Open-Studio 2011: A Language of Our Own to 男男自语

Open-Studio 2011: A Language of Our Own to 男男自语
As part of the Singapore Arts Festival
Sunday 5 June 2011, 3pm
The Substation Theatre
Admission: Free with registration, please email nac_artsfest@nac.gov.sg

A play that explodes the modern migrant Chinese identity in America written in English – will it work in Mandarin and in multicultural/multilingual Singapore?

That is the question Writer/Translator Robin Loon & Director Casey Lim ask and they search for an answer in Open-Studio 2011. Written by Singapore Writer Chay Yew, A Language of Our Own was first directed by Ong Keng Sen in 1995 in New York, and 11 years later was brought to the Singapore stage by Casey Lim. In its various stagings and incarnations, what remains moving is its portrait of the minority psyche: in the use and loss of language, in the integration of the migrant into the homeland, in the loathing and despair of the minority stereotypes. Can a Mandarin translation still capture the musicality of the original English text while conveying the humanity of the minority psyche? Or does the change in language literally change the language and the terms of engagement?

In a 6-month long process, Robin Loon & Casey Lim undergo a painstaking process of translating, transposing and transforming – first of the text literary, then of the text as performance text, and finally the text as a memory text. Casey Lim’s memory of his staging will cast the new upon the old, Robin Loon’s memory as an audience of the 2006 production will cast the old onto the new.

With the help of a team of seasoned actors who work in both English & Chinese Language theatre in Singapore, Open-Studio 2011 will rhapsodize on the before & the after. Come join the Open-Studio 2011 team as they muse on the journey from A Language of Our Own to 男男自语.

Open-Studio Dramaturg: Robin LOON

Project Translator: Robin LOON

Consulting Director: Casey LIM

Collaborating Actors: Nelson CHIA, Oliver CHONG, Edward CHOY, Robin GOH, Jeffrey LOW, Peter SAU