• All the pleasures of the Garden

ALL THE PLEASURES OF THE GARDEN

~ What is ordinary to some is extraordinary to others

ALL THE PLEASURES OF THE GARDEN

Category Archives: ASIAN ART

INDIEN – LAKE INLE, MYANMAR

08 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in ART, ASIAN ART, HISTORY, MYANMAR, PHOTOGRAPHY, TONY'S TOURS - Travel Journal, TRAVEL, TRAVEL JOURNEY, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ASIA, INDIEN, MYANMAR, PHOTOGRAPHY, TRAVEL

Knight_Tony8.jpg

In the mountain range high above Lake Inle lies the ancient town of Indien.  From a distance, these stupas appear, making it seem you are approaching a magical ‘Shangri-la’ kingdom. This was indeed once a major Burmese city, on the scale of an equivalent to Angkor Wat – and just as old. It’s a bit of a trek but thoroughly worth it.

Tony Knight

THEATRE: ALFIAN SA’AT – Singapore’s ‘enfant terrible’ & ‘prankish provocateur, libertarian hipster’

24 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in 21st CENTURY ART, ACTING, ACTORS, Adelaide, ADELAIDE FESTIVAL CENTRE, ART, ASIAN ART, ASIAN THEATRE, DIRECTORS, DRAMA, HISTORY, LITERATURE, PEOPLE, PLAYS, SINGAPORE, THEATRE, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ACTING, ACTORS, Adelaide, ALFIAN SA'AT, ART, ASIA, Australia, DRAMA, OZ-ASIA, OZ-ASIA FESTIVAL, PLAYS, SINGAPORE, THEATRE, WILD RICE

download-10With Alfian Sa-at’s and Marcia Vanderstraaten’s  HOTEL (2015) about to open here in Adelaide as part of the Oz-Asia Festival I thought it opportune to write something about Alfian Sa’at, one of Singapore’s best modern playwrights. Most people in Australia may not be aware of Alfian Sa’at and his work. This is an attempt to slightly address that. He is an exceptional playwright, poet, and from my all to brief dealings with him, a really great guy as well. I first became aware of Alfian Sa’at’s work whilst I was living in Singapore. During that time I was fortunate enough to see a number of his plays being performed by Singapore’s terrific Wild Rice theatre company, led by another exceptional person, Ivan Heng, the Artistic Director and co-founder of Wild Rice. The productions I saw included Dreamplay (2000), which is Part One of Alfian Sa’at’s beautiful Asian Boys Trilogy (2000-07), Cooling Off Day (2011), Cook a Pot of Curry (2013), and my personal favourite, the intriguing The Optic Trilogy (2001). All these are terrific plays and make an excellent introduction to the world of Alfian Sa’at.

download-1
download-2
images
ivan-heng-alfian-2

Alfian Sa’at was born in Singapore in 1977 and attended Raffles Junior College where his passion for theatre was first revealed. His tremendous creative spirit led to the publication of his first collection of  poetry One Fierce Hour in 1998. This was a instant success with The Malaysian New Strait Times praising and calling him a ‘prankish provocateur’ and ‘libertarian hipster’. What followed was a steady outflow of excellent work – a collection of short stories called Corridor (1999), many of which have been adapted for television, and his second collection of poetry A History of Amnesia (2001). All these are available and are excellent reads; personal favourite being Corridor.

It was partly due to this work, and subsequent others, that Alfian Sa’at earned the moniker of being Singapore’s enfant terrible. He is a ‘provocateur’. This rebellious stance is also evident in his many plays, which are often acute observations of contemporary life in Singapore, combined with a deep knowledge and appreciation of Singapore’s history, as well as World Theatre in general, and a delicious and mischievous wit.

download-7The Asian Boys Trilogy is something that could be seen during Sydney’s annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and/or Adelaide’s Feast Festival. This is a terrific ‘gay’ play that is not only enlightening about ‘gay’ life in South-East Asia, past and present, but is also very entertaining. I have only seen Part One – Dreamplay, which is theatrically influenced by Strindberg’s Dreamplay, and was directed by Ivan Heng and featured the wonderful Singapore actor and dear friend Galeb Goh, amongst other excellent Singapore actors.

download-8
download-5
download-4
download-6

One sequence in Alfian Sa’at’s Dreamplay that I found particularly fascinating and gripping involved a relationship between a young Chinese-Singaporean and a Japanese officer during the horrendous Japanese occupation of Singapore during WW2. To be frank, Australians know virtually nothing about this tragic chapter of Singapore’s history, and yet we are intrinsically involved, not just because of the horrors of Changi Prison, but much much more, which time and space does not allow me to enter into here.

downloadCooling Off Day (2011) was actually the first Alfian Sa’at play I saw. It is a series of monologues based around the then recent Singapore General Election. I didn’t know much about the politics of Singapore so this was a terrific introduction. Whilst some of it went way over my head and was very local specific, nonetheless, it was extremely entertaining and enlightening. I loved the structure of the piece, a snap-shot of Singapore at a particular and politically important moment in time, the different voices and perspectives, a cross section of Singaporean characters and society, and the vital and engaging performances by the respective actors. It was also through this play and production that I became aware of the delights of Singlish.

