Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Sunday, August 08, 2010
about kok man
LOH KOK MAN is Artistic Director of PENTAS PROJECT THEATRE PRODUCTION and an established theatre director, actor, lighting designer, set designer and theatre lecturer. He has won The BOH Cameronian Arts Awards for Best Director, for Best Set Design and for Best Lighting Design multiple times. Loh founded Pentas Project Theatre Production in 2005 to produce critical and collaborative contemporary theatre. He is known for his unique way of integrating theatrical elements such as visual imagery, lighting, sound, physical movement and dramatic structures while exploring the concept of space and time.
His directorial credits include <aku>, <The Lost and The Ecliptic>, <A Modern Woman Called Ang Tau Mui>, <Animal Farm>, <Double Punctum>, <Uda dan Dara>, <Red Demon> and <The Swordfish, Then The Concubine>. In 2005, Kok Man was invited to New York under a fellowship awarded by the Asian Cultural Council. He has since been invited to participate in numerous international theatre collaboration projects, allowing him to work in Japan, Korea, India, Thailand, Shanghai, Macau, Germany, Taiwan and Singapore.
羅國文，劇場導演、演員、燈光設計師、舞台設計師、戲劇導師以及［平台計劃／劇團］藝術總監。1993年畢業於馬來西亞藝術學院戲劇系，並於2005年創辦了［平台計劃］， 一直致力於搭建橋樑以多元藝術交流為本的團隊。曾獲馬來西亞金馬崙藝術大獎的［最佳導演］、［最佳燈光設計］、［最佳舞台設計］獎的羅國文，創作向來善於綜合多種劇場的元素，尤其是影像、燈光、聲響、演員肢體和劇場的戲劇架構間交錯互動所呈現的效果，豐富了對劇場視覺空間及時間的探索。導演的作品包括了 《aku》、《城失空想》、《［思想＋自分］報告》、《一個名叫紅豆妹的摩登師奶》、《雙重刺點》、《動物農莊》及《劍魚⦿妾》等。2002～2005年受東京世田谷劇場邀請參加為期三年的「亞洲當代劇場交流計劃」。2005年獲得美國”亞洲文化協會“獎學金遠赴美國遊學半年。2013年獲得歌德學院獎學金赴柏林學習一個月。國文也經常受邀參與國際合作交流計劃，曾赴日本、韓國、印度、德國、菲律賓、上海、泰國、新加坡、台灣、紐約、柬埔寨及澳門等地參與演出和交流。
INTERNATIONAL PROJECT/
2019
- Invited by Taiwan Our Theatre to participated for The Experimental Theater Festival in Chiayi, Taiwan.
- The 30th Asian Monodrama Festival at Geochang, Korea. <Richard & She>
2018
- Got supported by CENDANA, Invited to participated for the Australian Performing Arts Market.
2017
- Invited by Quanta Arts Foundation, Taiwan to participated for Performing Arts in Chinese Speaking Area Meeting at Taipei City.
- Invited by Quanta Arts Foundation, Taiwan to participated Chinese Speaking Theatre Exchange Program at Singapore.
- Invited by The Japan Foundation, ASIA CENTER to participated for the TPAM exchange program in Yokohama, Japan.
