calendario eventi  :: 

X

17/9/2003

Septfest 2003

The Substation Gallery, Singapore

A celebration of the legacy of Kuo Pao Kun

The Theatre Practice
presents

KUO PAO KUN FESTIVAL

Three young directors from Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong give us their interpretation of some of the classic plays of the late doyen of Singapore theatre, Kuo Pao Kun. The performances are in Mandarin and Malay, with English subtitles.

Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral (in Mandarin)
Directed by Poo Hong Chen (Taiwan)
18 - 21 September 2003 (Thursday to Sunday), 8.00pm
20 & 21 September 2003 (Saturday & Sunday), 2.30pm

Descendants of The Eunuch Admiral (in Malay)
Directed by Aidli 'Alin' Mosbit (Singapore)
Adapted by Alfian Sa'at (Singapore)
25 - 28 September 2003 (Thursday to Sunday), 8.00pm
27 & 28 September 2003 (Saturday & Sunday), 2.30pm

The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole (in Mandarin)
Directed by Jim Chim (Hong Kong)
2 - 5 October 2003 (Thursday to Sunday), 8.00pm
4 & 5 October 2003 (Saturday & Sunday), 2.30pm

Performance details
Venue: Guinness Theatre
Tickets: $25* from TicketCharge outlets
10% discount for NSmen, senior citizens and full-time students.
Festival package: $60* for all 3 shows. (* Excludes TicketCharge fee $1)

Special offer: Buy any ticket to the Kuo Pao Kun Festival and get a 20% discount on the tribute publication 'Kuo Pao Kun: And Love The Wind And Rain'. All sales proceeds benefit Theatre Training and Research Programme and The Theatre Practice, which are non-profit institutions founded by Kuo Pao Kun.
____________

Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral (in Mandarin)
Director: Poo Hong Chen (Taiwan)
Cast: Doreen Toh, Edgar Lau, Jeffrey Low, Johnny Ng, Judy Ngo, Karen Lim, Ray Lee

Just as the Eunuch Admiral Zheng He sailed off from China on expeditions to uncharted lands, director Poo Hong Chen leads the cast in an exploration that starts from Pao Kun's canonical text, and leads to this new production, in the unexpected black box setting of the Guinness Theatre.

Poo Hong Chen
Hong Chen was born in Malacca and holds a Masters in Directing from the National Institute of the Arts, Taiwan (now the Taipei National University of the Arts). He frequently conducts workshops and classes in physical theatre, movement and voice training.

He has written many Mandarin plays, including two directed by Stan Lai (with Hong Chen as assistant director). He has extensive experience as director, performer and playwright - sometimes playing these roles in the same production! In 2000, The Theatre Practice invited him to direct Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Hong Chen is currently music editor for Taiwan's Performing Arts magazine.

Descendants of The Eunuch Admiral (in Malay)
Directed by: Aidli 'Alin' Mosbit (Singapore)
Adapted by: Alfian Sa'at (Singapore)
Cast: Emanorwatty Saleh, Junainah Yusof, Mohd Fared Jainal, Muhd Najib Soiman, Sabrina Kadir

In this interpretation of the text, the figure of Admiral Zheng He, both icon and iconoclast, undergoes further interrogation. Importing their own cultural background as Singaporean Malays into the work, the artists involved will seek the spaces in the text which will allow them to question their own hybrid and syncretic identities. Various composite layers will be added to Kuo's already rich and multifarious text, which will include parallel texts from Malay historical documents, as well as extensions of various motifs, such as Zheng He's position as a Muslim and the theory that the Malays of South-east Asia were descendants of the Yunnan Chinese.

In addition, various questions will be asked about the process of intercultural work, especially in the realm of translation. Is the translated work a 'castrated' one, incapable of fully manifesting the original? Is a piece of translation considered the progeny, or the 'afterlife' of the text? How can one make meaningful connections between one culture and another without eroding one's own 'root culture' and conceding to acts of assimilation?

Aidli 'Alin' Mosbit
Aidli 'Alin' Mosbit graduated with a degree in Drama from Queensland University of Technology. She directs, acts, designs lighting and costume, teaches drama with both primary and secondary schools, and was one of the pioneering practitioners of arts education programmes in the Malay theatre scene.

