'High above me the sky is all blue
All around me there is absolute silence
A single white crane flashes over my head
Painting the entire world as peaceful and tranquil'
The POET, Scene 7, The Spirits Play’
"天，一片蔚蓝
四周，沒一点声音
一只白鸟从头上飞过
把全世界，画得一片安宁”
诗人，第七场，《灵戏》
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Drop by ok? 有空来坐坐好吗？
From: House Programme Editor, Jeffrey Tan (jefftan72@yahoo.com.sg)
An open letter to Pao Kun after watching one rehearsal.
Hi Pao Kun,
How have you been?
Today, I witnessed a rehearsal by the newly formed TETC. Peter Sau got Heng Leun to direct some of your past TTRP graduates in this new multi-lingual production of The Spirits Play. When I walked into the rehearsal room after lunch, the actors were meditating and warming up their voices. It’s been such a long time since I witnessed such a serious rehearsal atmosphere. When the physical warm up started, the agility of the actors to keep the wooden poles in the air was amazing to watch. Such strong stage presence, serious and at the same time playfully creative! Besides rehearsing for the play, they each had to create individual performances and sharing of what they have been doing creatively since graduating from TTRP.
I had a chat with Heng Luen and am excited about his concept of the play. Instead of moulding the very diverse actors to your play, they decided to respond, experiment and create their own multi-lingual version of this very exciting play.
Flashes of the first three mandarin and English productions came back… You writing the play as we rehearse the premiere version at waterloo street. Then you got sick and we were really worried. Even the elderly Lin Lian Kun, (fantastic actor from China) was so calm and concerned. Then you surprised everyone by getting Stan Lai from Taiwan to helm the maiden production for the Singapore Arts Festival. Later that year, we toured your own version to Hong Kong for the Chinese Drama Festival. Being production manager, it was such a joy working with you! Keng Sen’s mind blowing version of The Spirits Play at the Battle Box and Victoria Theatre with the Japan performance artists blew my mind to the endless possibilities of your universal play.
I’m so looking forward to this new exciting version as the cast and crew organically experiment, respond and create their own versions of your play. I wish you were here to see it.
Drop by ok?
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Tan
(Resident Director, The Theatre Practice 1997 to 1999)
An open letter to Pao Kun after watching one rehearsal.
Hi Pao Kun,
How have you been?
Today, I witnessed a rehearsal by the newly formed TETC. Peter Sau got Heng Leun to direct some of your past TTRP graduates in this new multi-lingual production of The Spirits Play. When I walked into the rehearsal room after lunch, the actors were meditating and warming up their voices. It’s been such a long time since I witnessed such a serious rehearsal atmosphere. When the physical warm up started, the agility of the actors to keep the wooden poles in the air was amazing to watch. Such strong stage presence, serious and at the same time playfully creative! Besides rehearsing for the play, they each had to create individual performances and sharing of what they have been doing creatively since graduating from TTRP.
I had a chat with Heng Luen and am excited about his concept of the play. Instead of moulding the very diverse actors to your play, they decided to respond, experiment and create their own multi-lingual version of this very exciting play.
Flashes of the first three mandarin and English productions came back… You writing the play as we rehearse the premiere version at waterloo street. Then you got sick and we were really worried. Even the elderly Lin Lian Kun, (fantastic actor from China) was so calm and concerned. Then you surprised everyone by getting Stan Lai from Taiwan to helm the maiden production for the Singapore Arts Festival. Later that year, we toured your own version to Hong Kong for the Chinese Drama Festival. Being production manager, it was such a joy working with you! Keng Sen’s mind blowing version of The Spirits Play at the Battle Box and Victoria Theatre with the Japan performance artists blew my mind to the endless possibilities of your universal play.
I’m so looking forward to this new exciting version as the cast and crew organically experiment, respond and create their own versions of your play. I wish you were here to see it.
Drop by ok?
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Tan
(Resident Director, The Theatre Practice 1997 to 1999)
Our Principal, Our Mentor, Our Guiding Light
Kuo Pao Kun (b.1939 Xiaoguo village, Hebei, China - d. 10 Sep 2002, Singapore), was a playwright, director, producing plays in both English and Chinese. He is considered one of the most significant dramatists in Singapore and a pioneer of Singapore theatre. Many of his works, produced over four decades of creative work, have been translated into Malay, Tamil, German, Japanese, Arabic. And many, too, have been produced and performed by theatre companies in Singapore and abroad.
Kuo is widely regarded as a pioneer in Singapore theatre. His performing arts school and theatre company have nurtured and produced many performing arts practitioners over the years. Kuo himself taught a whole generation of directors, including Action Theatre’s Ekachai Uekrongtham, Theatreworks' Ong Keng Sen, The Necessary Stage's Alvin Tan and WildRice’s Ivan Heng.
