I'm going to WordStorm!

FRIDAY 16 MAY

POETRY SLAM @ Vodka Bar
Hear featured artists Munkimuk, Ng Yi-Sheng, Cristavão Pereira, Scribe Sisters Speaking & Kelly-Lee Hickey before getting up to slam!
8:30-11pm $10/$5
Duck’s Nuts, 76 Mitchell St, Darwin


SATURDAY 17 MAY

LUNCHTIME READINGS:
OVER THERE – A TIGER CONNECTION Dorothy Porter, Yong Shu Hoong, Ng Yi-Sheng and Peter Minter all contributed to the first anthology of Singaporean and Australian poetry – Over There.
1:15-2:15pm Speaking Tree FREE

ADUH! A PEOPLE’S THEATRE
Theatre practitioners John Waromi, Mary Anne Butler, Tom E Lewis and Ng Yi-Sheng challenge ‘the fourth wall’ in community-driven performance projects that matter. Facilitator: Sandra Thibodeaux
2:30-4pm MAGNT Theatrette


SUNDAY 18 MAY

THE PRACTICE OF SUBVERSION
Subversives Charles Firth, Jennifer Mills, Gayle Kennedy and Ng Yi-Sheng recount their challenges to the status quo, the nation state and the States.
Facilitator: Mark Bowling
2:30-4pm Arafura Tent

PASSION @ ABSOLUTELY
Rendezvous with Ng Yi-Sheng, Dorothy Porter & Shellie Morris in a toast to passion and the muse. Drinks & finger food
4:30-6:30pm $10
Absolutely Books, Cullen Bay

Launch of Over There @ South Perth Poetry Park!

Basically, if you wanna come, it's on:

Thursday, 15 May

5:30pm

Neil McDougall Park, Como

Perth, WA

Australia

Oceania

The World

RSPV [sic] essential. Invitation & map attached.

Please email library@southperth.wa.gov.au or call 9474 0800.

From NAC:

A Poetry Park will be launched at the Neil McDougall Park in South Perth, Australia to celebrate the outstanding work and achievements of Western Australia’s poets. The opening also marks the launch of Over There: Poems from Singapore & Australia, an anthology of Singaporean and Australian poets, edited by Alvin Pang and John Kinsella.

The event to be held on Thursday, 15 May 2008 will be officiated by the Honourable Sheila McHale MLA, Australian Minister for Disability Services, Tourism, Culture & the Arts.

The Singapore contingent for the launch led by Lee Suan Hiang, Chief Executive Officer, National Arts Council, will comprise Meritorious Service Medal recipient, Professor Edwin Thumboo, distinguished poet and literary scholar, Professor Kirpal Singh, as well as acclaimed Singapore poets, Alvin Pang and Ng Yi-Sheng, and publisher Ethos Books for Over There, Fong Hoe Fang.

Whee! I've got recognition from NAC! (Now if they'd only start including me in their brochures of notable Singapore writers...)

And then after that, WordStorm in Darwin! Seeya there!)

My first articles on The Online Citizen!

Homophobia Part 1: the MDA Censors the Family

Homophobia Part 2: Under Attack from the Police

Although one commenter's called me a faggot (well, duh), another commenter (who didn't seem completely pro-gay rights) put up a link to a pretty interesting essay of his in which he compares gay male sex to smoking.  His conclusion is that it's harmful to health, but it should be legal, and better education should be available.  (He seems to be very distrustful of the effectiveness of condoms, though.)

What's Coming Up?

A bunch of things!

First off, I'll be doing a reading together with a bunch of Singapore and Australian poets in Perth, to launch "Over There: Poems from Singapore and Australia". I'll be going with Ethos publishers.

15 May: Launch at Poetry Park, Perth at 5pm

Then I'll be attending WordStorm, a writers' festival in Darwin.

16 May: Poetry Slam at Vodka Bar, Darwin, 8:30pm
17 May: Out There - A Tiger Connection at 1:15pm
Pride Event at Books Absolutely at 2:30pm

Then in August, I'll be organising a queer poetry reading in Singapore:

5 August: ContraDiction IV at 72-13, (part of the IndigNation Festival)

And having two plays go up:

13-17 August: The Final Temptation of Stamford Raffles by W!ld Rice, directed by Christina Sergeant, at the Drama Centre Theatre (part of the Singapore Theatre Festival)
28-30 August: Reservoir by Theatreworks, directed by Choy Ka Fai, at 72-13.