She has written and directed her own plays such as Dan Tiga Dara Terbang Ke Bulan (selected to represent Singapore at the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre, and awarded Commendation Prize, 1997 Literary Awards of the Singapore Malay Language Council), Kosovo (Commendation Prize, 1995 Literary Awards), Ikan Cantik, Lintasan (commissioned by Action For Aids Singapore for World Aids Day 1994) and Main2 (commissioned by the Esplanade -Theatres On The Bay for Pesta Raya 2002). She also acts and writes for television, with credits including Bisikan Bayangan, Semarak Budaya, Kerja Overtime and Koridor. Aidli also directed Causeway, written by Alfian Sa'at, for the Singapore Arts Festival 2002, and Madu II, part of the critically-acclaimed double-bill Bulan Madu, that was Teater Ekamatra's debut in Kuala Lumpur in 2001.

Alfian Sa'at
Alfian bin Sa'at is currently pursuing medical studies at the National University of Singapore. His poetry collections, One Fierce Hour (1998) and A History of Amnesia (2001) were critically acclaimed, and the latter was selected for the Kiriyama Book Prize List of Notable Books. His collection of stories, Corridor:12 Stories by Alfian Sa'at (1999) was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award for Fiction. In 2001, he received the NAC Young Artist Award for Literature and the Golden Point Award for Poetry.

His plays in Malay have been produced by Teater Ekamatra and include Anak Bulan di Kampong Wa' Hassan (1998), Madu II (1998), Causeway (1998) - for which he received the Anugerah Penghargaan (Commendation Award) by the Malay Language Council, The Miseducation of Minah Bukit (2001), Tapak 7 (2001) and Causeway (2002). For The Necessary Stage, Alfian has written Fighting (1994), Black Boards, White Walls (1997), Yesterday My Classmate Died (1999), Asian Boys Vol 1 (2000), and What's the Difference (2001), and co-wrote with Chong Tze Chien sex.violence.blood.gore (1999). He has also written The Optic Trilogy (2001), The Importance of Being Kaypoh (2002) and Fugitives (2002) for Action Theatre, W!ld Rice and Drama Box respectively.

The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole (in Mandarin)
Director: Jim Chim (Hong Kong)
Cast: Alvin Chiam, Alvin Lim, Liu Xiaoyi

A conundrum that we still face: Is the coffin too big? Or is the hole too small?
What should we do next?

Director Jim Chim creates a new perspective from light, space, and three performers.

Jim Chim
Jim is a multi-disciplinary theatre practitioner, and the Artistic Director of Hong Kong's Theatre Ensemble. He graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1990, and has trained with Philippe Gaulier, Monica Pagneux, Claire Heggen and Vicente Fuentes. He has worked with the David Glass Mime Ensemble, Fedric Mao and Lo Ching-Man. Jim has also acted in the films, You Shoot, I Shoot and Mighty Baby.

Jim has taught drama and conducted workshops at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, TVB Actor Training Centre (HK), Philippe Gaulier School (London), ShenZhen University, The Theatre Practice (Singapore) and U Theatre (Taiwan).

He has received numerous awards, including the first Drama Development Fellowship of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor awards from the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Society and a Felix Meritus Foundation Scholarship.
_________

The Substation
presents
3rd Asian Film Symposium

Now in its third year, the Asian Film Symposium brings filmmakers and film experts from the region in a programme of film and talks exploring the cinematic trends of our neighbouring countries.

The Asian Film Symposium pursues collaboration in thought, manpower and creative energy, crossing boundaries and creating networking opportunities for the local film community.

This year the line-up includes features and shorts from Korea, Malaysia, China, Thailand and Singapore. Some of the brightest and most innovative regional filmmakers will discuss the independent film scene in their countries.

Malaysian James Lee's independent digital feature, Room to Let, opens the Asian Film Symposium with an exuberating fresh appeal.

Closing night features the powerful drama, Jia Zhuang Mei Jue (Shanghai Women), by Chinese filmmaker Xiaolian Peng, a more serious film exploring the lives of modern women in Shanghai struggling to maintain their independence within society.

