Goh Lay Kuan! Kuo Pao Kun! Salute!

Karen Tan as Goh Lay Kuan. Photo courtesy of TheatreWorks.

Friday's big events have been a very interesting study in contrasts. It was the grand opening of Gillman Barracks, the latest (potential) arts cashcow being rolled out by Singapore, with its stable of international commercial galleries, all having the primary purpose of selling art. And then over at the National Museum of Singapore, the spotlight was on one man who seemingly stands as the arts enclave’s antithesis—Kuo Pao Kun. Yesterday marked the first day of the two-day Kuo Pao Kun International Conference, the opening of the exhibition A Life Of Practice – Kuo Pao Kun and the opening night of the TheatreWorks production Goh Lay Kuan & Kuo Pao Kun. (The Substation also opened its two-day KPK-related multidisciplinary show Growing Up.) While I’ve yet to sufficiently go through the exhibition, the show GLK & KPK reminded me once more that in the rat race towards economic progress, there are certain things we should never ever let go of. I don’t think I can say much more about the TW production that I haven’t already mentioned back in 2010, when it was shown as a work-in-progress piece titled The Red Ballerina. Aside from the title change (primarily, I assume, in recognition of the current context of staging and to clearly emphasise its original approach, which actually gives equal space to both), it’s broadly the same docu performance created by Ong Keng Sen. Karen Tan and Lim Kay Tong still play the titular roles. The performance layout retains its circular shape, with Tan and Lim performing at opposite ends, with fluorescent lights demarcating the divide. We listen to the story of Goh’s life, from her childhood all the way to her discovery of ballet, the racism she encounters as an exceptional dance student in Australia, her experiences teaching at their Practice Performing Arts School, the genesis of some of her works, her difficulties with authorities, which included the couple’s detention in solitary confinement—all of which were painstakingly assembled from National Archive interviews. These alternate with Kuo’s own letters and writings, from more familiar ones like The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole and Descendants Of The Eunuch Admiral and not-so-familiar ones (for me at least) like The Eagle And The Cat. Ong sticks to his original chosen strategy of keeping the two apart, underscoring the individual greatness of husband and wife. While it may be at the expense of "human interest" curiosities like, er, dating and marriage (you know...), the divide clearly serves a purpose. It harks back to to the couple’s darkest moments, their detention without trial under the Internal Security Act during the leftist witchhunt of the `70s (Kuo stayed in solitary detention longer than Goh, who was released earlier to go back to teaching and to their kids). It also allows for a back and forth between the factual and the oral (Goh’s) and the literary and the written word (Kuo’s). If this is sounding rather detached, it’s because, like I’ve said, I’ve already gushed about this work back in 2010. What I did notice was stronger, more lived-in performances from Tan and Lim, both of whom take it up a notch. Goh’s notoriety as a quick-tempered artist (a self-professed “terror of the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit”) is teased out further by Tan. Earlier comments of other reviewers about not seeing any actual dancing was also addressed by subtle nods to warming up. As for Lim, what more can I say except that, considering he rarely does theatre nowadays, this is one of those rare opportunities to see one of Singapore’s best actors onstage. Goh Lay Kuan and Kuo Pao Kun. In their own words. There really is no excuse for not catching this—and while you’re at it, make sure to drop by the adjacent exhibition okay?

Lim Kay Tong as Kuo Pao Kun. Photo courtesy of TheatreWorks. (There's another show tomorrow night, and two shows each month--except December--until February. Details here. The exhibition A Life Of Practice--Kuo Pao Kun runs until Feb 24. Details here.)