Just fyi!

The Soldier and His Virtuous Wife
The Theatre Practice
Reviewer: Kenneth Kwok
09/04/2008

The laughs are often cheap and obvious but that shamelessness is the essence of the play: Soldier is here to entertain entertain entertain and this it does with much colour and charm. The funniest moments are when this ridiculously over-the-top musical-comedy take on Chinese opera segues into Western pop cultural references and sensibilities (Bananarama, hip hop, vogueing) but really, the whole play is gag after gag. Kudos to director May Lan for her vibrant vision (and attention to detail - look out for the sight gags in the background) and the strong ensemble cast especially Darius Tan as the billionaire trying to lure the Virtuous Wife from her Soldier husband and Liu Hong and Katherine Tang as his sycophantic sidekicks. Utterly hilarious!

****

Reviewer: Ng Yi-Sheng
04/04/2008

A rollicking good show! Though derived from the tropes and traditions of Chinese opera, The Soldier and His Virtuous Wife overflows with zany contemporary physical humour and wit, stimulating viewers with a non-stop array of song, dance and acrobatics. Director May Lan, who originally staged this Taiwanese musical here in 1996 and 1998, succeeds brilliantly with a new cast of gifted singers and actors. Joanna Dong is especially charming as Meiying, the virtuous wife herself, defending the honour of her husband who's gone off to war with equal parts innocent charm and ballbreakin' girl power, though, in fact, the whole ensemble packs a punch: the goofy husband Qiuhu (Ric Liu), the charismatic villain Master Lee (Darius Tan) and the kungfu-kicking Officer (Gordon Choy), to name a few. And the polymorphic anarchy of the show is unbelievable: arias break into pop songs, tea ceremonies dissolve into the macarena, servants hurl chocolate ingots into the audience and old mother-in-laws or lechers burst out with tunes from The Phantom of the Opera or The Magic Flute or Teresa Teng's Greatest Hits. It is mad, and in the best way possible: I barely stopped laughing throughout the 105-minute performance.

****1/2

This first impressions review first appeared on The Flying Inkpot and has been archived here for posterity.

Clark in Sarajevo
LASALLE BA (Hons) Acting Programme
Reviewer: Kenneth Kwok
28/03/2008

Clark started off strongly with both the playwright Catherine Zimdahl and the director Steven Rassios showing much creativity in the way the situation in war-torn Sarajevo was being presented on a bare stage: besides the use of poetry and physical theatre, for example, most interesting was the risky choice of using humour as the play’s foundation. The second half, however, lacked the coherence of the first and disintegrated into a shaky series of vignettes that did not really build towards the impactful final scene (which saw the actors lighting a rectangle of fire around themselves along the borders of the stage). Even the surreal sight of Jesus as Wonder Woman singing 80s ballad Eternal Flame with a bevy of backing singers and dancers at one point which should have made you sit up and take notice felt a little contrived and not really well thought through. The production was meant as a showcase for LASALLE’s first cohort of BA (Hons) Acting graduates and, in that regard, however, Clark was a resounding success. Led by a charming performance by Crispian Chan as the bumbling reporter Clark Cant investigating the troubles in Sarajevo, the ensemble cast of actors impressed with their confidence, clarity and commitment to their various roles with Rayann Condy as a prostitute with a heart of gold the obvious standout (special mention also goes to the precision of Emanorwatty Saleh’s dramatic soundscape). It is a pity that only one of the cast was Singaporean as, judging by the quality of tonight’s performances, our local students are missing out on a real opportunity for quality training through LASALLE’s BA (Hons) Acting programme under Edith Podesta.

***1/2

This first impressions review first appeared on The Flying Inkpot and has been archived here for posterity.

Death and Rebirth - NUS Lit Nite

Life, love and drama serials. This reading explores how temporal most things are in our lives – and how new beginnings are just around the corner, just when we think things - as we know it – have ended.