2014
- MAHABRARATA-CHAPTER 2 Pan Asia Project by Hiroshi Koike at India, Kuala Lumpur & Jakarta LIGHTING DESIGN
2013
- KUANDU Arts Festival 2013 < ANIMAL FARM > | Taipei, Taiwan DIRECTOR
- CHIAYI INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL, TAIWAN / FAREWELL, MY CONCUBINE | by Lee Wushu Arts LIGHTING DESIGN
- Awarded A Fellowship From "Goethe Institut Kuala Lumpur" One month studied at Berlin, Germany
- MAHABRARATA Pan Asia Project by Hiroshi Koike at Cambodia & Hanoi LIGHTING DESIGN
- KAKISENI FEST < DURIAN BECKETT > / International Theatre Fest at Kuala Lumpur DIRECTOR
2011
- The 11th Macau City Fringe Festival 2011 < A MODERN WOMEN CALLED ANG TAU MUI >
- Malaysia + Thailand Theatre Artists Collaboration Project at Kuala Lumpur < NEXT DOOR >
2010
- Malaysia + Thailand Theatre Artists Collaboration Project at Thailand < NEXT DOOR >
- Shanghai International Contemporary Theatre Festival 2010 DEMONSTRATION ACTIVITY BY PENTAS PROJECT THEATRE PRODUCTION
- THE STUDIOS, Belonging | Esplanade Theatre Studio, Singapore < THE LOST & THE ECLIPTIC >
2008
- THE STUDIOS | Esplanade Theatre Studio, Singapore BREAK-ING : PENTAS THEATRE COLLABORATION PROJECT
- Asian Contemporary Theatre Project 2008 | Theatre TRAM, Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo BREAK-ING : PENTAS THEATRE COLLABORATION PROJECT
2007
- Asian Contemporary Theatre Project 2007 | Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo
2006
- Theatre Collaboration Project with International WOW Company at New York City THE MIGRATION PROJECT : PROJECT 24
2005
- Awarded A Fellowship From "Asian Cultural Council" 6 months at New York
- Asian Contemporary Theatre Project #6 at Yamaguchi and Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo
- Bangkok Theatre Festival WORKSHOP & TALK SHARING AT BANGKOK, THAILAND
2004
- Thai Arts & Culture Discovering And Exchange Project AT BANGKOK & CHIANG MAI / ORGANIZED BY ZERO SPACE
- Asian Contemporary Theatre Project #5 AT CULTURAL CENTER OF THE PHILIPPINES(CCP) | ORGANIZED BY SETAGAYA PUBLIC THEATRE, TOKYO
- Asian Contemporary Theatre Project #4 ORGANIZED BY SETAGAYA PUBLIC THEATRE, TOKYO
2003
- Asian Contemporary Theatre Project #3 AT KAWABA, GUNMA, JAPAN | ORGANIZED BY SETAGAYA PUBLIC THEATRE
- Asian Contemporary Theatre Project #2 AT BALI PURNATI CENTER FOR ARTS, INDONESIA | ORGANIZED BY SETAGAYA PUBLIC THEATRE
- Asian Contemporary Theatre Project #1 AT SETAGAYA PUBLIC THEATR, TOKYO
2002
- The 4th Physical Theatre Festival, Tokyo < TERRITORY > MULTI-CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROJECT WITH STORE HOUSE COMPANY (ACTOR)
2001
- The 3rd Physical Theatre Festival, Tokyo < SHALL WE... OFF? > AT STORE HOUSE COMPANY (CO-DIRECTOR & LIGHTING DESIGNER)
2000
- Multi-Culture Project, Philippines < THE SOLDIER’S TALE II > ACPC PHILIPPINES
1999
- Festival Der Geister, Berlin < FAMILY > FIVE ARTS CENTRE PRODUCTION, DIRECTED BY KRISHEN JIT (ACTOR)
1998
- The 2nd International Non-verbal Arts Festival, India < AKU > AT LOKA SANKRITI BHAWAN SODEPUR, WEST BENGAL, INDIA
