Director aims to take Chinese-Singaporeans back to their roots
Three in four citizens in Singapore are of Chinese descent. But Kuo Jian Hong, artistic director of Singapore’s The Theatre Practice, believes many younger Singaporeans may have lost interest in their Chinese roots, something he wants to change.
After independence, in an effort to build national identity and promote industrialization, the Singaporean government pushed for English to be the main language. Lots of young Chinese-Singaporeans don't have many opportunities to speak Chinese. English remains a dominant language.
Kuo is the daughter of the late Kuo Bao Kun, a notable director and arts activist in Singapore. As a bilingual (English and Chinese) playwright, his contributions have significantly shaped the development of Singapore theater.
Shanghai Daily talked to the director about her experience with the Chinese language and culture, the reasons behind her dedication to Chinese theater and her latest work, “Liao Zhai Rocks!,” which is presented at the SAIC Shanghai Culture Square from tonight.
Director Kuo Jian Hong (left) busy at final rehearsals before the Shanghai premiere of "Liao Zhai Rocks!"
Q: Were you brought up speaking English or Chinese at home?
A: I was brought up primarily in Chinese. When I was in primary school, I learned mostly in Chinese. My mathematics and Chinese lessons were in Chinese. Science and English were taught in English. It was quite balanced.
But when I went to secondary school, things changed. I was the first batch affected when they stopped Chinese schools, where Chinese is the first language. It became that either English is the first language or English and Chinese were both first languages.
When the choice became as such, English has got to have the heavier weight. You can flunk Chinese but you cannot flunk English.
When I went overseas to study, I had a hard time with English. It was only after learning and being in theater that I picked up the language. My father also spoke more Chinese to us. He worked mostly in Chinese, too. It was only in the 1980s that he started writing and translating in English. So for us, our mother tongue is definitely Chinese.
Q: What led you to decide to follow in your father’s footsteps?
A: Actually, my dad would rather I not do anything related to him.
He didn’t have any wish for me to take on any specific path; my parents were rather open-minded. They didn’t expect me to inherit. I always said that if I could hear his voice, he would say: “Why are you doing this? Go away, go and do something else.”
And I would reply to him: “Yeah, I hear you, but it’s my decision, thank you very much.”
I grew up around theater, and it was always fun and imaginative to break boundaries. I was quite a difficult kid growing up. I would always break or challenge boundaries. People may chide me for not following the rules, but if I did, then I wouldn’t be creating new work. I would not have crazy ideas.
I decided to go overseas to study and stopped in New York. I discovered what kind of world it is out there in the performing arts.
I used that litmus test — can you be happy not doing this? No, I don’t think I can give this up, so I pursued theater. I realized I don’t just love theater, I love creating. I also made movies, dabbled in TV.
When my father passed away, I was living in Los Angeles. I decided to come back to help. I also discovered that I love working with people. I used to dread it. People are not easy to deal with, they are still not easy to deal with, but I discovered that I like seeing people grow. I like to create playgrounds for people to play within, for them to find the meaning in their own growth.
I like to be a facilitator of playgrounds. I think that fits as a director and so I have been playing ever since.
Q: Is it harder to promote Chinese language and culture in Singapore today?
A: I think it is harder and it is not. It is more different, because our relationship with the language is very different now. There is no environment for people to speak Chinese that much, so there is less practice.
What is the point of language? Language is used as a functional tool, to express what you need, what you want, instructions. In Singapore, if you can express yourself in English, why would you choose to do so in Chinese?
That’s why the arts become really important. Many Singaporeans studied simplified Chinese characters, yet they can read traditional Chinese characters. Why? Because they go to karaoke. It’s just like people pick up Korean because they love watching Korean dramas. It’s not language on a functional level, but how the language can lead you to what you love.
So this is how we do it. With musicals, we hope that when people watch, they find it entertaining. When they start listening and following, at some point, they may realize Chinese is not as hard as they thought.
The hardest thing for Singaporeans about Chinese is fear. Most of the time, our relationship with Chinese revolves around exams. It makes us afraid of the language, because of the pressure it brings with it.
With Chinese musicals, I am hoping they don’t even have a chance to fear it. I hope they forget the existence of the language, and at some point realize it is accessible. It piques their interest and they realize how beautiful and nuanced the language is.
A scene from "Liao Zhai Rocks!"
Q: How do you think the next 10 to 15 years will pan out? Will Singaporeans appreciate the Chinese language and culture more?
A: I feel that we are at an interesting crossroads.
Certain things are definitely lost. I grew up listening to Chinese nursery rhymes. But when I tried to look for them for my daughter, I realized the quality paled in comparison with English nursery rhymes. They were produced cheaply, compared with the well-produced Western nursery rhymes.
So some things are probably lost. But we want to do what we can, to replant some seeds. How would it blossom? We don’t know.
It’s not just us, there are a lot of people in Singapore trying to plant those seeds. Certainly, the relationship the kids have with Chinese will be very different. But it’s not better or worse, it’s just different. It’s not a bad way if they find their own unique way of connecting with the language.
Every individual will eventually have to forge their own relationship with the language. But I believe it is my responsibility to share what I believe is beautiful. And meaningful.
Q: Was it hard to put a classic story together with modern, contemporary rock music for “Liao Zhai Rocks!?”
A: With a cast of Singaporean actors, I am always working with diversity. Singapore has a mixture of many cultures. From our cast, you can see people from Malaysia, Indonesia, even of half-Chinese and half-Scottish descent. The cultural diversity defines who we are.
Chinese musicals are also a hybrid, as musicals are considered a Western form of performing art. In that vein, "Liao Zhai" would be an extreme hybrid — a classic Chinese text and contemporary rock music. And because that’s the case, it freed us up too.
No one knows what the answers are, giving us more space and latitude for creation. The two extremes of classic Chinese stories and contemporary rock are the ends of two spectrums. It’s like a circle, they meet on the other side.
In Singapore, our cultural differences may be even more explicit on the surface. That makes the idea of mashups more second nature to us. It’s just whether the labels are very clear. Asian vs Western, contemporary vs classic, man vs woman. It is just like yin and yang, but the line is not straight. It’s just how you label yourself.
Performance details
Date: March 28-31
Tickets: 80-480 yuan
Tel: 6472-9000, 6472-6000
Venue: SAIC Shanghai Culture Square
Address: 597 Fuxing Rd M.