I didn't write that blurb, so I can't apologise for it. Anyhoo, that's the theme for the next reading I'm part of: part of the NUS Arts Festival, to be held this Sunday evening.

Details are as follows:

· Date of event: Sunday, 23 March 2008
· Time of event: 6pm – 6.45pm
· Duration of event: 45 min (10 min reading)
· Venue: Theatre Foyer, University Cultural Centre, NUS

Also reading with me are David Leo and Shi Min.

QLRS reviews last boy

Finally. Thanks, Aaron Lee.

Read Heartland of Myths and Alter Egos here.

Theatre Idols – Finals
Action Theatre
Reviewer: Ng Yi-Sheng
17/3/08
Esplanade Concert Hall

What a surprise – out of nowhere, young playwrights Jacke Chye and Christine Sim have appeared wielding remarkably solid scripts at this competition for new Singapore plays. Better still, their plays are completely different creatures, and both rather good: Chye's Catching Adam Cheng is a cute, feel-good comedy about four women escaping from their old folks' home to catch an Adam Cheng concert, with well-drawn characters, strong motivations and good pacing, while Sim's Numb is a mad Sarah Kane-esque psychodrama of sex, sadism and alienation, centred around the character of a surgeon who finds she is slowly losing her sense of touch. Both writers fall into the trap of spouting platitudes, and a whole lot of deadweight's had to be shed between the first reading and this presentation. But it's clear that the theatre writing scene has two new faces to contend with. Let's hope they stick it out. (Since you're curious: Catching Adam Cheng won the audience's vote, but if you ask me, it's the more dangerous Numb that brings something fresh to the table. And it bleeds.) (Oh yes, and acting-wise Jeremy Lee got the audience award, but if you ask me it was Esther Yap whose comic and psychotic roles really carried the day. I just gotta be contrary.)


***1/2

This first impressions review first appeared on The Flying Inkpot and has been archived here for posterity.

I Has A New Book!

And it lookz lyk dis:


Itz mai commisshunned book 4 ACS (Indiependunt)! Da tytle iz "On His Wings: ...soaring twenty years on", it costs $25ive dollarz, and dere is evun a foto of me insidez! L00k!!!1!!


Plz commisshun me 4 more stuf kthxbye.

And for all you ACS boys out there, Happy Founders' Day. Oldham Dauntless Hero didn't come for nuthin', yknow.

I'm going to the Man Hong Kong Literary Festival!

My first ever writers' festival! (I was never properly invited to the Singapore one, doncha know.) Here's the events I'll be doing:

Thursday, 6 March

8:00pm | Joyce is Not Here, 38-44 Peel Street, Central | free

event code: 806H

Poetry Roundtable -- Reconnect with poetry as local and international poets read and discuss their work. Featuring Andrew Barker, Sally Dellow, Sayed Gouda, Viki Holmes, Isa Kamari, David McKirdy, Ng Yi-Sheng and Cai Tianxin. Moderated by local poet Martin Alexander.

Friday, 7 March

7:00pm | The Fringe Theatre | HK$90

event code: 807G

Rhyme Across Time -- "To have great poets there must be great audiences too." ~ Walt Whitman. Experience the poetry of Sylvia Plath, Kit Wright, Caroline Kiser, William Blake and Ted Hughes on: beginnings, home, love, spirit, and endings as read by local poets Martin Alexander, Andrew Barker, Sally Dellow, Jason Lee and Madeleine Marie Slavick. Featured poets Viki Holmes, Isa Kamari, Ng Yi-Sheng and Cai Tianxin interpret these topics in their own distinctive voices. Moderated by local poet David McKirdy.

Saturday,8 March

2:00pm | The Fringe Studio | HK$90

event code: 808H

Labels: Gay Literature -- Is there such a thing as gay literature? Can writing be a tool to come out? Does one have to be gay to write a gay novel? This session discusses gay culture and what the label implies. Nigel Collett leads a discussion with Peter Moss, Ng Yi-Sheng and Alon Hilu.

Can you believe it? People will actually pay money to see me! (Um, me and Isa Kamari/Alon Hilu, that is.)

Nanyang Literary Festival 2008 - Pandora’s Box

I'm reading at NTU's Lit Festival tomorrow!

