Fresh from the launch of his story chapbook My Suit last year, local artiste Jason Wee will be presenting his debut theatre piece at this year’s M1 Singapore Fringe Festival.
Wee has written in various literary forms but has never tackled plays until now. “I was invited to do one a long time ago, but back then I was a young punk who couldn’t meet deadlines,” he quipped. But after sponsoring the rehearsal space for last year’s Fringe Fest production What Did You Learn Today? by Tobin and Natalie Hennedige, Wee took on the challenge to co-write a work with Sean Tobin.
The two bounced ideas off each other until they settled on looking at “a crisis of faith and belief”. “What if the body is denied a lot of things, like memory, life or feeling?” he said.
And ‘Tongues’ was the eventual result. In a morgue where the mercury is rapidly climbing, four Singaporeans of different races briefly awake from their not-so-eternal rest and begin discussing their beliefs – religious and, collaterally, sexual – the accuracy of which can supposedly be determined after death. In sensitive Singapore, where it’s possible to be arrested for blogging on racial or religious issues, it’s engrossing to listen in on what the quasi-deceased representatives of their races have to say. The script for Tongues was based on survey results, research, interviews and the experiences of its multiracial cast.
The idea is simply but different than anything done before. Will it be a hit at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival? We ask Jason Wee and Sean Tobin.
With this year’s M1 Fringe Festival based around the theme of Art and Faith, how does Tongues contribute to the discussion of this theme?
Sean: The interactions we devised in Tongues opens the play to exchanges between different faiths and lifestyles, regarding something personal to all of us – our spiritual and sexual identity and expression.
Art, Faith and Sexuality are all matters of identity, expression, communication and intimacy. They are vital parts of our individual and collective existence and they deserve a a generous time to appear in and break into our everyday practices, including our theatrical ones.
Through the energies of modernisation and globalisation we see faiths and sexualities ever evolving, reforming and reconstructing, but we are often lacking the necessary reflection and dialogue, or the safe environment in which these can be safely carried out.
Through this process and the presentation you see today, we hope for greater empathy, sensitivity and understanding between people of different views, appreciating our differences and our sameness. We also hope for more opportunities in which differences can meet, even confront, each other – different bodily experiences, different ways of living (or dying), … We want to think of theatre, and this festival, as such an opportunity.
The content of the performance is a creative and imaginative amalgam of material gathered from surveys, interviews, reading materials, focus groups, playback theatre sessions and imaginations from the cast and then creative team.
Faith and Sexuality are often discussed in conflict, do you think Tongues can marry them together?
Sean: It depends on your definition of marry. The reality is that we each have some form of faith and some form of sexuality that we engage with. Its more a question of whether we see these two parts of ourselves as harmonious or in conflict. Its also a question of how we view faiths and sexualities that different from our own. And yes our play explores all of these things.
Jason: The marriages I’ve seen, including the successful ones, are not without conflicts. But it is only the successful marriages, I think, that accept conflict as simply part of living with someone, day after day, year after year. I like to think that Tongues is that kind of marriage, that holds and carries conflict without having to resolve every part of it.
The production is set in a morgue, was there any prior research that dealt with a real morgue?
Sean: Jason did some basic research as he wrote the scenes that were more centred in the morgue, but I must say that the scenes are not naturalistic, in fact not at all, its quite absurd and surreal in fact. So we do not spend a lot of time trying to set a very realistic setting. Its more of a psychological emotional state of the people who are in a non descript existential place between life and death.
Jason: Yes, I had myself checked in at a hospital, and with the help of a doctor friend, faked my own death for a couple of hours. It was so freezing cold in there that my eyelids froze shut. So I didn’t see anything. And it also explains why my nose is running now. Did you know that certain species of frogs have cyroprotectants that allow their bodies to tolerate freezing and come back to life without injury?
This world premiere of Tongues has been much anticipated, how is it like working with each other?
Sean: I have worked with Dirk, Sam and Jason before, but each time the nature of the collaboration has been different. Perhaps the most interesting part of the collaboration has been that my co-creator, Jason Wee, has his fingers in so many parts of the production, namely writing, costume design, set design, and publicity. And he has managed to do this while travelling in and out of Singapore, as he works and studies in USA. We have often been working at a distance and at intensive intervals. Our cast get along really well. We have lots of laughs in rehearsals. We have also had many people contribute to this process, sharing their ideas and experiences, and that’s been enriching and stimulating, as well as a real honour.
Jason: Sean is very self-effacing, and always directing attention to others, but the man has had more productions than LKY has had elections. Now if that’s not some measure of success, I don’t know what is. Sean doesn’t know this, but every time before rehearsals begin, I kiss the ground where his feet has been and thank the gods for how he shaped the Singapore story.
Based on real-life stories, was it difficult to get people to talk about their experiences?
Sean: Yes it really was, honestly. Perhaps a big budget campaign may have helped it along, I am not sure. But it was not so much about quantity but quality, and we have been blessed by some quality and heartfelt sharing in the process.
What do you want the audience to take back from this production?
Sean: Release from tension, stimulation to be more creative and sensitive. To be more aware and considerate of those that might be different to us, when it comes to faith and sexuality.
Jason: I want them to laugh, laugh hard, and laugh until they have a lump in their throat.
‘Tongues’ will run at the Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore, from 16 February to 19 February 2012. Ticket sales start from $19 and are available now through SISTIC’s hotline at 6348 5555, via the SISTIC website at www.sistic.com, at all SISTIC authorised agents islandwide & iNETS Mobile. For further details on discounts or the entire lineup for festival, please log on to www.singaporefringe.com