When he converted The Substation into an arts centre in 1990, it provided an avenue for local arts practitioners and audience alike which transcended language and discipline. The four arts institutions which he founded - the Practice Performing Arts School, The Theatre Practice, The Substation and The Thetare Research Programme – have become major arts institutions in Singapore. Through his role in these institutions, Kuo has inspired a whole generation of Singapore artists.
Awards
1989 : Cultural Medallion
1993 : ASEAN Award for Performing Arts
1997 : Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (knighthood of arts and letters), France
2002 : Excellence for Singapore Award.
He passed away in late 2002 and is dearly missed by everyone one of us from TETC, not to mention all the hearts and souls he has touched through his outstanding Singaporean dramatic works and academic writings.
Kuo is widely regarded as a pioneer in Singapore theatre. His performing arts school and theatre company have nurtured and produced many performing arts practitioners over the years. Kuo himself taught a whole generation of directors, including Action Theatre’s Ekachai Uekrongtham, Theatreworks' Ong Keng Sen, The Necessary Stage's Alvin Tan and WildRice’s Ivan Heng.
When he converted The Substation into an arts centre in 1990, it provided an avenue for local arts practitioners and audience alike which transcended language and discipline. The four arts institutions which he founded - the Practice Performing Arts School, The Theatre Practice, The Substation and The Thetare Research Programme – have become major arts institutions in Singapore. Through his role in these institutions, Kuo has inspired a whole generation of Singapore artists.
Awards
1989 : Cultural Medallion
1993 : ASEAN Award for Performing Arts
1997 : Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (knighthood of arts and letters), France
2002 : Excellence for Singapore Award.
He passed away in late 2002 and is dearly missed by everyone one of us from TETC, not to mention all the hearts and souls he has touched through his outstanding Singaporean dramatic works and academic writings.
Do you know the history behind 'The Spirits Play'? 《灵戏》的历史
Written in 1998 by the most important Singaporean dramatist-playwright of our times, Mr Kuo Pao Kun, founder of Theatre Training & Research Programme (TTRP), The Theatre Practice (TTP), Practice Performing Arts School (PPAS) and The Substation.
Mandarin Productions of THE SPIRITS PLAY 《灵戏》
1998 The Theatre Practice, directed by Stan Lai, 10 June, Victoria Theatre, Singapore Arts Festival
1998 The Theatre Practice, directed by Kuo Pao Kun, 13 Nov, Victoria Theatre, Singapore
1998 The Theatre Practice, directed by Kuo Pao Kun, 22 Nov Hong Kong City Hall, Chinese Drama Festival
English Productions of THE SPIRITS PLAY
'THE SPIRITS PLAY- 6 Movements in a Strange House'
Performance conceived & directed by Ong Keng Sen
A collaboration between cutting edge Japanese performance artists and veteran Singapore actors. Separate performances, specially designed and transformed for two different venues.
Presented by Theatreworks:
17 – 20 August 2000: The Battle Box, Fort Canning Park, 8pm
25 – 26 August 2000: Victoria Theatre, 8pm
Oct 2001: Morishita Studios, Japan
R(A) - Restricted to audience 18 & above
Mandarin Productions of THE SPIRITS PLAY 《灵戏》
1998 The Theatre Practice, directed by Stan Lai, 10 June, Victoria Theatre, Singapore Arts Festival
1998 The Theatre Practice, directed by Kuo Pao Kun, 13 Nov, Victoria Theatre, Singapore
1998 The Theatre Practice, directed by Kuo Pao Kun, 22 Nov Hong Kong City Hall, Chinese Drama Festival
English Productions of THE SPIRITS PLAY
'THE SPIRITS PLAY- 6 Movements in a Strange House'
Performance conceived & directed by Ong Keng Sen
A collaboration between cutting edge Japanese performance artists and veteran Singapore actors. Separate performances, specially designed and transformed for two different venues.
Presented by Theatreworks:
17 – 20 August 2000: The Battle Box, Fort Canning Park, 8pm
25 – 26 August 2000: Victoria Theatre, 8pm
Oct 2001: Morishita Studios, Japan
R(A) - Restricted to audience 18 & above
Circus People Stellar 剧场梦幻团队
The GENERAL from Hong Kong - Andy香港的 将军 伟硕
The MOTHER from Taiwan - Themis 台湾的 母亲 浿安
The MAN from India - Noushad 印度的 男人 Noushad
The GIRL from Singapore - Ee Mien新加坡的 姑娘 伊敏
The POET from Mexico - Beto墨西哥的 诗人 Beto
The LITTLE BOY from Japan - Miyuki日本的 小男孩 美裕起
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tapping into one's past - Noushad from India, playing the SOLDIER in 'The Spirits Play' shares his childhood and growing up years
1st week of rehearsal - Moment, experience, recollection, stillness-to-analyse-myself, words-to-performative-thought and then body exploration with limited but complex set, struggles and conflicts between actor to character and vice versa. wha!!!....... Good, creative, relaxing and enjoying time with Heng Luen and our six GREAT 'Spirited' actors, including me.