02-cooling-off-day
download-3

Singlish is the English based patois or slang that is spoken in Singapore. When I was there Singlish was often denigrated as not being ‘proper English’ by those in the so-called social and academic elite, who can be ruthlessly and dully conservative. I loved it! When queried I would be mischievously provocative with these borish snobs, stating that I thought Shakespeare would have loved it too. Shakespeare was a words-smith and you only have to be familiar with his plays, as well as his contemporaries, to see how much he incorporated colloquial English (and others) slang into his works.

download-9I tried many times to speak Singlish, much to the amusement of my Singapore friends. I even had a couple of Singlish dictionaries, and would fervently implore my Singapore students and friends to speak Singlish as I just loved hearing it. Unfortunately, I never got the hang of it – lah. Friends would just giggle at my attempts, my problem centring on differences in stress. Australians follow our English-speaking heritage with an iambic word/vowel stress (Dee-DUM), weak-strong; Singaporeans follow their English-speaking heritage with a trochaic word/vowel stress (DUM-Dee), strong-weak. I couldn’t break my Australian cultural habit. Instead of saying the common ‘CAN lah’, I would say ‘Can LAH’, which generally produced shrieks of laughter. Nonetheless, I was acutely aware that whenever Singlish was spoken in the theatre, as in Alfian’s plays, it was like an electric current suddenly shot through the audience, making them excited and animated – it was fantastic! This was most apparent in Alfian Sa’at’s delightful domestic comedy Cook a Pot of Curry – I didn’t understand half of it, but it didn’t matter, I just enjoyed the vitality of the show, and the joy of the Singapore audience as it would roar with laughter at recognition of themselves and their unique colloquial language. I am sure Hotel will have some Singlish in it – can’t wait to hear it again.

download-12As previously mentioned, my favourite amongst Alfian’s plays is The Optic Trilogy. This is a two-hander between an unnamed man and woman in three separate scenes. I remember this Wild Rice production clearly, which featured dear friend and colleague the wonderful Brendon Fernandez,  and how from the very first scene set in a hotel room I was absolutely transfixed – by the drama, the complexity, the language, and the brilliant performances. This is a play about deceit, full of poetic metaphors, and is often very funny. It has been performed in a number of other countries, but not, as yet, in Australia. This is the play that I would love to do in Australia. I can only encourage you to get hold of it, as it is published, and read it. But please – let me do it! Haha!.

ST_20130715_CROPTIC1_3745311e_2x
download
optische-trilogie1
05

Hopefully this brief little introduction to some of the works of Alfian Sa’at will encourage you to find out more about this terrific Singapore playwright and poet. It is well worth the effort. Also – if you haven’t as yet booked your tickets for Hotel here in Adelaide then please do so immediately – now! From all reports it is simply marvelous – both parts. I know that if you do you will not be disappointed and discover the joy of Alfian Sa’at, as well as Wild Rice.

TONY KNIGHT

FILM: THE AGE OF SHADOWS (2016)

08 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by APHK PHOTOGRAPHY in 20TH CENTURY ART, ACTING, ACTORS, ADELAIDE FESTIVAL CENTRE, ASIAN ART, ASIAN CINEMA, CHINESE CINEMA, DIRECTORS, DRAMA, FILM, HISTORY, MOVIES, OZ-ASIA, PEOPLE, SOUTH KOREA, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ACTING, ACTORS, ART, ASIA, CINEMA, DRAMA, FILM, GONG WOO, MOVIES, OZ-ASIA, SOUTH KOREA

download
download-4
The_Age_of_Shadows

Complementing the up-coming Oz-Asia Festival here in Adelaide the following continues the series of reviews of films that are set in Asia. Previously this has included the extraordinary Chinese film Aftershock (2010) was well as interpretations of the ‘East’images-7 through ‘Western’ eyes, exemplified by Bhowani Junction (1956). This review is of a contemporary South Korean film The Age of Shadows (2016), by ‘cult’ director Kim Jee-woon with a screenplay by Lee Ji-min and Park Jong-dae. It features an exceptional cast, led by Song Kang-ho and (swoon) Gong Woo. Some of you may be familiar with Gong Woo, one of South Korea’s most popular and handsome actors, possibly from the internationally successful zombie film Train to Busan (2016). In fact The Age of Shadows is a bot of a ‘swoon-fest’ all over as its ensemble cast are not only terrific actors but incredibly handsome and beautiful. Furthermore, director and producer Kim Jee-woon exemplifies what I like best about a great many contemporary Asian directors and films. There is a kind of maverick audacity at play; respectful of the art and tradition of film-making, and yet re-inventing it in a completely new and refreshing way.

