{"id":34301,"date":"2015-08-01T13:57:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T05:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=34301"},"modified":"2021-05-10T14:17:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T06:17:32","slug":"power-and-the-politics-of-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/power-and-the-politics-of-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Power and the Politics of Language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Writers are acutely aware of the importance of words and the power of language. Alfian Sa\u2019at, W!LD RICE\u2019s Resident Playwright, chats with us about power and authority in\u00a0<em>HOTEL<\/em>, and how a multiplicity of languages brings out these themes and ideas in W!LD RICE\u2019s two-part epic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How did the concept for&nbsp;<em>HOTEL<\/em>&nbsp;come about? As a writer, what appealed to you about the concept?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve always wanted to do a play that explores our very rich diversity, and this SIFA commission seemed like a great opportunity. The premise of setting it in a hotel room was an exciting one for us, because space in Singapore is something that is always contested and evolving; what turns a \u2018space\u2019 into a \u2018place\u2019 is very often the result of human activity. And, in a hotel room, every guest that checks in brings with him or her a certain social background and libidinal energies, and leaves behind traces of memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Tell us about the process of working on&nbsp;<em>HOTEL<\/em>.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The workshops with the cast were very fruitful, and made me appreciate the fact that, within our country\u2019s borders, there is already a lot of intercultural exchange going on. A few of our cast members, for example, are of mixed heritage, and their experiences contributed to one of the play\u2019s discourses \u2013 that of our \u2018<em>rojak<\/em>\u2019-ness and hybridity. It was also very inspiring to hear non-English languages spoken during the improvisations \u2013 whether these were Cantonese, Malay or even Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/newsletter\/NL27\/02B.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>Table it for discussion!<br>Alfian, the cast and creative team at a table read for\u00a0<em>HOTEL<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What were some of the challenges you faced in crafting the narratives, which cover a hundred years of history?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of research to be done, especially for the pre-1965 segments. I think the way our history is being written is such that our colonial and Malayan histories are deliberately de-emphasised, or the characters and entities from such periods are conveniently caricatured as \u2018the Other\u2019 or even the \u2018villains\u2019 in the country\u2019s quest for nationhood. So the challenge for me was to research the lesser-known aspects of our history, and sometimes to question the orthodox narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How does the Post-EMPIRES theme of the Singapore International Festival of Arts factor into&nbsp;<em>HOTEL<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The play is a document of the ebb and flow of the power of different empires \u2013 whether the British or Japanese, for example \u2013 and how these events have left their marks behind in our society. Language plays a big part in our play \u2013 the dominant&nbsp;<em>lingua franca<\/em>&nbsp;is always a function of power, a clue as to who\u2019s really in charge at whichever historical juncture. At the same time, the play also questions whether we\u2019ve ever achieved any real form of decolonisation, as certain colonial attitudes \u2013 towards the exploitation of migrant labour, for example \u2013 are replayed in modern-day Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What do you hope audiences will take with them after watching&nbsp;<em>HOTEL<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>One thing that I sometimes hear is that there are very few stories that one can tell in Singapore, because the population is relatively small and the island\u2019s small size makes experiences quite homogenous from one end to another. But I think one should not confuse state-driven programmes to engineer social conformity with actual conformity on the ground. There are many stories that one can imagine unfolding at any single moment, but it might mean imagining beyond one\u2019s own comfort zone, beyond the languages and spaces that one is familiar with. In&nbsp;<em>HOTEL<\/em>, we try to share eleven such stories with the audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Writers are acutely aware of the importance of words and the power of language. Alfian Sa\u2019at, W!LD RICE\u2019s Resident Playwright, chats with us about power and authority in\u00a0HOTEL, and how a multiplicity of languages brings out these themes and ideas in W!LD RICE\u2019s two-part epic. How did the concept for&nbsp;HOTEL&nbsp;come about? As a writer, what &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/power-and-the-politics-of-language\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Power and the Politics of Language<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":34302,"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":[129,95,268],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34301"}],"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=34301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}