Alfian Sa\u2019at\u2019s call<\/a> for a dialogue session to reflect on the inherent lack of ethnic diversity in local theatre productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI have issues with multicultural theatre as manifested in the form of discrete language-stream theatres,\u201d said Alfian in his invitation to the arts community at large. \u201cThere\u2019s a sense that, just because we have English theatre, Chinese theatre, Malay theatre, Tamil theatre etc., then we\u2019re ticking our multicultural boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this disguises the fact that true cross-cultural productions are few and far between, with vernacular theatres falling short in terms of resources, professionalisation and audience base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The session kicked off with a discussion about casting calls, especially for screen projects, that frequently stated preferences for Chinese or pan-Asian actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s really frustrating is how the casting calls would list the kind of roles that they need and you\u2019ll feel very excited about them,\u201d said freelance actress and acting student Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai. \u201cBut, when you scroll to the end, it goes \u2018All roles preferred for Chinese\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact of the matter remains \u2013 the majority of roles available to performers in Singapore are earmarked for and ultimately given to Chinese actors. To some extent, the lack of opportunity is due to demographics: statistically, there are more Chinese playwrights in Singapore who will create characters and tell stories they know and recognise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lee Shyh Jih, who sits on Drama Box\u2019s Board of Directors and primarily writes Chinese plays, admitted that he tended to stick to topics with which he was familiar \u2013 but these may or may not have to do with race. \u201cAs writers, we write what we know,\u201d he explained. \u201cHowever, race is only one attribute of the human condition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of local writers are Chinese,\u201d said Faizal Abdullah, Artistic Director of Hatch Theatrics. \u201cSo I completely understand. I mean, I\u2019m Malay, and if I had to write a play that\u2019s about a Chinese family, I would find it very strange, because I have no experience of that. So I would write about what I\u2019m familiar with. I would write about my Malay family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Participants also discussed the role played by the mainstream media in limiting the reach of minority-language theatre companies. T. Nakulan, Managing Director of Ravindran Drama Group, which specialises in Tamil theatre, mentioned that a local newspaper never responded to their requests to promote their productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sole exception? When one of their productions was directed by a Chinese actor. And even then, Nakulan remarked, \u201cThey wrote nothing about the play, nothing about the actors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Participants also debated whether colour-blind casting was more or less prevalent in schools and drama programmes for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnyone can be anything,\u201d said primary school drama teacher Janna Hussain. This might have to do with the fact that many children\u2019s plays are set in fantastical worlds filled with characters ranging from fairies and genies to talking animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut, in school shows, there is always the need to have the \u2018CMIO\u2019,\u201d Faizal countered. \u201cAnd, quite often, the Malay man is depicted wearing a sarong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This often places the minority actor in a bind: on one hand, nabbing a role means gainful employment; on the other hand, accepting such token roles would mean that an actor risks perpetuating stereotypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have played the token Indian guy for many years,\u201d said theatre practitioner Ebi Shankara. \u201cThere has to come a point in time where I have to stop and say, \u2018I think I am better than just being the token Indian guy.\u2019 There are many other minority actors who are as good as or even better [than their Chinese counterparts], but we are always stuck in this tokenism that we have to come out of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was unanimous agreement that, ultimately, playwrights should increase the number of substantial roles for minority actors, while directors should consider casting minority actors for roles that were not ethnicity-specific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe roundtable has inspired us to keep discussing and working to resolve some of the challenges faced by minority theatre practitioners in Singapore,\u201d observed Alfian after the dialogue session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe primacy of English as a lingua franca<\/em> in Singapore society is a given,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut do we have to reproduce these kinds of power structures in the arts scene? I think we should think deeper about how we can challenge these social norms and the logic of \u2018market forces\u2019. The idealist in me, who is also the artist, believes that being less in number should not mean one is entitled to less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An abridged transcript of the two-and-a-half-hour discussion will be made available on the W!LD RICE website in June, ahead of the 2016 Singapore Theatre Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is there enough ethnic diversity in Singapore\u2019s theatre scene? – By Tiara Yap<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":34062,"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":[231,298],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34061"}],"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=34061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}