- The 2nd Asia Meets Asia 98’, Japan < AKU > STORE HOUSE THEATRE COMPANY, TOKYO
- The 8th Asian Monodrama Festival, Malaysia ORGANIZED BY DAN DAN THEATRE PRODUCTION
1997
- The 2nd Kongju Asian Monodram Festival, Korea < AKU > BY DAN DAN THEATRE PRODUCTION
國際交流與合作
2019
- 受台灣阮劇團邀請，為嘉義小劇場戲劇節《劇本農場VI》讀劇表演講評人。
- 導演作品《理查與她》受邀於第30屆亞細亞單人劇祭演出。
2018
- 獲馬來西亞CENDANA補助，參加澳洲藝術市集交流活動 Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) 。
2017
- 受台灣國藝會與廣藝基金會的邀請，於台北出席【華藝匯集】表演藝術華文地區推廣平台國際論壇。
- 受台灣廣藝基金會的邀請，出席新加坡華語劇場拜訪與交流對談的活動計劃。
- 受日本文化協會的邀請，出席日本【TPAM】 (Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama)的國際交流活動。
2015
- 【赤鬼】日本野田秀樹作品，邀請台灣飛人集社石佩玉為演出特別設計偶與面具，也邀請了台灣演員彭浩秦來馬來西亞一起參與演出和交流。
2014
- 受邀擔任日本導演小池博史的【摩訶婆羅多－第二章】PAN ASIA PROJECT的演出燈光設計。於印度，吉隆坡及印尼巡回演出。
2013
- 導演作品【動物農莊】受邀於台灣關渡藝術節演出。
- 為馬來西亞武舞藝術坊的演出【霸王別姬】擔任燈光設計，參與台灣「嘉義市第9屆飆舞節」。
- 榮獲馬來西亞歌德學院獎學金赴德國柏林學習一個月
- 受邀擔任日本導演小池博史的【摩訶婆羅多－第一章】PAN ASIA PROJECT 的演出燈光設計。於柬埔寨及越南巡回演出。
- 導演作品【貝克榴蓮】，受邀於吉隆坡「KAKISENI國際表演藝術節」演出。
2011
- 導演作品【一個名叫紅豆妹的摩登師奶】受邀於「澳門城市藝穗節」演出。
- 【隔離鄰舍】 馬來西亞＋泰國劇場交流合作計劃。於吉隆坡「婦女100：表演藝術節」演出。
2010
- 【隔離鄰舍】馬來西亞＋泰國劇場交流合作計劃。 和泰國Makhampom 劇團合作，於曼谷、清稻及清邁進行交流與對話。
- 受邀於「上海亞洲當代戲劇祭」演出【馬來西亞平台計劃劇團創作成果示範演出】。
- 導演作品【城失空想】受邀到新加破濱海藝術中心「THE STUDIO」戲劇節演出。
2008
- 導演作品【 擊破：平台劇場合作交流計劃 】受邀到新加破濱海藝術中心「THE STUDIO」戲劇節演出。
- 導演作品【擊破：平台劇場合作交流計劃 】受東京世田谷劇場邀請於「2008年亞洲當代劇場交流計劃」演出
2007
- 受東京世田谷劇場邀請，參加「2007年亞洲當代劇場交流計劃」。
2006
- 與紐約International Theatre WOW Company進行劇場合作交流計劃【PROJECT 24】。
2005
- 榮獲美國［亞州文化協會］ 獎學金往紐約遊學半年
- 受東京世田谷劇場邀請，參加「亞洲當代劇場交流計劃六 」。
2004
- 受邀於「曼谷戲劇節」 演出，給工作坊及講談會
- 「泰國藝術與文化之旅程交流計劃 ／旅程」 臨時空間
- 受東京世田谷劇場邀請，於菲律賓進行「亞洲當代劇場交流計劃五」。
- 受東京世田谷劇場邀請，於東京參加「亞洲當代劇場交流計劃四 」。
2003
- 受東京世田谷劇場邀請，於日本群馬縣參加「亞洲當代劇場交流計劃三」。
- 受東京世田谷劇場邀請，於峇里島參加「亞洲當代劇場交流計劃二」。
- 受東京世田谷劇場邀請，於東京參加「亞洲當代劇場交流計劃一」。
2002
- 受東京STORE HOUSE劇團邀請，參與第四屆肢體劇場節演出【TERRITORY】。
2001
- 導演作品【Shall we... off?】受STORE HOUSE劇團邀請參加「東京第三屆肢體劇場節」。
2000
- 受Asian Council For People’s Culture (ACPC) 邀請，菲律賓剧场進行合作交流計劃，演出《士兵的故事 II》
1999
- 受馬來西亞演出團體Five Arts Centre邀請演出作品【Family】於德國「鬼藝術節」演出德國 。
1998
- 自導自演作品【aku】受邀於印度加爾各答參加「第二屆國際無語言表演藝術節」。
- 自導自演作品【aku】受邀於東京參加「第二屆亞洲遇見亞洲」。 DA.M + Store House 聯合舉辦
- 「第八屆亞細亞單人劇祭」馬來西亞 ｜單單表演工程
1997
- 自導自演作品【aku】受邀於韓國參加「第二屆公州亞細亞單人劇祭」。
1996
- 為馬來西亞單單表演工程作品【三代】擔任舞監與燈光設計，於韓國參加「第七屆亞細亞單人劇祭」
1995
- 為馬來西亞單單表演工程作品【三代】擔任舞監與燈光設計，於日本飯島町參加「第六屆亞細亞單人劇祭」。
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Tuesday, July 06, 2010
staging asia
Staging Asia
Japan is flung clear across the grounds, to the edge of the forest.The scene: A mountain retreat north of Tokyo, October 2003. A group of theatre practitioners meets for the third time in an experimental collaboration.It all began in Tokyo in February the same year when 16 accomplished directors from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan and the US were brought together by the Setagaya Public Theatre and the Japan Foundation for the first workshop of the Asian Contemporary Theatre Collaboration Project, themed “The Lohan Journey: Creating New Fictions of Asia.” Initially, they showed off the best of their