{"id":28940,"date":"2016-05-01T15:31:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T07:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=28940"},"modified":"2021-04-30T16:28:25","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T08:28:25","slug":"tongue-tied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/tongue-tied\/","title":{"rendered":"Tongue-Tied"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thomas Lim\u2019s journey towards writing\u00a0Grandmother Tongue<\/em>\u00a0began far away from home. He was studying drama in Exeter when he started thinking about the languages we love\u2026 and the ones we\u2019re forced to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my first term, there was a module that taught us different ways to think about things,\u201d explains Thomas. \u201cThe post-colonial lecture really got to me. It made me question how a great deal of our identities are products of decisions made by other people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those decisions is the bilingual language policy that has long been a fact of life for students in Singapore. Apart from English, everyone is required to study their mother tongue as a second language. For Chinese students, that takes the form of mandatory Mandarin classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI found myself wondering why I studied Mandarin in school,\u201d Thomas recalls. \u201cThe government says that it\u2019s my mother tongue, but my mother doesn\u2019t speak Mandarin. And my grandmother can\u2019t speak it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s particularly aggravating to Thomas that we\u2019ve grown accustomed to conflating \u2018Mandarin\u2019 with \u2018Chinese\u2019, when it\u2019s really just one dialect amongst many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe say things like \u2018I\u2019m studying Chinese\u2019 or \u2018Tomorrow got Chinese exam\u2019 all the time,\u201d he points out. \u201cBut it\u2019s not the same! It\u2019s very insidious \u2013 the way we are made to feel that Mandarin is somehow \u2018our\u2019 language, when it could have been any other dialect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Thomas personally, he has an emotional connection to the Teochew dialect that he does not have with Mandarin. \u201cI never really connected with Mandarin \u2013 I\u2019ve hated it all my life,\u201d he says matter-of-factly. \u201cBut, whenever I speak or hear someone speaking Teochew, I know I\u2019m home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, Teochew is Thomas\u2019 grandmother tongue. It\u2019s the only language (with a hint of Hokkien and some Malay) that he can use to communicate with his 86-year-old grandmother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m the last of my generation to have been raised by my granny before going to primary school,\u201d he observes. \u201cMy younger cousins never had that, so they can\u2019t speak Teochew at all. They get by with little things like \u2018jiak ba buay<\/em>?\u2019, but they can\u2019t have a deeper conversation with my granny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These ideas, and many more anecdotes from real life, have found their way into Grandmother Tongue<\/em>. \u201cPeople who know me will recognise some of the stories in there,\u201d teases Thomas. \u201cOf course, I had to exercise a bit of creative license and make things a bit more drama lah!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The way to a man\u2019s heart is through his stomach!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the past few weeks, Thomas has been working hard on refining his script for the Festival, following creative workshops with his cast and Festival Dramaturg Alfian Sa\u2019at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI learned a lot from Alfian,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cMy biggest takeaway thus far has been having a dramaturg look at my work and give me feedback on how I can move it forward. He pointed me to things I can read, and taught me how to structure and present my ideas in a more coherent way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working on Grandmother Tongue<\/em> with W!LD RICE has also been an eye-opening experience for Thomas. Although he\u2019s been involved in countless productions in his day job as a drama educator and as an amateur theatre-maker, this is his first time working as both director and playwright in a fully professional capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI come from a just-do-everything-yourself background,\u201d he admits. \u201cSuddenly, I\u2019m working with professional actors, instead of students and amateurs. I\u2019m having meetings with professional lighting and set designers, when I used to do those jobs myself! It\u2019s all moving at a pace I\u2019m still trying to get used to. It can be very scary. But everything, to me, is a luxury on this show, and I\u2019m thrilled by this opportunity!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s also thrilled by the opportunity to tell a story that hits so close to home. Coming into contact with local theatre in secondary school was what set Thomas on the path to becoming a playwright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He joined Catholic High\u2019s drama club at the age of 13 because of a friend, but wound up staying out of interest. His first, life-changing experience with theatre came about when his mentor and current boss, Nora Neo-Crothers, worked with him and his fellow students on devising a play based on their own experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had thought that being in the drama club would be all about staging Shakespeare and classic American plays,\u201d Thomas recalls. \u201cBut my first contact with theatre was a local piece, as well as a collective effort \u2013 something we created ourselves! It made me realise just what Singapore theatre can be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He hasn\u2019t looked back since, and speaks with great passion about wanting to contribute to and expand the canon of stories and theatre in Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to tell stories about us, about Singapore,\u201d Thomas says with conviction. \u201cBecause I\u2019m planted here, you know? My soul is here, my spirit, my family is here. All my stories are here. And there are so many stories here that should be given a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grandmother Tongue<\/em>, written and directed by Thomas Lim, plays at the Singapore Theatre Festival from 7 to 10 July 2016. Tickets are sold out. Visit www.singaporetheatrefestival.com<\/a> for more information!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Images courtesy of Thomas Lim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A product of Singapore\u2019s mother-tongue policy, Teochew nang Thomas Lim tells us how his grandmother inspired Grandmother Tongue and what the dialect means to him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[94,34,62],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}