Taking time off their rehearsal schedule, Lim How Ngean,\nLoh Kok Man and Reza Zainal Abidin discuss their latest project, “Within \/\nWithout – two sides revealed”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three\ndirectors, three performers (Melissa Saila, Nell Ng, and Lim Tiong Wooi), and\nthree monologues inspired by works of three Asian playwrights (Kuo Pao Kun,\nLeow Puay Tin and Alfian Sa’at). Tell us more.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lim How\nNgean:<\/strong> Three directors re-imagine, deconstruct,\nreshape, and edit excerpts of two monologues from a single play script. These\ntwo monologues are supposed to have opposing sides to the same story. I chose\nKuo Pao Kun’s “Spirits Play” for my texts; Kok Man uses Leow Puay\nTin’s “Ang Tau Mui” and Reza’s is inspired by Alfian Sa’at’s\n“Madu II”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reza\nZainal Abidin: <\/strong>Everyone\nhas a story. A story should not, or is never, one-sided. You are not totally\nright or totally wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whose\nbrainchild was this project, in the first place?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LHN:<\/strong> Technically, it was I who first approached Kok Man, and then Reza, to share a slot with me. I was thinking of working with Kok Man and Reza on a single production –\u00ad sharing some common ideas but taking separate directorial responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> Fred found the space and dealt initially with KLPac.\nBut it was my work with “Madu II” — a play about two women who are\nmarried to the same man — that triggered the whole “Within \/\nWithout” idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why these\nthree pieces, in particular? Was it a difficult selection process?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LHN:<\/strong> I chose Pao Kun’s “Spirits Play” because I\nfind more resonance with well-written scripts in this region than, say, from\nthe West. Pao Kun’s scripts are remarkably written, and they stand the test of\ntime. I have always been involved in theatre that use texts from this part of\nthe world, and it was just a natural progression to use “Spirits\nPlay”. Also, this is a “testing ground” for me — to see if\nworking on a full-length staging of the play, in the future, is feasible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Loh Kok\nMan:<\/strong> I chose Puay Tin’s “Ang Tau\nMui” because I fell in love with the letter Ang Tau Mui — the titular\ncharacter, a toilet cleaner — wrote for her idol, Hong Kong star Ling Dai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA: Choosing the piece wasn’t difficult for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Was it\nconscious decision to make these three separate stories intertwine for this\nproduction?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LHN:<\/strong> I always wanted some linkage, in theme or structural\nmotif, for all three of us. It makes our work more focused — hence more\nchallenging. It’s also more interesting for the audience, to have three very\ndifferent performances in one night with an over-arching structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> Yes, we felt there must be some connection. But will\nit materialise? Not sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us about\nthe performers — Lim Tiong Wooi, Nell Ng and Melissa Saila \u2013 how \/ why were\nthey selected for their respective roles?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LHN:<\/strong> Nell has wanted to do something with me for the\nlongest time, and I had aborted another project which she would have been in. So,\nwhen this project came along, it was natural for me to ask her again. Having\ndone comedy for a while, Nell has untapped reservoirs of physicality, movement\nand emotional depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n LKM:<\/strong> I selected Tiong Wooi because she is beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> I needed a versatile Malay-speaking actor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us\nsome of the team’s quirks.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LHN: <\/strong>Kok Man, who is also our lighting designer, is very meticulous in his questioning of the directors’ choices in the performance. In his asking of questions, I — as a director –\u00ad actually find myself clarifying my strategies and choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n LKM:<\/strong> I’m a serious person … I’m not funny at all …<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> We panic first, then we calm down. Then we solve the\nproblem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are\nrehearsals like? Any stories to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LKM:<\/strong> Tiong Wooi was formally trained at the Hong Kong\nAcademy of Performing Arts, but some of the things I want her to do in my piece\nis different from her training. So, sometimes we spend more time trying to\nbreak her out of the methods she has learnt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> Fred has the longest rehearsal hours — which scares\nme, so I extend my hours, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us\nthe worst joke you’ve heard from the cast or crew. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> None. We don’t joke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us a\nbit about yourselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LHN:<\/strong> I have been doing theatre for the past 15 years —\nbut am still very green in the field!<\/p>\n\n\n\n LKM:<\/strong> I’m a young theatre practitioner, not bad-looking,\nsingle; I’m always exploring new things …<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> Teacher \/ actor \/ writer \/ translator \/ wardrobe\nconsultant \/ director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Give us\nthe gossip on your next projects.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LKM: <\/strong>I’m doing another drama project with my students at\nNew Era College in June called “Locked Repot”. I’m also planning to\nhave a sound and visual performance, under Pentas Project, which should be\nstaged at KLPac in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> I’m going to be dancing. Ha ha!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s\nirony to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LHN:<\/strong> Talent that does not need honing, training or skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> Some English term that I always confuse with\nsomething else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who \/ what\ninspires you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LHN: <\/strong>Honest and truthful artists: Krishen Jit, Marion\nD’Cruz, Kok Man, Nam Ron. Honest and truthful performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n LKM:<\/strong> I’m inspired every time I see something new and interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RZA:<\/strong> Television, DVDs, movies, books. Sometimes my students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n First Published: 17.05.2007 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Taking time off their rehearsal schedule, Lim How Ngean, Loh Kok Man and Reza Zainal Abidin discuss their latest project, “Within \/ Without – two sides revealed”. Three directors, three performers (Melissa Saila, Nell Ng, and Lim Tiong Wooi), and three monologues inspired by works of three Asian playwrights (Kuo Pao Kun, Leow Puay Tin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7758,7772,7762],"tags":[242,228,744,771,727,3647,750,645,3120,610,46],"language":[7785],"writer":[7969],"class_list":["post-27268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artikel","category-temuduga","category-teater","tag-alfian-saat","tag-interview","tag-kuo-pao-kun","tag-leow-puay-tin","tag-lim-how-ngean","tag-lim-tiong-wooi","tag-loh-kok-man","tag-melissa-saila","tag-nell-ng","tag-reza-zainal-abidin","tag-theatre","language-inggeris","writer-juliet-jacobs-ms"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27268"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39082,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27268\/revisions\/39082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27268"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=27268"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=27268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}