creative wares. Things were different during the second meeting in Bali. No longer burdened by the need to prove themselves, the directors talked with each other for the first time in the verdant isolation of the Bali Purnati arts centre. If “collaboration is communication,” as Loh Kok Man would assert to the group on many an occasion, then the project began in earnest at this juncture.The group would have three more meetings lasting several weeks each, towards creating a piece of theatre: in Kawaba and Tokyo, in Japan, and Makiling in the Philippines. I was drawn to the project from my very first encounter with the directors on a humid evening in Bali, standing in for an absent Indonesian-English interpreter. There was something special about the group, its politics, and the journey upon which it had embarked.The directors faced squarely the challenges of a seemingly impossible project: cultural strangers, brought together to make theatre – and not through the tried and tested formula of a designated director, script and rehearsals. Instead, they developed the leadership, working processes, and substance of their performance through intensive collaboration over the course of a relatively long two years; one that explored the creation of a community beyond national boundaries. Rather than simply assigning to each other roles specific to their nationalities, the directors explored individual strengths within the transnational space which they constituted.
It was in Kawaba that Japan was thrown out of the loop. The scene was part of “International Land” directed by Ivan Heng, one of 11 workshop pieces produced at the mountain retreat. Airports, arrival and departure lounges, immigration counters – sites so common to worldwide travel and moments in transcontinental journeys were explored and vividly invoked outdoors by the performers.When several of the Southeast Asians decided to lay out a map of the region to indicate their respective countries, they did so with their shoes. The actors fiddled excitedly with the shoe-map as they crafted their region, and when it appeared to have been completed, Japan hovered only slightly above Southeast Asia – just before Nam Ron picked up "Japan" and hurled it far away with much gusto. To its rightful position, he claimed. Tatsuo Kaneshita, as “Japan”, ran off to the edge of the forest to stand by his newly repositioned shoe, lonely and bemused in the shade of the trees. Conflicts, challenges and differences in aesthetics, creative styles, cultures and nationalities surfaced, and they were worked out in scenes such as this. Nam Ron’s improvised move signified how distant Japan was from Southeast Asia not only in physical, but cultural, political and economic terms. The collaboration might have been initiated and funded by Japanese organisations, but the inequalities between Japan and Southeast Asia were faced squarely. The collaboration not only allowed for, but encouraged creative tensions – a testament to its success.