The Age of Shadows is unique amongst many contemporary Asian films in that it is 20th Century historical drama about South Korean resistance fighters at the time of the Japanese occupation during WW2, something relatively unknown in the ‘West’. With a budget of $8.5 million the film was produced by Warner Brothers, their first ever Korean language film.

images-9
images-10
images-11
images-12
images-13
images

Whilst generally receiving good reviews, as well as a number of awards, the film did not achieve the same popularity in the ‘West’ that it had in South Korea and elsewhere in Asia. Some American critics found it ‘hard to follow’ with some ‘impressive ‘action scenes’, as well as being a ‘polished, often exciting patriotist drama’. but that ‘those looking for a deeper, mightier resonance would be well advised to keep their expectations in check’.

images-8
images-3
images-6
images-4
images-5

Having watched this film I find the above criticism a little to patronising and condescending. This is a beautifully made film – re-creating the period with terrific art design and costumes, as well as often the highly successful atmospheric use of saturated colour particularly in the early parts of the film. This saturation becomes less and less, matching the harsh reality as the film steadily advances to its tragic and violent outcome, Furthermore, the performances by the acting ensemble are truly excellent. Do you care about the fate and fortunes of these characters? YES! Is it an exciting and fascinating story that is well told? YES! Is it worth watching? ABSOLUTELY!!

download-1
download-2

I can’t answer for its historical accuracy, nonetheless, I am relatively certain that there were numerous brave South Korean resistance fighters who sacrificed their lives in facing the imperial fascistic and brutal military power of the occupying Japanese forces during WW2. Subsequently, for those of us in the “West” that may be ignorant of such things this film is also enlightening as well as thoroughly entertaining.

images-1
download-3

It is true, however, that there are some exceptional action scenes; the sequence in the train, for example, is brilliant. It is a violent film, complementing the violence of the time, but it is also poignantly heroic; begging the comparative question of would we today be so brave and self-sacrificing when facing such horrific violence. Furthermore, it is not true that the film is ‘hard to follow’; nor is it unmoving and lacking in depth and complexity. The comeuppance of the ‘informer’ is particularly violent, but one couldn’t help feeling completely deserved. I won’t say who is the ‘informer’, nonetheless, this film has complex layers of loyalty and betrayal, stressing the notion that not everything one sees and hears is true. In a year that is dominated in the ‘West’ by Christopher Nolan’s exceptional film Dunkirk, it is well worth watching The Age of Shadows to experience another story about survival – at an incredible cost.

images-2

TONY KNIGHT.

#ozasia, #adelaide

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • January 2020
  • August 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • August 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015

Categories

  • 16th CENTURY ART
  • 17TH CENTURY ART
  • 18TH CENTURY ART
  • 19TH CENTURY ART
  • 20TH CENTURY ART
  • 21st CENTURY ART
  • abstracts
  • ACTING
  • ACTORS
  • Adelaide
    • ADELAIDE FESTIVAL CENTRE
  • ADELAIDE THEATRE
  • AMERICAN DRAMA
  • AMERICAN DRAMA IN THE 1950S
  • AMERICAN FILM AND CINEMA
  • AMERICAN HISTORY
  • AMERICAN POLITICS
  • ANIMALS
  • ART
  • ART GALLERIES
  • ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
  • ASIAN ART
  • ASIAN CINEMA
  • ASIAN THEATRE
  • Australia
  • AUSTRALIAN ACTORS
  • Australian Art
  • AUSTRALIAN FILM
  • AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
  • AUSTRALIAN THEATRE
  • BEACHES
  • BLACK & WHITES
  • BRITISH DRAMA
  • BROADWAY
  • CHINESE CINEMA
  • CINEMA
  • Classical Greek Drama
  • Classical Theatre
  • DIRECTORS
  • DRAMA
  • Elizabethan Drama
  • ENGLISH DRAMA
  • ENGLISH HISTORY
  • ENGLISH THEATRE
  • Euripides
  • FAMOUS TRIALS
  • FASHION
  • festivals
  • FILM
  • Film Noir
  • FRENCH DRAMA
  • FRENCH THEATRE
  • HAROLD PINTER
  • Helen of Troy
  • HISTORY
  • Hollywood
  • IMPRESSIONISM
  • LITERATURE
  • LONDON
  • MOVIES
  • MUSICALS
  • MYANMAR
  • oedipus rex
  • OZ-ASIA
  • PARKS & GARDENS
  • PEOPLE
  • PHOTOGRAPHY
  • PLAYS
  • POLITICS
  • PUBLIC ART
  • RESTORATION DRAMA
  • SALA
  • SHAKESPEARE
  • SINGAPORE
  • Sophocles
  • South Australia
  • SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ART GALLERY
  • SOUTH KOREA
  • STATUES
  • STREET ART
  • The Trojan War
  • THEATRE
  • TONY'S TOURS – Travel Journal
  • TRAVEL
  • TRAVEL JOURNEY
  • TRAVELING IN AUSTRALIA
  • TRAVELING IN INDIA
  • TREES
  • Uncategorized
  • UNITED KINGDOM
  • USA
  • VINEYARDS
  • WEST END, LONDON

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel