0:02

Singapore stories with Eugene Low,

0:06

she trail blazed the concept

0:08

of audio walks and handphone guided

0:10

tours around heritage neighborhoods.

0:12

It was an audio and video journey along

0:15

the Northeast line which consisted

0:17

of four walks and three videos.

0:19

Um, and people could,

0:21

you know, get off at different stops

0:23

and go on walks and then when they're back

0:25

on the train, they watch a video

0:27

and then they go to another stop and then they can get

0:30

out and do a walk, another walk.

0:32

Um, um, use it was pretty epic.

0:34

It takes about three hours or more to

0:36

do it all. But

0:39

you know, again, I was interested in pushing boundaries

0:41

or what people would do

0:44

and what technology during that time

0:46

was capable of doing and

0:48

how people used

0:49

it. Come let's go walk

0:51

to the side of the park that is on rural road.

0:54

The shop houses should be in front of

0:56

you cross the road,

0:58

look out for traffic on your left.

1:06

The park should be behind you,

1:08

turn left and walk what

1:14

you're hearing right now is actually an excerpt

1:16

from a current project, an immersive

1:19

site specific walk about

1:21

a New World amusement park and hotel,

1:24

New World Disaster called New Worlds

1:26

End with open house in calabasas,

1:29

but she was also responsible for the

1:31

desire paths audio walk using

1:33

discriminates to guide you around little India.

1:36

In the late nineties, she co founder,

1:38

cult performance company, spell seven

1:40

and helped develop the audio guide for

1:42

the national museums history Gallery as

1:44

creative Director in 2006

1:47

Today, Singapore story belongs to writer

1:49

and director Kaylene Tan,

1:51

Like all Children, you know there

1:54

was a big sort of,

1:56

you know I guess I played

1:58

a lot, you know like playing pretend

2:01

um imagining situations

2:05

um playing with dolls, playing

2:07

masa masa, you know all this kind

2:09

of stuff that that kids during

2:11

that time did. Yeah.

2:14

Okay. And how was school for you?

2:16

Did you like it?

2:17

Um Okay so

2:19

school school was

2:21

a primary school.

2:23

Okay. Maybe I'll start with primary school. Primary

2:26

school was was I guess,

2:28

you know, back then I didn't really think of school

2:30

as something too serious school just you

2:32

know something that I went to in the daytime

2:35

and um you

2:37

know during that time

2:39

we were encouraged

2:41

to stage plays

2:43

or you know like perform

2:46

when it was the end of term

2:48

or you know during english class we were

2:50

encouraged to stage plays as well.

2:52

And so that was that was something

2:55

that I did a lot of Um

2:57

you know we would, I remember

3:00

I remember adapting numerous stories,

3:03

you know like fairy tales and stuff like that,

3:05

you know like Cinderella and then I localize

3:08

it and then I did a and then and

3:10

then we put in pop songs and

3:12

invent dances and all that. You

3:14

know, all this was during primary school and I also

3:17

wrote a version of Alibaba

3:19

and the and the seven thieves because

3:21

you know we couldn't get 40 thieves. Um

3:23

so you know, stuff like that. And then we did a dawn.

3:26

So Peter and the wolf just

3:28

um yeah just you know

3:30

really having fun

3:32

making performance without really

3:35

thinking about you know thinking

3:37

about it as a huge

3:39

but you know like an E. C. A. Or anything

3:41

like that. We just did it for fun

3:44

and because we enjoyed performing and

3:46

telling stories. Yeah.

3:47

Okay so the earlier years

3:49

were quite idyllic. Quite

3:52

say they were pretty idyllic

3:54

and carefree. And

3:56

also being the second her

3:58

parents weren't strict. Didn't

4:00

like have high expectations for

4:03

this tight schedule. That sort

4:05

of thing. No tv at the time

4:07

my parents were actually pretty relaxed

4:09

about schedules

4:11

and all that you know And also

4:13

I think being the second child

4:17

I have an older sister and a younger

4:19

brother. Being the second child I was

4:21

allowed to you know be

4:23

a bit more independent and break

4:25

the rules a bit more. So

4:28

um so I got around

4:30

to you know doing things I wanted to do.