From Bali to Makiling, the group did not merely celebrate the wonderful diversity in their midst but also faced the real difficulties of inter-cultural collaboration boldly and, for the most part, in good form. The workshop experiments were open-ended in both form and content. The pieces performed ranged from the small and personal, invoking a sacred quality even, to large multifocus works. After such sharing of experiences, the group decided to split into three subgroups at the Makiling workshop, focusing on the themes of identity, migration, and terrorism. Language was one of the primary challenges. The performers spoke Mandarin, Tagalog, Indonesian and Malay, Javanese, Thai, Japanese, and English, not to mention numerous dialects as well as varieties of English. No single language adequately served as the common one. How then would they produce a piece of work collaboratively? Would it be possible to use multiple languages? Would this feel natural on stage? Inter-cultural theatre often avoids the challenge of language by focusing on movement and image, but this collaboration made a concerted effort to work with many languages and the different ways of using them. At least eight were experimented with, including various forms of translation. One involved a piece improvised in Kawaba where two actors speak their own languages, albeit within a context which makes the multi-lingual dialogue intelligible. Herbert Go plays a psychiatrist speaking English in what seems to be a mock German accent, though much of it comes out as a steady, compelling gibberish. Rochmad Tono is the patient, speaking mostly in Indonesian with a smattering of English. In much the high-minded manner English speakers can adopt, the psychiatrist refuses to entertain the patient in any language other than English – never mind his own jarring accent. “Speak in Heenglish,” he insists repeatedly to the patient, becoming almost feverish when the latter can only respond in Indonesian. The verbal assault becomes quite oppressive for the extremely exasperated patient, who inevitably explodes in anger: “I paid you! Can’t you speak in Indonesian?!” He shouts in English. The patient rebels against the psychiatrist’s abuse and the conceit of English as the universal language. The scene nicely renders not only the harmony or richness of multilingual (and often multi-ethnic) interactions, but also the conflict and frustration that can emerge when the conversation is not between equals or results in incomprehension or miscommunication
What about claims to representing Asia in the project’s name? An answer may be found in the presence of Josh Fox, a collaborator who from his spoken English and mannerisms is recognisably American. Why was he there? Did he not make the production less Asian? The response to the first question is simple. Josh was part of the group because he had done considerable work in inter-cultural theatre.And if we should believe that the presence of Fox made the production less Asian, did the rest of the group unequivocally represent Asia in cultural, geographical, political and other ways? How would it be decided who belonged and who did not to the Asia imagined? At least according to the shoe-map laid out in Kawaba, Japan was very far from the rest of Southeast Asia, perhaps far enough not to be part of Asia at all.When it appeared that the directors were lost in their search for “Asia” during the Bali workshop, I encouraged them to pursue it as a piece of fiction. Asia surely does not exist in some easily definable, homogenous and unchanging manner, but is a fiction which is made and remade. The directors would find Asia, so to speak, through the act of story-telling, should they reveal something of themselves in the stories.Rather than being an exception in the group, Fox’s participation cautioned against representing Asia in simple or exclusive terms. In the spirit of experimentation, the group focused on the business of collaboration and allowed its identity to emerge in the process instead of defining the nature of its Asianness at the outset. In developing this identity, it seemed valuable, if not ethical, to keep in view the conditions shared by human beings across the globe.In Kawaba, Jo Kukathas lauded the reference to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda in a piece exploring political violence. By touching on Africa, she noted, the group brought to the fore a continent that was frequently rendered invisible in the mass media. Furthermore, in her mind, the reference to Rwanda brought home “the interconnectedness of human suffering in the world.”