Short films from Thailand, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore add meat to the Symposium with bite-size stories showing off the story-telling talents of filmmakers from our region. Amir Muhammad (Malaysia), Chalida Uabumrungjit (Thailand) and Yuni Hadi (Singapore) curate the second S-Express, a touring programme of new short films from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The idea for S-Express, screened in Bangkok, Penang and Singapore, came about when the three curators met at the Sarawak Millennium Film Festival early last year and has since been a prominent regional collaboration.

Arts Central's Short Story Project directed by Lee Thean-jeen makes its big-screen premiere followed by a Q&A session, discussing the techniques and motivation behind putting together this unique project.

Symposium Details
Venue: The Substation Guinness Theatre
Dates: 7 - 11 October, 8.00pm
Tickets: $6 from The Substation Box Office, 10% concession for Friends of The Substation, full-time students, NS Men and senior citizens
_______

The Substation
presents

The Home that Pao Kun built

Kuo Pao Kun is one of the most important figures in Singapore arts. Not only did he produce a major body of theatrical work - as both a playwright and a director - he also founded three major Singapore arts institutions: Practice Performing Arts School, The Theatre Practice and The Substation - a home for the arts.

With this exhibition of archival photographs we aim to tell some of the many stories about these three institutions, and about his work in Singapore theatre. The highlight will be images of Pao Kun at work in the theatre and in the 'homes' for the arts that he built.

The Theatre Training and Research Programme is offered by Practice Performing Arts School, founded in 1965. Singapore's first bilingual theatre company, The Theatre Practice, was founded in1986. When The Substation was founded in 1990 as Singapore's first independent contemporary arts centre it was managed by Practice until 1995.

The Substation's Artistic Co-Director, Lee Weng Choy says, "Looking through our archives for the exhibition 'The Home that Pao Kun built', we find all sorts of surprising things ... like our early 'Open Space' newsletter that was edited by Haresh Sharma. Haresh, of course, is now resident playwright of The Necessary Stage. This just goes to show how foundational Pao Kun's home for the arts was in the early 1990s, how so many of today's major figures were affected by, contributed to, and were drawn together by Pao Kun's vision."

Exhibition Details
Venue: The Substation Gallery
Opening: 18 September, 6pm
Dates: 18 September - 8 October, 11am - 9pm
Entry is free

The Substation Ltd
45 Armenian Street
Singapore 179936
_______

Launch of
'Stitch A Quilt of Memories - Stories about Kuo Pao Kun'

Saturday, 27 September 2003, 6pm, The Substation Gallery

Edited by Tan Beng Luan and published by Creative O Developers' Lab, the book is a Chinese collection of reminiscences and photographs of Pao Kun's friends, colleagues, students, fellow artists and relatives. They share their personal stories about Pao Kun, who passed away on 10 September 2002. The book will offer readers further understanding of the man who has greatly influenced the arts and cultural development of Singapore.

Contributors include Mrs Ho-Li Lien Fung, Tay Kheng Soon, Kwok Kian Woon, Quah Syren, Prof Eddie Kuo, Phoon Yew Tian, Verena Tay, Tan Beng Tian, Janadas Nevan, Foong Choon Hon etc. While most articles are written in Mandarin, a few are written in English, with Chinese translations.

Below are extracts from the book:

'Although he was in a delirious state, Pao Kun was waving his hand in the air like a master puppeteer and kept murmuring 'Where is my chi-pern ..., where is my chi-pern (script)?'' Jing Hong could not keep a straight face and decided to play along and asked her dad ....'
-- Patrick Low

'Pao Kun's most significant encounter with Japan took place when he stayed in a rural mountain village in Nagano Prefecture. In this deep snowy village called Niino, he rented a friend's house and had a peaceful and creative time. One day he was surprised to find a sign in the village saying 'the young man had dies in 1937 in Henan province in China...'
-- Tatsuya Tanami (Japan)

'Pao Kun and I met at The Substation at Armenian Street one morning. He wanted an opinion on the possibilities of using the place as an arts centre. The place was overgrown with weeds and banyan trees sprouted between the cracks ......'
-- Tay Kheng Soon

Venue: The Substation, Guinness Theatre

stampa

permanent link