4:32

Whereas I think my older sister and my younger

4:35

brother they had greater expectations.

4:38

Always

4:39

lucky. Okay.

4:41

Although at that point yeah.

4:43

Yes. Although at that point you

4:46

know I don't think okay I feel a bit abandoned

4:48

but but I think it

4:50

was a good thing that I was allowed to be

4:52

independent and find my own way around things.

4:55

Yeah it

4:57

had to be independent and have someone

4:59

breathing down your neck all the time and putting

5:01

you on a short leash.

5:02

Yeah, I'm thankful for

5:04

that. Yes.

5:05

Yeah. Must have been nice

5:07

right to live in the area.

5:10

Cartoon growing up in the area. I mean we're outside

5:12

a lot. I mean and you lived quite near to the

5:14

beach. We had

5:17

we had a big garden and

5:19

we had dogs. Yeah

5:21

so that was that was nice,

5:23

okay. And that was early

5:25

years. But in secondary school um

5:28

that came a period became a tough

5:29

period. I won't say it's

5:32

tough comparatively,

5:35

but secondary school was definitely

5:37

not like primary school, it wasn't so

5:39

carefree, you know um

5:42

It was it was during the 80s

5:44

when I was in secondary school and back

5:46

then my family was quite badly

5:49

affected by the recession. So

5:52

and you know being a teenager

5:55

and you know

5:57

during that time it was I guess it

5:59

was trying to process a lot of things

6:01

right suddenly, you know you lose

6:03

quite a lot of privileges and you have to

6:05

change your lifestyle. Um

6:08

So there was some sort of I guess

6:10

you know growing up to

6:12

do you know thinking beyond

6:15

the kinds of comforts of

6:17

early childhood. Um

6:20

And and of course during that time as a teenager

6:22

I was also trying to

6:26

you know adapt to this new school

6:28

environment and

6:30

it was an environment that placed a

6:32

lot of emphasis on status

6:34

and material goods. So

6:36

you know suddenly you know

6:38

I guess I was plunged into this situation

6:41

where you know, there were a lot of

6:43

expectations. Yeah.

6:47

So in some ways, I

6:49

mean I won't say I was unhappy there.

6:52

I was just I think I was just struggling.

6:54

Um Not really feeling like I belonged

6:57

and trying to keep up socially and academically.

7:00

Um But you know I got by

7:03

I guess the one big thing that I got

7:05

out of secondary school was you

7:07

know like many many

7:09

students in Singapore

7:11

is that you know you just have to learn to buckle

7:13

down and study and

7:15

get good grades

7:17

today. Singapore story belongs

7:19

to playwright, screenwriter and director,

7:21

Kaylene Tan and Kaylene

7:23

Singapore story continues in just

7:25

a while. I'm Eugene Loh for Singapore stories

7:27

on C. N. A 938 Singapore

7:39

stories with Eugene Low.

7:45

I really didn't like the

7:47

way we were talked

7:49

um you know being being forced

7:51

to memorize all these things. It really took

7:53

up the joy in

7:56

a lot of subjects

7:58

like history um which

8:00

which I was interested in, but it was just

8:02

how we were made to really

8:05

learn so that we could score

8:07

for for our whole levels for example.

8:10

Um So that took the joy

8:12

out of things

8:13

that was in secondary school. But fortunately

8:16

when it came to junior college

8:19

she made quite a pivotal decision

8:22

and fast forward many years

8:24

later she's been very active in the Singapore

8:26

art scene. She co founded

8:29

cult performance company,

8:31

spell seven together with her husband Paul,

8:34

also helped to develop the

8:36

audio guide for the National museums history

8:38

Gallery as creative director in 2006.

8:40

Also quite well known for many

8:42

audio walks and handphone guided tours

8:45

around heritage sites and neighborhoods.

8:48

Today's Singapore story belongs to

8:50

writer and director Kaylene

8:52

Tan

8:54

when it was time to choose what we

8:57

wanted to do in junior college.