Inter-cultural theatre is not new and neither is the multiculturalism that may be fashionable in the mass media or political rhetoric at any one time. Barriers have been crossed many times in the past, across family and kinship groups, villages and more. We are now more self-conscious in our efforts to do the same because we are born not only into families but regulated nation-states; we have been given our own larger family of mostly unknown relatives through birth certificates, passports and other salient controls.Many if us cross boundaries for work and other imperatives. Nevertheless, we often have to make a more self-conscious effort to go beyond the national self, the collective person that we believe ourselves to be that we can see and value everyday inter-cultural experiences. Take the daily encounter in Malaysia and Singapore with workers from Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries. The collaboration was part of that selfconscious effort to see links beyond our nations from the ground up. I harbour no illusions of the group struggling for the cause of the oppressed. Rather, I believe the performers incorporated into their creative work their empathies for others who face crises, and their own challenges. And by embracing the differences (including the languages) of the other performers they self-consciously explored new border crossings.One person, Kentaro Matsui, had a strong sense of the politics which he hoped would emerge from the collaboration, though he hardly imposed any kind of pre-ordained design on the group. The Setagaya director was key to making the experiment possible. In his mind, the main object of the collaboration was to explore theatre. He hoped the group would develop an identity of its own and find a role for itself in the diverse worlds of theatre and society in Asia.For Kentaro, the collaboration was to improve on the 2001 production Pulau Antara (The Island in Between), co-written by Malaysians Kam Raslan and Jo Kukathas, which adhered to the conventions of theatremaking. The latter directed a cast made up of Malaysian and Japanese actors. In retrospect, it appears there was little by way of intercultural collaboration, besides the casting of the actors. Nevertheless, Kukathas observes that much effort went into working not only with the cultural proclivities and languages of the two nationalities, but ethnic differences among the Malaysians themselves. While the play may well have explored inter-culturalism in this regard, there was no attempt to seek a different way of making theatre. The present collaboration distinguished itself from Pulau Antara by breaking the conventions of theatre while at the same time advancing the earlier play’s attempt to delve into Japan’s wartime past; the Japanese Foreign Ministry had intervened rather forcefully to eliminate from the 2001 play’s references to Japan’s role in World War II.In contrast, the workshops in the last two years explored this role without reservation. One of the most memorable pieces was directed by Joséfina Estrella and performed by Josh Fox and Loh Kok Man. The beautiful and placid countryside of Kawaba was profoundly transformed in the piece when all the members of the collaboration were taken on a bus trip around the area. Josh played a Chinese American son accompanying his mother (Loh) on a tour of her native China. As the trip unfolded, Fox (also playing the tour guide) related a gruesome narrative of killing, rape and suffering as if it were taking place along the path of bus. It turns out that everyone was transported back to Nanjing in 1937 after the Japanese army had devastated the city. Kawaba’s famous apple orchards, toiling farmers, neat vegetable patches and so forth were transformed into scenes of violence and death by the evocative narrative. At the end of the trip, audience members were in tears, feeling queasy, or speechless. This piece of theatre rendered history present in a powerful and inventive way. Among those most affected were the Japanese. Tatsuo Kaneshita could only utter in soft tones “susume suru no wa mutzukashi [it is difficult to say anything].” He regretted that the Japanese people as a whole had not come to terms with wartime atrocities. He believed that they simply felt sorry and then chose to forget it all. Tatsuo noted, however, that the Nanjing piece made a lasting impression and could not be easily forgotten.
Is it possible to create community out of thin air? How do you make a group with disparate cultural backgrounds feel some sense of common purpose – to gel, so to speak? The Asian Contemporary Theatre Collaboration was a bold experiment aimed at addressing these questions, though it was not without heartache and difficulties. Everybody got along and yet they did not. Moments of deeply felt differences spliced the intense solidarities formed. Cultural divides were not easily bridged and egos not easily accommodated. Ken Takiguchi of the Japan Foundation in Kuala Lumpur feels that many more experiments such as this are needed before the means of doing inter-cultural work becomes self-evident.Importantly, the project put into practice what is easy to theorise but hard to realise: recognising differences and accepting them through dialogue. Through theatre, the project showed the possibilities and challenges of belonging across national boundaries, of assuming a credible transnational self. So many possibilities were explored during the collaboration, some made real and others not. The journey was not the happy fantasy by which multiculturalism is often sold to the public by various parties. Yet each time a possibility was realised, community was created on uncharted territory. One more step was taken towards realising another Asia.