Day by day, I am seeing Kerala (India) closer to me as i work through my text translation from English to my mother tongue, Malayalam. Really, my home village is also like the character MAN's village as mentioned in 'The Spirits Play'. There are big rice fields, canals, rivers, mountains, the landscape is full of greeneries. In my childhood, I helped a lot for farmers who were working in our rice field, such as bringing food from their homes to the fields on time, carrying the bundle of rice plants in the big cane baskets, washing the mud from the roots from one field to another.........planting, fertilizing, ploughing , storing water from the brooks to field ,shaping the borders of the field. When we go back home after the work from the field, I cleaned the bullock, buffalos and ploughing tools from the canal. And the smell of the sweet, happy working farmers, planting women in diffrent lines - their comments, the birds, cranes, crow,s mienas, pigeons..........the smell of the field, the touch of the rice plants, the smell and chemical action of the fertilizers (ammonia, uria, potash, ashes, cow dung etc.)
Wow.......its like re-opening up a can of memories again now through this play i am performing in.
My school days - I could see the Centrel Reserve Police Force (CRPF) doing excercises -running, marching and walking from 7 am every day . Their tall height and strong personality, their duty and their energy impressed me very much. Two time, I tried to join the CRPF in 1984 and1985. But my short height means I couldn't enter even the main gate of the camp; there was one measuring rope tied across the main gate of the camp whose height is about 1 meter 70 cm. Well, if you are in standing position and your head touches the rope , you will move onto the physical test. But I was unlucky. I prepared myself for the next year; running, jumping, chin up (hanging in tree) push up etc. But I was also unlucky the next year. Then I never tried again.
Two of my uncles were in militery those days. One was stationed in Punjab and another was in Kashmir. They discouraged me to join the police force when they came back for holidays. Because of their training, routine, duties and responsibilities, they shared thier loneliness and emotional experiences in the camp in front of my parents. My parants discouraged me further. I finally took all advice not to join the police force. But still I love those heroes who are fighting agianst terror and harsh weather.
JAI HO...........Now I am the man, playing the SOLDIER (I can finally tap into my childhood spirits as I rehearse this play in Signapore) and I am going to revisit all these old memories to re-create my long-lost CHARACTER.
Noushad, India, based in New Delhi, born and raised in Kerala
Day by day, I am seeing Kerala (India) closer to me as i work through my text translation from English to my mother tongue, Malayalam. Really, my home village is also like the character MAN's village as mentioned in 'The Spirits Play'. There are big rice fields, canals, rivers, mountains, the landscape is full of greeneries. In my childhood, I helped a lot for farmers who were working in our rice field, such as bringing food from their homes to the fields on time, carrying the bundle of rice plants in the big cane baskets, washing the mud from the roots from one field to another.........planting, fertilizing, ploughing , storing water from the brooks to field ,shaping the borders of the field. When we go back home after the work from the field, I cleaned the bullock, buffalos and ploughing tools from the canal. And the smell of the sweet, happy working farmers, planting women in diffrent lines - their comments, the birds, cranes, crow,s mienas, pigeons..........the smell of the field, the touch of the rice plants, the smell and chemical action of the fertilizers (ammonia, uria, potash, ashes, cow dung etc.)
Wow.......its like re-opening up a can of memories again now through this play i am performing in.
My school days - I could see the Centrel Reserve Police Force (CRPF) doing excercises -running, marching and walking from 7 am every day . Their tall height and strong personality, their duty and their energy impressed me very much. Two time, I tried to join the CRPF in 1984 and1985. But my short height means I couldn't enter even the main gate of the camp; there was one measuring rope tied across the main gate of the camp whose height is about 1 meter 70 cm. Well, if you are in standing position and your head touches the rope , you will move onto the physical test. But I was unlucky. I prepared myself for the next year; running, jumping, chin up (hanging in tree) push up etc. But I was also unlucky the next year. Then I never tried again.
Two of my uncles were in militery those days. One was stationed in Punjab and another was in Kashmir. They discouraged me to join the police force when they came back for holidays. Because of their training, routine, duties and responsibilities, they shared thier loneliness and emotional experiences in the camp in front of my parents. My parants discouraged me further. I finally took all advice not to join the police force. But still I love those heroes who are fighting agianst terror and harsh weather.
JAI HO...........Now I am the man, playing the SOLDIER (I can finally tap into my childhood spirits as I rehearse this play in Signapore) and I am going to revisit all these old memories to re-create my long-lost CHARACTER.
Noushad, India, based in New Delhi, born and raised in Kerala
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