8:59

Um you know, I thought, oh man,

9:01

just, just, I'm just going to do

9:03

something different. Perhaps

9:05

that's when that's that's a turning point

9:08

I suppose, you know, because I had

9:10

gone to an open house at victoria

9:12

Junior College and

9:15

and Theater Studies was offered,

9:18

it was the second year that it was on offer

9:20

and it just seemed interesting, it

9:23

seemed like, you know, it felt like, oh yeah, you don't

9:25

have to be in a classroom and

9:28

then sit down and memorize facts,

9:30

you were doing stuff

9:33

and that that

9:35

really drew me to it, even

9:37

though at that point I had not really

9:40

done much performance, you know,

9:42

do stuff in, in secondary

9:44

school where I guess I was being really creative

9:47

writing things for the newsletter

9:49

or designing a T shirt and stuff like

9:51

that, but I was not, you know,

9:53

I was, I didn't try and make

9:55

a performance. Um then,

9:57

so um you

9:59

know, really like choosing theater

10:01

studies was just something I decided

10:04

okay, why not?

10:06

And at that point, I think this

10:08

was around 1990

10:11

and um you know, it was it

10:13

was still you know, you didn't have to

10:15

have had years of training before

10:17

starting this course. So lots

10:20

of people during that time we're starting,

10:22

you know they were starting

10:24

fresh really with very little or no

10:26

experience. They were just curious

10:29

like I was, how

10:30

common was it at that time to take

10:32

up like this sort of thing and

10:34

train.

10:35

I mean during

10:37

that time Victoria Junior College was the

10:39

only junior college that offered

10:41

theatre studies. So

10:44

I guess you know, it was it was really

10:47

you know, I guess there were

10:49

maybe around 20 people, 20

10:51

students a year then only

10:54

maybe a bit around 2020,

10:57

20 something. So

10:59

you know it's so each year there were only

11:01

that many doing cancer studies and

11:04

this was of course days before so to or

11:06

you know, anything else like that.

11:08

Yeah. And so how

11:10

tell me about your J. C. Years, how transformative

11:13

were they?

11:14

Yeah. You know, JCJCI

11:17

was 17 years old, you know,

11:19

hopeful, enthusiastic, the drama

11:22

classes where an eye opener,

11:24

you know? Um and

11:26

being exposed to things like

11:29

you know, improvisation theater

11:31

games, um Trust

11:33

Falls, you know this kind of

11:35

stuff just getting out and

11:38

doing things. I think that was very liberating

11:40

for me. Um

11:42

And there was I mean

11:44

for for the Theater Studies course,

11:47

there was a theory and

11:49

a practical component. So it was a

11:51

combination of various things,

11:53

but at the same time I got involved

11:55

in school productions as well

11:58

and that was really fun working on things

12:00

on quite a large scale.

12:02

Um I got to do backstage work

12:05

and um the first production

12:07

that that I worked on was was doing

12:09

costumes for 12 nights

12:12

um and by William

12:14

Shakespeare and and that was,

12:16

that was fun, you know, I got to meet lots of different

12:19

people, they were colorful,

12:21

they were exuberant, they were open about

12:23

their thoughts and their sexuality

12:26

and you know, hanging out backstage is really

12:28

fun, you know, and seeing,

12:30

seeing things happen from the wings

12:33

and making things happen, I think,

12:35

I think that was nice,

12:37

you found your community

12:39

and you felt you belonged

12:42

was the first time you felt a strong

12:44

sense of belonging

12:46

I guess as

12:48

teenagers, you know, you're always looking for

12:50

your tribe, right?

12:53

People that, you know, like

12:55

minded people. Um and

12:59

yeah, I won't say I found

13:01

my place, but you know, I definitely thought,

13:04

yeah, this is, this is a good place to be

13:06

okay and you got quite a lot of real

13:08

world experience to write once during

13:10

that time as well.

13:11

Yeah, so

13:13

yeah, so during that time,

13:16

I also started volunteering to do

13:18

things like front of house for

13:20

for theater companies like theater works

13:22

and um I got to

13:25

assistant stage managed for

13:27

production with the late Christina

13:29

sergeant and

13:32

that was great and

13:34

you know, also volunteering to be crew

13:36

for for production

13:39

by NTU. That was quite fun.