Sumit Mandal is an historian at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and a contributing member of the Advisory Board of Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia.This article was first published in the Malaysian monthly magazine Off the Edge in May 2005.
Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia 8 (March 2007) © Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University
The Players: Citizens of Another Asia
Ranging from their early thirties to their mid-forties, all the members of the collaboration are well known mid-career directors in their respective countries. Almost half have had no formal training in theatre. All but a handful are widely travelled performers with richly varied aesthetic styles and life experiences. Mostly urban based, the members of the group actively speak at least nine languages and dialects: Tagalog, Japanese, Malay and Indonesian, Javanese, Mandarin, English, Thai, and Hokkien.
To see W.S. Dindon perform is to watch contemporary dance, at least at first glance. The Jakarta-born performer however does not claim to be a dancer but an actor. In terms of his art, he brought to the collaboration an intense and even frenetic energy which he often expressed and harnessed through movement. He is much influenced by the music and theatre traditions of India where he stayed for a time. At the same time he possesses a deep and unconventional intellectual sensibility which is grounded in the search for social justice.
Rodolfo Vera packs a depth of knowledge and experience as an actor and writer – including years of working with the Philippines Educational Theater Association (PETA) – counterposed by a raucous and cheeky laugh that screams out spontaneously from time to time. When assuming the role of playwright, Rody typically puts a considerable effort into research. One of the few singers in the group, this Manila-born actor was sought for leadership and clarity whenever things went awry.
Whenever he fell silent on stage, Nam Ron brought out a compelling intensity which, like much of his acting, seemed to flow from him so naturally. One could not tell to what the silence would lead. Was he a child rapist or a man struggling with his convictions? Off and on stage, Nam Ron faced new challenges to his person and faith with a transparent honesty. Born in Kangar in the north of the Malaysian peninsula, in the collaboration he found a space outside of his society’s grip for his naturally independent and out of step creativity.
Singapore-born Ivan Heng’s characters often cannot help but be an overwhelming presence given the fabulous cheer, energy and gesticulations he gives to them. It is a wonderful trait in large ensemble scenes as others can play off him productively. With performance stints from India to New Zealand he is one of the most widely travelled of the group. The focus and discipline in his professional life gives way to an infectious liveliness and warmth after work.
Bangkok-born Narumol Thammapruksa, or Kop as she is called, has been for many years deeply involved in a variety of collaborative efforts within Southeast Asia and worldwide. A bouncy, spirited, and yet contained figure on stage, she can shift comfortably from the graceful or even light to the serious. Like other young women struggling to maintain their professional identities, Kop works hard to be committed to her art and society after her own vision, rather than the claims made by society.
Takeshi Kawamura is zany on stage, offering unexpected bursts of physical and verbal energy. He can speak in a rapid staccato in such a manner as to affect a spectacular madness. In this state, his arms and head scatter like a wooden puppet gone out of control. Born in Tokyo, Takeshi defines himself against Japanese notions of cultural restraint and formality, making his personal feelings quite transparent to others. The collaboration offered him outrageous comrades from outside his own country and experience.
Driven by the spoken word and physicality, New York-born Josh Fox offers a self-possessed and strong presence on stage. He has been dedicated to inter-cultural theatre for some years, having established with others a transnational theatre company. While he expresses his emotions easily on and off-stage, in life he is a mixture of confidence, anxiety and sensitivity framed or perhaps held back, by his heavy, horn-rimmed spectacles. The politically-committed Josh has been working hard to express himself as an American artist against the warring mission of the White House at the turn of the century.