20th February 2008, Wednesday
OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY
Venue: Canopy J, Canteen A
Duration: 11.30am – 4.00pm

(I've got the 11:45ish to 12:30 slot).

Front

I was on Front, our weekly embarrassingly-contrived-wannabe-hip arts TV show last night - 9:30pm, Tuesday, Arts Central. Missed it 'cos I was at a poetry slam at Velvet Underground.

The topic of the story was "Is rap the new poetry?" I'm not sure if they recorded the bit where I say what a retarded question that is.

Anyhow, it oughta be rerunning on TVMobile all of this week. Stay tuned.

BWISITOR Series 4

I'm visiting the Philippines from 24 to 30 Jan. And through some absurd turn of events, I've been invited as a speaker at the University of Manila.

A PERFORMANCE BY RUNAR MAGNUSSON – Icelandic sound artist

January 23, Wednesday

1-2.30 pm, Production Design Class

College of Mass Communications Auditorium

U.P. Diliman

+

A CONVERSATION WITH NG YI-SHENG – Singaporean writer & queer activist

January 25, Friday

1-2.30 pm, Youth Culture and Cinema Class

A-107-B, Film Institute

U.P. Diliman

THE BWISITOR SERIES FEATURES INVITED GUESTS FROM VARIOUS DISCIPLINES - ARTISTS, FILMMAKERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, DESIGNERS, CURATORS, WRITERS - WHO WILL BE SHARING THEIR IDEAS, WORKS AND EXPERIENCES WITHIN AN INTIMATE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT. THE SERIES IS FACILITATED BY YASON BANAL.

PAST BWISITORS INCLUDE MANUEL OCAMPO, RAYMOND LEE, RINGO BUNOAN, MAY DATUIN, NICCOLO COSME, MERVIN ESPINA, KHAVN DELACRUZ, LAV DIAZ, TEDDY CO, TAD ERMITANO, JOHNNY ALCAZAREN, STEVE TIRONA, KIKO ESCORA, EILEEN LEGASPI-RAMIREZ, ALEXIS TIOSECO, EDWARD BASSE, RAYA MARTIN, MADS ADRIAS, QUARK HENARES, RICO ILARDE , POKLONG ANADING, CONRADO VELASCO, SANDRA PALOMAR, MARIA TANIGUCHI, NONA GARCIA, MARTIN MASADAO, MARTA LOVINA, KIKO SOEDER, GEOLETTE ESGUERRA, TRINKA LAT AND CHRISTINA DY.

ADMISSION IS FREE.

The reason behind all of this oddness is that I once met Filipino artist Yason Banal at the Singapore Biennale, almost participated into a performance art event by him, and ultimately ended up interviewing him for Fridae.com.

Actually, my life is just odd. Very odd.

"Frostbite" at Short and Sweet Sydney 2008

My highly depressive 10-minute play "Frostbite" is going up at the Short and Sweet festival in Sydney. It's going on during Week 3 at the Seymour Centre. If you h-a-p-p-e-n to be in the city at that time, go see it. :)

Haven't had even a phone conversation with my director Frieda Lee (she called, but I was back late, and it's been expensive for her), but hey, it's in another country, I'm not gonna see it. Tell me how she does, won't you?

Short and Sweet Week 3
29 Jan to 2 February
Seymour Centre
Cnr City Rd & Cleveland St.

Bookings:
SEYMOUR 9351 7940
MCA TIX 1300 306 776
www.mca-tix.com

Update: Huh. Seems like I'm the only Singaporean writer on the schedule of 130 plays (although not the only Singapore-based writer, since Nick Perry has "An Illustrated Talk" at Newtown during Week 4). Considering how Frostbite is written for an American campus setting, this kinda suggests that the content of the festival's gonna be a trifle... how can I be tactful?... white.

Other Singaporeans made the shortlist of 317, but just weren't chosen by directors. Sure, it's a little dangerous for someone to stage a piece that's written for a different culture from what s/he's familiar with. But still.

Anyhow, at least two of my Interplay friends are being performed - Sime Knezevic from Brisbane and Ivor Martinic from Croatia. Prost.

Three Poets: Amirthanayagam, Nansi and Ng

I've been featured on the blog of the very cool performance poet Sharanya Manivannan. Check it out.