13:41

Got to meet lots of people.

13:43

And during that time I got involved

13:45

in this production by NTU and

13:48

I was a crew member, you know, moving

13:50

the set around when

13:53

when the, when the lights went down

13:55

and so they needed more people. So

13:57

I rallied friends and classmates

13:59

from the theater studies group

14:02

and um because I think we

14:04

needed to be at the theater at a certain

14:06

time. So we all kind of snuck

14:08

out of school um, much

14:10

to our principles anger.

14:13

And she called me up and gave

14:15

me a big golden and she, she

14:18

she called me a deviant during

14:20

that time. I remember that with

14:22

fond memories.

14:24

Kaylene, Singapore story continues

14:26

after the news in about five minutes. I'm Eugene

14:28

Loh for Singapore stories on C N

14:30

A I 38. Singapore

14:40

stories with Eugene low.

14:45

I wasn't so single minded. I didn't

14:47

think like, yeah, I'm an artist. That's what

14:49

I

14:50

just thought, yeah. You know, okay, I'll stick

14:52

with this for a while.

14:54

Okay. You

14:56

have no other aspirations and interests

14:59

or did you?

15:00

Well I

15:04

liked films. I watched

15:06

films,

15:07

television. You

15:09

know, I had a vague thought maybe

15:11

in the future I'll need to make a living.

15:13

I could go into advertising. I thought

15:16

She did make an impact on

15:18

the Singapore art scene. In fact, she still

15:21

is. But at that time in the late 90s

15:23

when she co founded cult performance company,

15:25

Spell seven. That was one of

15:27

a way more

15:30

active times as well and helped develop

15:32

the audio guide for national museums,

15:34

history gallery as creative director

15:36

in 2006 was also responsible

15:38

for trailblazing, right? The concept

15:41

of audio walks and

15:43

handphone guided tours around heritage

15:45

sites and neighborhoods along the

15:48

Northeast line as well as in parts of little

15:50

India and things like that. They were quite successful

15:52

and popular as well at the time they used

15:54

disk mints um before

15:58

they moved onto mobile phones today, Singapore

16:01

story belongs to playwright, screenwriter and

16:03

director Kaylene Tan.

16:09

I

16:09

wasn't very savvy then

16:11

about, you know, all this kind of stuff. I

16:13

just did it because

16:14

Okay,

16:15

that's good. Yeah,

16:16

that's good. Quite priceless to

16:18

to to to actually feel that way at a

16:20

certain time of your life when you feel like

16:23

I'll just do whatever I want. Right?

16:24

Yeah,

16:26

that's nice. Okay.

16:29

And you set up, I mean you set up a theater

16:31

company quite early on. I mean wasn't

16:33

that like, you know, making a statement already,

16:35

like, you know, I'm going to do this professionally

16:38

and and pay my bills.

16:41

No, I mean,

16:43

you know, I I

16:45

think after junior college, you know,

16:47

a whole bunch of us, we were just hungry

16:50

to do stuff, you know, hungry to

16:52

still make theater and

16:55

um you know, because we were all at

16:57

a loose end either like waiting for N.

16:59

S. Or you know, waiting

17:01

to go to university, so we set

17:03

up a theater company and we just

17:05

didn't make shows because we wanted

17:08

to and it was

17:10

called, it was called playground,

17:12

Okay, Which is quite indicative of

17:14

what you planned for it. Yeah,

17:16

I mean it would set up with people,

17:19

you know, friends, like Janice,

17:21

cole kelvin

17:24

tom and a few

17:26

others, you know, so we

17:28

just did stuff because we wanted, but

17:31

You got bored and then you left

17:33

Singapore at 19,

17:35

was that that's the story of the

17:37

reel?

17:38

Well, I didn't I didn't get bored, you know,

17:40

I I went to university,

17:43

so I mean it

17:45

was it was, I guess the

17:48

logical thing to do really,

17:50

it

17:52

was logical. So it didn't it wasn't something

17:54

that you that you aspired

17:56

to do, like standing in theater

17:59

or the arts in in the UK

18:01

or

18:01

no, I mean, again, you know, I

18:03

I don't know, maybe I'm just not so ambitious.

