie:

And of course, our beloved director Loretta Chen:


Our ever-responsible stage manager Stanley:

And moi. You can see why I'm not in the cast. I'm just too campy.

"last boy" and other autopornographies

Happy CNY! These are slides from the presentation I did last week at Rojak, discussing my career both as a writer and an exhibitionist.

1. last boy, my first book of poetry, drawing on my sexual history in New York, coupled with some extremely passionate poetry readings.



2. My experimental drag in university.


3. Which I also engaged in at the opening of the Singapore Biennale Opening Party for the sake of celebrating the carnivalesque. Components: Japanese oni demon mask and green vintage dress found in an old closet in Columbia.


4. Coverage: A wearable art intervention performed Friday, 10 November at Encounters 34: Beginning Belief, LaSalle-SIA School of the Arts. Materials: Singapore Biennale badges (X 92), Singapore Biennale tote bag, black tights, blazer and marker pen inscriptions of local contemporary artists not included in the Biennale. Reprised Saturday 11 November at the official closing party for the Biennale. Amanda Heng said she liked it. :)


5. And more recently, a grumpy protest against the proposed retention of section 377A, the Penal Code article against gay male sex, at the SQ21 blog.


There are other slides, but I'll curb my sluttiness for now. :)

Rojak!

I'm doing a presentation this Friday night on my work at the next Rojak. It's an evening of talks by artists and designers, held quarterly at a cool new location every time. This time it's at Pearl Bank Apartments, near Outram MRT, where I was born and grew up.

My talk's entitled "last boy and other autopornographies". Below is the proper invite:

09.02.2007 Fri 08.00pm till 09.02.2007

Welcome to ROJAK 07. This time, it is held in Pearlbank Apartments, part of the "Save the Modern Buildings" series. The Pearlbank Apartments, like our previous Golden Mile Complex venue, is in the midst of en bloc and possibly sold away. These architectural pieces contains many unique spaces and it will be a shame if they disappear from our local landscape. We hope that ROJAK can bring our local creatives from different disciplinaries to experience these spaces and hopefully, works can be inspired from them.

The presentation will also start earlier this time at 8pm and do come rest casually and comfortably :)

Due to the nature of our venue, there are a few things to note this time:

1. Please bring drinks to share for the ROJAK dingy. Previously, FARM always try our best to refill the drinks during ROJAK. But as this venue is far from any possible replenishment, we requested that all audience to bring something to share with the rest. It's the least you can do with all the sharing going around on ROJAK night.

2. The owner has requested that there is absolutely no smoking within the space, no sitting on the balcony ledge (which is 37th floor! yikes!!) and please do not touch the antique mirrors hung in the kitchen as they are quite reactive to water and stains (but yes, stare into yourself with them)

3. This is a private event. Please subscribe to FARM FEED for the invites and instructions on how to get to the venue (through the security).

See you soon.

See Website

251.3

Yep. Have just finished 251 Draft 3. We'll see how the reading goes on Friday. (Shudder).

It's good stuff, I'm just naturally paranoid.