{"id":27298,"date":"2007-01-16T12:10:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-16T12:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/?p=27298"},"modified":"2024-07-04T13:51:19","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T05:51:19","slug":"the-60-second-plug-tourniquet-productions-okiku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/articles\/2007\/01\/the-60-second-plug-tourniquet-productions-okiku\/","title":{"rendered":"The 60 Second Plug: Tourniquet Production’s “Okiku”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Okiku<\/em><\/strong> is based on a story from Japanese\nfolklore. Tell us more about the conceptualization and story.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam Yen: The perception is that Okiku<\/em> is a ghost story. It is — but only to a certain extent,\ndepending on which version you’re reading. Our version deals more with the\nhuman elements of the tale, much like the kabuki version, which casts the\nentire story as a tale of obsessive love. In our version, Okiku is the\ncatalyst, and the three other main characters revolve around her. How they\nreact and interact with one another (within the boundaries of the script) is\ndetermined by her. The supernatural elements are peripheral. It’s the tragedy\nwhich living, breathing human beings can cause that’s the scariest thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fang Chyi: Okiku<\/em>\nis not a ghost story, but a story about a ghost. Imagine being alone at home\nand, as fear sets in, you start hearing things and imagining things that are\nnot there… this is the basic concept of Okiku<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kimmy Kiew: We’re attempting to bring the audience a sensory theatre piece, which is a rare commodity here in Malaysia. Sensory theatre is captivating in the sense the play does not rely solely on visuals — we tease the audiences’ attention psychologically –\u00ad leaving them to feel the story, not just watch it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do a\nstory from Japanese folklore?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SY: We were subliminally influenced by Tun Dr\nMahathir’s ‘Look East’ economic policy of the 1980s and 90s. Kidding. Why a\nJapanese story as opposed to a local or Western one? It’s a question I don’t\nthink any of us asked ourselves, until after we had our hearts set on bringing Okiku<\/em> to the stage — which itself was a\nproduct of an article written by Kin Seng (our producer) on Japanese ghost\ntales. The whole idea behind Okiku<\/em>\nwas that we could take a well known tale and put our spin on it. It was about\ntelling a story as best we could. No current day allusions. No subtext. It’s easier\nto do this with a foreign story, as the whole research and writing process is\nitself a journey into the unknown for us — which, I think, translates itself\ninto our version of the tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KK: Why not Japanese folklore? Hardly any of our own\nAsian stories are told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: Okiku<\/em>\nattracted my attention because of its simple storyline, and the fact it is 400\nyear-old folklore. The fact that it is Japanese was secondary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story\nis set in Japan in the 1600s — what kind of research went into trying to make\nthe whole production as authentic as possible?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: We’re not ‘authenticating’ Okiku<\/em>. We merely borrowed her name and merged some existing\nvariations of her story into one — one which we could call our own. Hence the\noriginal script and music. With 400 years of history, the story has been told\nand retold using different mediums, at different times. What we have done is\nintroduce a minimalist look and approach to the execution of the play. As far\nas research is concerned, we grabbed at anything and everything we could get\nour hands on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you a\nfan of J-Horror flicks? Any favourites?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: I am a horror flick fan, period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KK: I don’t really watch a lot of horror films … but\nI do<\/em> like scaring people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who’s the\nscariest horror character of all time, for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: My form one maths teacher, Mrs Lee!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KK: The scariest horror character of all time for me\nis not a ghost, but this real man in Hong Kong. He was a serial killer who\nbutchered people and served them as char siew paus. The human mind is really a\ndark place that I find really scary …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ve\ndabbled in different things in the arts. Give us a resume.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: By day, I’m an art director and lecturer; By\nnight, I have ‘played’ the roles of usher, crew member, stage manager, singer,\nactor — and, most recently, director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KK: I am shy lah. … if you really want to know about\nme — please, you can look it up on the Internet, or just turn up at the\ntheatre and I’ll be happy to tell you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this\nyour first directorial effort? What’s it been like? Fill us in on the chaos.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: Definitely memorable! Chaos? What chaos? We are a\npeaceful loving bunch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KK: This is my first English-language play, but I\ndirected a Chinese-language play three years ago. I really enjoyed the\nchallenge and was relieved I had a milder pimple outbreak this time, as\ncompared to the first time I directed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What next\nfor you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: To run away to a remote island and serenade the\nmonkeys! Seriously? I’m hoping to fund and produce my own EP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KK: Back to work with Gardner & Wife Theatre, as I owe them some working hours –\u00ad thanks, G&W, for the break! I also plan to do another play this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us a\nbit about the cast and crew.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: Vocal and intensely enthusiastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who’s the\nleast punctual on set?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC & KK: We all take turns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us a\ncorny joke.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SY: What happens when you cross the singer Shaggy with\na volcano?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SY: Mr Lava Lava.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: At an airport. Someone says: “Hi!\nSawadee-cupl Welcome home!” Me: “Thanks. Awak D cup, ya? Saya A cup\nsaja …”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do\nyou think world needs now, that there’s just too little of?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FC: More open closets! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KK: Theatre sponsorship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Published: 16.01.2007 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okiku is based on a story from Japanese folklore. Tell us more about the conceptualization and story. Sam Yen: The perception is that Okiku is a ghost story. It is — but only to a certain extent, depending on which version you’re reading. Our version deals more with the human elements of the tale, much […]<\/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":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,3558,3535],"tags":[2698,228,910,3714,3715,3713,46,3712],"language":[7523],"writer":[7614],"class_list":["post-27298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-interview","category-theatre","tag-fang-chyi","tag-interview","tag-japanese","tag-kimmy-kiew","tag-kin-seng","tag-sam-yen","tag-theatre","tag-tourniquet-production","language-english","writer-juliet-jacobs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27298","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=27298"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39075,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27298\/revisions\/39075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27298"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=27298"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=27298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}