18:08

I

18:12

I

18:13

was, you know, I had

18:15

the opportunity to go away

18:17

to study and I'm very thankful to

18:19

my parents for that, of course. Um

18:22

they packed you off,

18:25

you know, relax, Okay,

18:27

let's just leave it at that. Okay, so you

18:29

went to the UK and

18:32

how how was that?

18:33

So yeah, you know, so

18:35

I chose to study

18:37

theater and film and

18:39

television at bristol University

18:42

in the UK and

18:44

of course, you know, that was a real eye opener,

18:47

the course was

18:49

was the course was pretty Eurocentric,

18:53

but you know,

18:55

so it was interesting

18:57

of course and I was exposed to a lot of experimental

18:59

theater while I was there. I mean of course

19:01

there was a choice to go the more conventional

19:04

route. Um But you know

19:06

I was more drawn to experimental

19:08

work uh and

19:11

site specific kind of productions.

19:14

Um And during that time,

19:16

you know, I watched a lot of arthouse films

19:18

and I got to travel

19:20

and um to see

19:23

lots of you know to see lots of places

19:25

and do lots of things. Sounds nice. I mean

19:28

it's a character building time I guess,

19:30

you know, challenging when

19:32

you're away from home at a young age,

19:35

younger shape homesickness

19:38

and all that kind of stuff.

19:39

Yeah. But how great was the experience

19:41

and the environment right there for,

19:44

you know, so called deviant like

19:48

I guess, you

19:50

know, I found fellow deviant.

19:54

Yeah, so when when I was in

19:56

the U. K. That's when I

19:58

met my now

20:00

husband paul paul

20:02

Ray. Um And

20:04

um he's english.

20:06

So after university

20:09

I came back to Singapore and

20:11

he followed a year late.

20:13

Okay. And so both of you came back to Singapore

20:16

And did you both

20:18

begin your artistic collaboration

20:20

together?

20:21

No, actually, I mean I came back first

20:23

because you know, I I graduated

20:25

earlier because he was doing french,

20:27

so that was one more year than me. Um

20:30

So so when I came back again,

20:32

you know, it's like when you're when you

20:34

you know when you've been away and you come you

20:36

know and you get to come home,

20:38

it's always you know, you have to re orientate

20:41

yourself and and just reestablish

20:43

things again. Um So

20:45

I just bided my time and then

20:47

you know when I was in the U. K. I got into photography

20:50

and I did love, you know, I

20:52

I took a lot of pictures there and

20:55

so I I sorry,

20:57

I forgot to ask you, right, because you study

20:59

what I mean, what did you study?

21:01

And where did you end up like in

21:03

a way focusing on specializing in?

21:06

Um Well I studied pretty you

21:08

know, the drama degree there was was

21:10

pretty broad, you know.

21:12

Um um So

21:15

I I focused more on experimental

21:17

performance, multimedia

21:19

performance. But at the

21:21

same time I also, you know, I felt

21:24

this need to not

21:26

um you know disconnect with

21:28

with Southeast asia. So

21:31

I I did I did a

21:34

thesis on balinese performance

21:36

and trance and possession.

21:39

So, so that was

21:41

so that was what I did at

21:43

university

21:44

today. Singapore story belongs to playwright,

21:47

screenwriter and director, Kaylene.

21:49

Tar, Kaylene. Singapore story continues

21:51

in just a while. I'm Eugene Low for Singapore

21:53

stories on C. N A 938.

22:07

Singapore stories with Eugene

22:09

Low

22:10

when I came back to Singapore I

22:12

guess I was adrift for

22:14

a bit, you know, just figuring

22:16

things out, trying to

22:19

figure out also what I wanted

22:21

to say, who I wanted to say

22:23

with and just not really

22:25

knowing you know where

22:28

to start and by that time

22:30

you know the friends that I had made um

22:32

theater with of course, you know, everyone

22:35

moves on. So

22:37

so I waited for paul to come to Singapore

22:40

and then he got a job

22:42

as a speech and drama teacher

22:45

and you just start

22:47

thinking okay, you know, at some point let's

22:50

start the company. And

22:52

so after maybe about

22:54

a year he was here we

22:56

we formed spell seven.