Run for Cover

Enoch wants to reprint my poetry collection, last boy. Enoch wants a new image for the cover.

Preferably I'd like to use an image by a Singapore artist - the last image was by Brian Gothong Tan, a reworking of this graphic:


I could use one of his works again, but it'd be cooler to find a new image... the themes of the book are youth and a multicultural/homosexual coming of age...

Any suggestions?

A Queer Singapore Literature Talk with Writers Johann S. Lee + Me

PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE PRESENTS

An Afternoon with Johann S Lee
(Author of 'Peculiar Chris' and 'To Know Where I'm Coming From')
& Ng Yi-Sheng
(Poet and playwright, also known for his documentary book, 'SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century')

Saturday, 29 December 2007
Pelangi Pride Centre @ Bianco (21 Tanjong Pagar Rd, Level 4)
4-6pm
RSVP to pelangipridecentre@yahoo.com

Pelangi Pride Centre is proud to present a special event on the last
Saturday of 2007 - an afternoon with author, Johann S Lee, and
Ng Yi-Sheng, poet and playwright.

Many of us will remember with great nostalgia, the feeling of reading
Singapore's first gay novel, 'Peculiar Chris' when it was released in 1992.
Relive your first furtive glances at Singaporean gay literature in this
afternoon with the author.

Also get a chance to quiz Johann about the motivations in writing his second
novel 'To Know Where I'm Coming From'. Why did he take so long before
penning this second book?

Yi-Sheng (who majored in Comparative Literature & Writing at Columbia
University USA and curated IndigNation), together with Johann, will
facilitate a discussion around the relevance of Singapore gay fiction.

Join us on Saturday, 29 December at Pelangi Pride Centre,
for an informal and interactive afternoon.

About Johann's Latest Book: 'To Know Where I'm Coming From'

"A gripping story of love, caught between the gay worlds of London and
Singapore, unashamedly describing queer life as it is today: sexy and
sordid, romantic and political, frustrated and ecstatic."
- Ng Yi-Sheng, poet and playwright

"Hauntedly captivating and quietly powerful. Set against a diorama of
nostalgia and irresistible change, Lee observantly explores the ache of
falling in love and falling apart. For a Singapore which has evolved since
Peculiar Chris, Lee's assured second novel revisits the notions of choice
and choosing in a manner which, to his readers, has become not just
necessary, but imperative."
- Daren Shiau, author

"Read his novel... for its sheer honesty and at times heart wrenching
moments... Its importance in staking a claim in the territory of the
narrative of the overseas gay Singaporean male as well as the matured
Singaporean gay male experience, is not to be underestimated."
- Trevvy.com

"To read this book is not just to know where the author is coming from, but
to recognise, as gay people in a postmodern Asia, ourselves. How we love,
where we hope to go. Who we are."
- Fridae.com

I Am a Face to Watch

We've all had a good laugh about this article - it describes me as "a writer with a finger in every pie", and god knows that's the truth - and they haven't even documented my theatre review work, my performance poetry, my experimental poetry and my multimedia collaborations with VISTA Lab. (Coincidentally, Torrance Goh, our VISTA set designer, got named as a face to watch in this week's design and fashion segment. Woot, but by the time the papers recognise it, it's already old news.)


It's very good company to be in - choreographer/dancer/artist/interdisciplinarian/JC teacher Daniel K, curators Low Sze Wee, Matthew Ngui and Joselina Cruz, and actress Mindee Ong of 881 - who, incidentally, is described at being best at playing "women who are down but not out". Giggle giggle.

Reading in Kuala Lumpur

I'll be having a reading tomorrow (Sunday 9 December) in KL:

“Wayang Kata V”

Poetry performance at night with Charlie Dark (UK), Chris Mooney-Singh, Pooja Nansi, Ng Yi-Sheng and Bani Haykal (Singapore) and Priya Kulasagaran, Liyana Yusof, Divya Jiwa and Jerome Kugan (Malaysia). Presented by British Council and the Troubagangers.

8:30-11pm,
Sunday 9 December

No Black Tie
17 Jalan Mesui
Off Jalan Nagasari, Tel: 2142 3737).