Born in Kuala Lumpur, Jo Kukathas is a versatile actor who makes the transition between the humorous and the serious with ease. Her involvement in this project follows from the earlier Malaysia-Japan collaborative work Pulau Antara (The Island in Between). She explores her art more deeply on this occasion, having expended much energy in Malaysia fighting censorship and authoritarian politics. A widely-read and thoughtful person off-stage, Jo has worked hard to incorporate a woman’s voice in what has been an overwhelmingly male collaboration.
Azuzan J.G. was born in Pematang Siantar in northern Sumatera. While his tall lanky self is most comfortable in quiet and meditative roles as well as graceful movements, he transforms himself easily into a character born out of the cacophony of urban life. He brought to the collaboration his knowledge of a number of performance traditions of the Indonesian archipelago. Azuzan has been active in social movements seeking a more democratic Indonesia before and after the end of authoritarian rule under Suharto in 1998.
Loh Kok Man was born in Kuala Lumpur and is a versatile performer on stage, with strengths in movement and physical expression. He is neither too shy nor self-involved to try new roles and styles even if it means making mistakes. Having travelled widely on his own and to some extent as a performer, he comes to the collaboration keen to learn, exchange ideas and explore theatre beyond his Malaysian experience. Kok Man is ever so curious in gentle ways about many things and deeply contemplative.
Singapore-born Haresh Sharmashies from the stage, preferring instead to write as well as direct. His tall lanky presence in combination with his striking eyes and hands altogether constitute a figure who is somewhat mysterious. One’s curiosity is exacerbated by the unflappable look he possesses. Having explored much socially-committed theatre in the past, Haresh now writes about existentialism, spirituality, morality and other more introspective themes. He was important as an intelligent, sensitive and effective mediator throughout the collaboration.
Rochmad Tono was born in Jakarta and cuts an intense figure on stage. He makes his presence felt in performance with a strong voice and graceful movements often packaged in machismo and a forced casual air. The faint but real possibility of an emotional outburst lends an element of danger to him. One of the least travelled and youngest in the group, Tono comes to the collaboration curious and excited about its cosmopolitan composition and ambitions.
Trained in Thai dance traditions, Bangkok-born Pradit Prasartthong’s movements can have a studied gracefulness. Tua, as he is usually called, happily breaks away from the form when necessary to play a range of characters, often with a folksy undertone. He is committed to his work despite the incurable impishness and prankster in him. While he dislikes doing art premised at the outset on social and political issues, he keeps his commitments close to his heart when working.
Joséfina Estrella was born in Manila. Although she shied from acting during the collaboration, she left a strong impression the few times she took to the stage. She spoke and moved her small body in powerfully suggestive ways whether she played the sexy temptress or hardworking maid. She was focussed and clear-sighted about her goals during the collaboration as well as collegial and supportive when working in groups.
Tatsuo Kaneshita was born on Hokkaido Island in northern Japan and chooses to write and direct rather than perform. Nevertheless, he played a number of characters with aplomb during the workshops, mastering the role of the tall, mysterious and quietly expressive man of a few words. Tatsuo’s theatre and social worlds was for the most part confined to Japan until the collaboration. From not speaking or hearing a word of English, he now does a bit of both. Moreover, he expresses a strong desire to visit Southeast Asia and learn more about the region.
Manila-born Herbert Go plays in the world of the stage with utter seriousness, though one would not necessarily detect this at first glance. He unpacks himself on stage in bold and innovative ways, rendering himself alternatively funny and vulnerable. Herbie is one of the most popular teachers at the National Arts Council’s High School of the Arts (in Makiling) where every year some thirty students are picked from all over the Philippines to be educated on full scholarships. He was important in fostering dialogues between people during discussion with gentle insistence and a funky sense of humour.
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