23:01

Slowly this empty place

23:03

becomes a home here

23:06

they feast like kings and dance

23:08

like there's no tomorrow here

23:11

he imagines a future with her.

23:14

She dreams of escape. She

23:17

was here and here and

23:20

over there, looking in the mirror

23:22

next to you holding your hand.

23:26

She trailed based the concept of audio

23:28

walks and hands on guided tours

23:30

around heritage neighborhoods and sites

23:32

and actually what you're hearing right now

23:34

is or rather, you know,

23:36

an excerpt from a current project,

23:39

an immersive site specific walk about

23:41

the New World amusement park

23:43

and the Hotel, New World Disaster called

23:45

New Worlds End. That's with

23:48

open house in Jalalabad in

23:53

the late nineties, she co founded cult performance

23:55

company, spell seven and helped develop the

23:57

audio guide for the national museums

23:59

history Gallery as Creative Director in

24:01

2006 Today. Singapore story

24:03

belongs to playwright, screenwriter

24:05

and director, Kaylene Tan

24:08

Spell seven was like kind

24:10

of like Hobby ISH.

24:13

Um and I mean,

24:15

of course during that time in the,

24:17

you know, nineties, especially

24:19

like, you know, in the nineties, nineties,

24:21

nineties people were, you know, they

24:24

have full time jobs, they made theater

24:26

after work, you know, everything

24:28

happened at night. So,

24:31

so when when we spell

24:33

seven, I think

24:36

I had enough sort of freelance

24:38

writing jobs, you

24:40

know, and some speech

24:43

and drama teaching jobs, you know,

24:45

so it was enough, it was enough

24:47

to keep us going, you know, paul

24:49

also, you know, kept

24:52

with his teaching. So,

24:55

you know, that's how we yeah,

24:58

yes, you're very practical.

25:01

I mean, you know, and again,

25:03

to be honest, we just kind of okay,

25:05

you know, we have enough, you know, we

25:08

have enough to just keep us going.

25:10

It wasn't like we were starving either.

25:12

Um but you know,

25:14

Yeah, I think, you know, to be honest,

25:17

like if I, if I look back, I

25:19

do what I'm amazed that we

25:21

we did it actually, but

25:24

that's great because I mean, you're just being you

25:26

because even in your younger years you didn't have

25:28

anxieties about like, oh,

25:30

what am I gonna do, what am I gonna live on?

25:33

You know, that sort of thing. So, I mean, it's a great

25:35

feeling, it's quite liberating really, because, you know,

25:37

a lot of people struggle with that sort

25:39

of thing almost every day.

25:42

Right? Yeah. So, if you

25:44

have the sense of, like, you know, I'm just gonna do whatever,

25:46

enjoy doing it, you know, for the

25:48

moment, That's great. And

25:50

so you started spell

25:53

seven and how,

25:55

I mean, it's still going on, isn't it?

25:57

You know, we wound up spell

25:59

seven when when we left

26:01

Singapore in 2014.

26:04

Yeah, so we started spell

26:06

seven in 1997.

26:08

Yeah, and,

26:10

you know, I think during that time, we

26:13

had you know, I guess there was a lot of

26:15

pent up creative energy

26:18

and yeah,

26:21

so there was a lot of pent up creative energy,

26:24

we wanted to make things,

26:26

you know, and we just did it really

26:28

quickly and, you

26:30

know, and and

26:32

and and I mean,

26:34

our shows, I guess during that time, we were

26:36

also, you know, having graduated from

26:38

university, we were still working

26:41

through our influences, you

26:43

know, stuff that we have studied at university,

26:46

just, you know, working through them,

26:48

but at the same time, also thinking about how

26:51

it applies to Singapore, you

26:53

know, we we are, you know, we were

26:55

then making stuff for Singapore

26:57

and what does this english

27:00

guy and this Singaporean girl have

27:02

to say about this country

27:05

or, you know, how, how do they

27:07

belong here. So, I think in

27:09

those early days it was also a kind of

27:11

negotiation between the two of us,

27:13

you know, how how and

27:16

what to say

27:18

and was it during that time, also they came

27:20

up with this concept, I mean in a way,

27:22

the audio walk, right, and this

27:24

is something that you have available on

27:26

Soundcloud as well called

27:29

desire paths. So at that

27:31

time was it quite revolutionary? I

27:33

mean these days is all about Allah right?

