{"id":83402,"date":"2022-09-05T18:38:17","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T10:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=83402"},"modified":"2022-09-05T18:38:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T10:38:17","slug":"force-of-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/force-of-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Force of Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Pulau Ujong<\/em> about?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Pulau Ujong<\/em> is a work of documentary theatre, and what this means is that I interview people, and then I edit, rearrange and reassemble the transcripts from these interviews into the text of the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not my first time doing documentary theatre; one of the first verbatim pieces I did was Cooling Off Day<\/a><\/em> in 2011.<\/em> I sometimes joke that I should have called this play Cooling Off Day<\/em> Part 2, because it\u2019s partly about a warming planet and climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it fair, then, to call Pulau Ujong <\/em>a play about climate change?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I think the climate crisis is part of the work, but it\u2019s not the entirety of the work. To me, I would prefer to describe Pulau Ujong<\/em> as a piece that examines our relationship with nature. The climate crisis, naturally, features quite a lot in the play because it\u2019s what happens when only a certain form of relationship is dominant \u2013 when humans think that we have mastery over nature, when we think that nature is there to be manipulated or ruled over, something we control and extract from. But there are so many other ways for us to have a relationship with nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to write this play?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One of the things that inspired me was an image \u2013 specifically, a photograph from the National Archives that shows Minister Goh Keng Swee chopping down a tree in 1962. I was so shocked to see this old photograph because it runs counter to all the images I had growing up of dignitaries and trees. Singapore is a garden city, right? So they\u2019re always planting trees! They’re not chopping them down. I later discovered that Minister Goh was chopping down this tree at the official opening ceremony of the Shell refinery on Pulau Bukom. I remain fascinated with that image to this day, because I feel it marks a certain moment in our history when we exchanged carbon capture, which is the tree, for carbon emissions, which is a Shell refinery. It struck me as the beginning of our journey towards a much more carbon-intensive economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Minister Goh Keng Swee officiating at the launch of construction work of Shell refinery at Pulau Bukom
(Photo: National Archives of Singapore)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tell us more about the process of writing this play.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I conducted many interviews with people who I felt had interesting relationships with nature. I spoke with climate activists, climate scientists, biologists, horticulturalists, bird-watchers and more. And some of them are so interesting to me because, sometimes, when you have some very specific interests, you get a little bit nerdy, a bit obsessed. These were the voices that I wanted to capture in the play, to answer questions I myself had, like, \u201cWhat does the world look like to a botanist? What does the world look like through the eyes of a bird-watcher, or a climate activist?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I also went a little further than that. I actually have \u201cinterviews\u201d in this work, too, with non-human or more-than-human subjects \u2013 and by that, I mean plants and animals. So apparently I\u2019ve interviewed a banyan tree and pepper and gambier plants; I\u2019ve interviewed Ah Meng, the Singapore Zoo\u2019s famous orang utan, as well as a queer hornbill. So you should definitely come and see how these \u201cinterviews\u201d played out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the research process like for this play?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With a lot of my plays, I become a complete bookworm. I go through a lot of books to try to really understand the situation better. In the process of researching for Pulau Ujong<\/em>, I read books on environmental history and the climate crisis. I also read books on theatre and the environment \u2013 especially on the current trend of eco-theatre, which focuses on making theatre in more sustainable ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the books I found really helpful include This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate<\/em> by Naomi Klein and The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable <\/em>by Amitav Ghosh. I also read books on environmental history in Singapore by Timothy Barnard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What unsettled you the most while you were doing research for this play?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Quite a lot! Like the fact that we\u2019re actually not on track to mitigate climate change, coupled with a general apathy or even numbness to what should be a climate emergency. That\u2019s why, most of the time, I use the phrase \u2018climate crisis\u2019 rather than \u2018climate change\u2019, just to try to underline the gravity of the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prospect and reality of species extinction \u2013 that\u2019s scary for me too. The biodiversity we have all around us has survived through years and years of evolution. To think that we are actually wiping it out, in the blink of an eye in which humans have existed on this earth in geologic terms? We are undoing so many centuries of nature\u2019s work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last but not least, the thought of Singapore\u2019s vulnerability is unsettling to me. When I was growing up, Singapore\u2019s vulnerability was always spoken of in geopolitical terms. We were told that, if Singapore doesn\u2019t do well, if we\u2019re not economically competitive, we might be reabsorbed into or have to re-merge with Malaysia. But, these days, I feel Singapore\u2019s vulnerability is a far more physical one. We are an island. If sea levels are rising, islands are some of the most dangerous and risky places to live in. We\u2019re building sea walls to try and adapt to this situation, but I don’t think we’re doing enough. If the catastrophic, worst-case scenarios actually happen, I\u2019m not sure that we can \u2018tech\u2019 our way into finding solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Alfian
Alfian with Hazri Boey, a Horticulturalist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Alfian
Alfian with Khir Johari, a Food Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What surprised you the most while you were doing research for this play?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The fact that a lot of my interviewees had such a remarkable sense of humour. I sometimes wondered whether this was a kind of coping mechanism. Because you have all these facts and data on hand, which don\u2019t spell out something very optimistic for the future, so maybe you develop a sense of humour to avoid falling into climate grief or climate anxiety. I really found that, as individuals, they were very funny and so resilient, and they were still holding faith that, somehow, humanity will wake up and realise the scale of this problem, and that there might yet be a collective and global effort to save the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What challenges did you face while writing this play?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One challenge is the scale of the issues. There are so many aspects to the climate crisis and the environment. You can talk about the fossil fuel industry, or deforestation, or species extinction, or sea levels rising. How do you range over so many topics yet, at the same time, keep it manageable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, even though it\u2019s a global issue, it was so important for me to ground it in Singapore, because I feel that many Singaporeans think climate change is too big an issue, and Singapore is too small to make much of a difference. At the same time, there\u2019s a belief that climate change will affect poor and vulnerable countries, whereas Singapore has enough financial resources and a very competent government that will be able to help us ride out the storms, literally. I hope I challenge some of these common misconceptions in Pulau Ujong<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another challenge that I faced in writing this play was in deciding how to communicate some of these ideas to an audience. Should I go with statistics? Because facts and figures and hard data can be very persuasive. The quantitative work being done by data scientists is all very important. For me as a theatre-maker, though, who\u2019s been telling stories my whole life, I think we need to tell one another stories too. Because I feel that, if you tell the right story, people will internalise it and carry it with them and, somehow or other, that knowledge could translate into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you want audiences to take away from watching Pulau Ujong<\/em>?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Like many people, I have what is called \u2018plant blindness\u2019. I walk by plants and trees every day \u2013 and yet, I\u2019m unable to identify what they are. And this is a question I ask in the play: \u201cWhy do I live in this world, and yet am so apart from it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a show that is alarmist. It\u2019s not a show that\u2019s going to guilt-trip you. It\u2019s a show that I hope will invite audiences to re-evaluate their relationship with nature. I would like people to leave Pulau Ujong<\/em> really thinking and feeling that the world is miraculous, and I think that\u2019s one way in which we can learn about our duty to protect and preserve it. Because it really is deeply, deeply miraculous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Alfian
Alfian with Environmentalists at Sungei Buloh<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview By: Shawne Wang<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you write a play about the climate crisis in Singapore that isn\u2019t all doom and gloom? Find out in this interview with playwright Alfian Sa\u2019at, who shares his inspirations as well as what he hopes audiences will take away from Pulau Ujong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":83403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Force of Nature - Pulau Ujong - WILD RICE Singapore","_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":[1,8],"tags":[129,196,520,135,519],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83402"}],"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=83402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}