Adrian and Tracie Pang say raising creative children is easy

SINGAPORE — Fairy tales can be nightmarish, if acclaimed play The Pillowman is anything to go by.

Described as a nerve-wracking nursery story for grown-ups, the award-winning play Irish playwright Martin McDonagh is being staged by local theatre company Pangdemonium this month — a decade after its successful run in 2007.

Adrian Pang , 52, reprises his role as a policeman who interrogates a writer for his complicity in a series of child murders. His wife, Tracie, is in the director’s chair.

Although it is comedic at times, the play was frightening enough for the Pangs to have deemed their sons too young to watch it when it was first staged here in 2007.

This time, Adrian and Tracie’s sons Zack and Xander, aged 17 and 16 respectively, will be in the audience.

“My sons are already great fans of the script so I think there’s a lot for us to live up to. As a piece of storytelling, it’s just so enthralling and compelling that I know that my two boys are going to be spellbound,” said Adrian.

Both Zack and Xander have expressed interest in acting, performing in plays like Spring Awakening, The Full Monty and Crazy Christmas. In 2011, both Pangs acted in Zero Hero, a children’s show on Okto. Two years later, Zack appeared in another Okto show, Me, Myself & Isaac, a seven-episode show.

The brothers have also talked about the possibility of going to drama school. However, Tracie pointed out that they have their International Baccalaureate exams coming up and they have got to go through National Service as well.

Creativity in their household stems from the way she and Adrian naturally are, she said.

“I don’t think that was purposefully done but it’s just the nature of the way we are as a couple, the way we work. We encourage them to ask questions and be pro-active in thinking about stuff, and that creates a creative mind.”

The Pangs have been careful to guide their kids towards independence.

“I think it’s important to equip one’s children with the mental and emotional tools to deal with life’s hard knocks,” he said. “There’s only so much that you can do to protect your children for all their lives.”

To that end, the Pangs no longer have a helper. That has been the case since their children were in their early teens.

“We felt that we wanted them to learn ... what it’s like to actually do stuff for yourselves,” she said, adding that laundry-folding and chores are part of their daily regime.

“I have taught them to cook so they can fend for themselves when they are at home alone (during rehearsal and performance periods when we are not at home at night). They often cook spaghetti Bolognese, and recently, Zack cooked himself pan fried salmon,” she said.

“They have good boyfriend qualities,” She whispered.

The creative couple certainly are role models for passion. Adrian is approaching The Pillowman “with a heady mixture of fear, glee, and thrill”, and sees it as an opportunity to “dig a little deeper, ask more questions, and uncover more nuances to the character and the story itself”.

He also hopes that his children watching the play together will engender Zack and Xander’s bond as brothers.

“I hope that they learn to treasure each other even more than they already do, that they continue to love and protect each other as brothers, and that we will always stick together as a family no matter what life throws at us,” he said.

“The story of The Pillowman certainly reminds us all that there are kids everywhere who grow up in the darkest of circumstances. We have to be grateful for the light in our own lives and do what you can to share that light with others,” He added.

The Pillowman is on till March 12 at Victoria Theatre. Tickets are available on SISTIC (www.sistic.com.sg).