27:36

But time for an audio

27:38

walk was the thing.

27:39

Yeah, well,

27:41

you know, spell seven had made sufficient,

27:44

had gained sufficient traction

27:46

to get arts

27:49

housing, I think it was

27:51

around 2000 or 2,001

27:53

that we got arts housing in

27:55

little India on road. And

27:58

I mean that was a real blessing to have

28:00

this luxury of space,

28:02

because prior to that, you know, we were kind

28:04

of, we were nomadic, we

28:06

were rehearsing in living rooms.

28:09

We were, you know, we we made

28:11

site specific shows because,

28:14

you know, we couldn't rent theaters

28:16

because we didn't have enough money to rent

28:18

the theater. So we proposed

28:20

to like chimes during that time,

28:23

we said, oh can we, can we make a show

28:25

in your space? And

28:29

of course they said, oh yeah, sure, you know, because they had

28:31

just opened during that time as well and

28:34

you know, they thought it could draw people to

28:36

that their to their location.

28:38

We also did a show at Zouk,

28:41

you know, so we found, we found

28:43

opportunities like that, so

28:45

that you know, they might sponsor rehearsal

28:47

space, let us use their space

28:50

and then we create a show

28:52

that is specific to that

28:54

location. So it was, you

28:56

know, ways and means around

28:58

being nomadic and

29:01

just trying to be resourceful. Yeah.

29:03

So, like I said in in

29:06

2001, we were given arts housing

29:08

by NAC by the National

29:10

Arts Council in curb our road.

29:12

And that was great.

29:15

Um but at the same time,

29:17

you know, it was it was us

29:19

wondering what,

29:22

what is our relationship with this neighborhood,

29:24

you know, who, who are we to be

29:27

here? And during

29:29

that time, one of our good friends,

29:31

Ben slater had, who

29:33

was, who was also in bristol. He

29:35

came to Singapore to, to

29:38

to to work as well.

29:40

And, and

29:42

so, um, Ben

29:45

and I decided to to make a

29:47

performance in little

29:49

India, a site specific performance

29:51

and to really think through our

29:53

relationship with with little India.

29:56

Um, and and during

29:58

that time we created a night

30:00

walk, there was a performance

30:02

for groups of up 5-7

30:06

audience members. So we take them

30:08

on this, on these walks

30:11

around the neighborhood, down darkened

30:13

alleys and secret coffee shops

30:15

and stuff like that. But unfortunately

30:18

the show which was called kind of hot didn't

30:20

get a license. We

30:23

weren't, you know, during that time,

30:25

it was the police

30:27

that that

30:29

that, you know, that that gave you your

30:32

entertainment license. So,

30:34

you know, we were told that that what we were doing,

30:37

leading audience members around

30:39

little India and talking to them Was

30:42

considered mingling. Um

30:44

and it would excite them,

30:46

excite the audience.

30:48

So I mean this this

30:50

is a this is a rule that dates

30:52

back to I think 1940s and

30:54

50s during the

30:56

during the cabarets where

30:58

they would consider it soliciting if

31:01

the audience and the performance

31:03

interacted. So anyway,

31:06

so this arcade

31:08

rule was applied to

31:10

us. Um So

31:13

despite invitations to the police

31:15

to come and experience our walk,

31:18

it won't excite you too much.

31:21

They didn't come

31:23

today. Singapore story belongs

31:25

to playwright, screenwriter and director

31:27

Kaylene Tan and her Singapore story

31:30

continues in an upcoming episode.

31:32

I'm Eugene Low for Singapore Stories

31:34

on C. N. A 938.