Descent
A Performance Video by The Blue Statesmen, presented by The Substation for SeptFest 2022: uproot | rootless
Online
Friday, 16 September 2022 onwards
The Substation’s website and YouTube channel
Onsite
Friday, 16 September 2022 – Sunday, 18 September 2022
Friday, 23 September 2022 – Sunday, 25 September 2022
11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Figment Embassy House
11 Lorong 24A Geylang, Singapore 398535 (map)
Written and Directed by Bryan Tan
Visual and Sound Design by Casey Lim
Dramaturgy and Research by Robin Loon
Videography by Joanne Tan
Performed by Ranice Tay and Serene Chen
In 2012, The Blue Statesmen (comprising theatre artists Bryan Tan, Robin Loon and Casey Lim) presented the play BluePrince, an homage to the founder of The Substation, Kuo Pao Kun (1939 – 2002) for SeptFest 2012. A decade later, the collective reunites for Descent, a performance video that draws on concepts and concerns in Kuo’s seminal play, Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral.
Descent uses Kuo’s play as a platform for the contemplation of our society’s cultural values and contemporary beliefs. As a counterpoint, a young actress wanders through the city and performs a ritualistic summoning of the Chinese sea goddess, Mazu, invoking her blessings for the vulnerable individuals in our country – just as she once protected Zheng He and his armada during a storm at sea, or so folklore would have us believe.
Message from the Writer and Director
1.
“I have come to realise of late that dreaming has become the centre of my life.”
That’s the beginning of Kuo Pao Kun’s Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral. What comes after?
Because of my friends and collaborators, I don’t have to dream all by myself. Because of the ones who supported The Blue Statesmen in the making of Descent, we are not alone.
2.
There are zero rooms in The Substation – yet room still remains.
The organisation no longer occupies a building, but what survives is the space that it represents. A space where you can dig deeper to see what lies beneath, to discover what has been buried or lost.
A network of artists and art lovers. Will we continue to be seen and heard?
3.
To keep the art
I must accept losing an address
To keep my self
I must learn to find you
You who know the power of The Substation
Together, we can still dream
In solidarity, we can endure
Our will is our survival
Bryan Tan
Writer and Director
Credits
Written and Directed by Bryan Tan
Bryan Tan is a playwright and theatre director. He graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1999. Since 2021, he has served on the Board of Directors of The Substation.
In 1996, he was awarded the First Prize in the Hewlett-Packard / Action Theatre 10-Minute Play Contest for Lizard In The Loo. In 1998, he received a Merit Prize in TheatreWorks’ 24-Hour Playwriting Competition for Snakeskin. In the same competition, he received the Second Prize in 2010 for There Will Now Be A 15-Minute Interval, and the First Prize in 2013 for Strike.
In 2004, Teater Ekamatra presented Blissed, and Broomstick as part of Istana 2000. In 2007, TheatreWorks presented The Last Theatre State as part of 120. Play Den Productions presented The Devil’s Encore in 2009, and Someday, Samsara in 2010. In 2013, One Player Short Ensemble presented WiFi Lovers at the Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatre in Taipei. His other plays include Heavy Heart, Travelling Light, Shopping For Baby, Nerve Endings, X-Country and Offering.
He is a member of The Blue Statesmen, an independent collective of theatre artists. For their inaugural production, he conceived and directed BluePrince, which was presented for The Substation’s SeptFest 2012 and the Kuo Pao Kun Festival 2012.
Visual and Sound Design by Casey Lim
Casey Lim is trained as a musician and director of photography. Since the early 1990s, he has worked in the theatre as an actor and director, as well as a sound, video and multimedia designer. In 1999, he was the Associate Artistic Director of TheatreWorks. He co-founded Checkpoint Theatre and was the Co-Artistic Director from 2003 to 2007.
He is one of the co-founders and the Executive Director of Centre 42, a theatre development space committed to the creation, documentation and promotion of text-based works for the Singapore stage.
As a theatre director, his credits include Chong Tze Chien’s Pan Island Expressway (1999), Huzir Sulaiman’s Atomic Jaya (2003) and Michael Chiang’s Private Parts (2004). He also directed Chay Yew’s A Language of Their Own (2006) and the Chinese translation by Robin Loon,《男男自语》 (2012). He collaborated with Robin Loon again on Casting Back (2012), a postdramatic piece that traced Singapore’s theatre history over a period of 30 years.
He has created sound, video and multimedia designs for works such as Poppy Dot Dreams (2001), Instant Is A Millennium (2003) and Emily of Emerald Hill (2010). As a member of The Blue Statesmen, he designed the sound and multimedia for BluePrince (2012).
Dramaturgy and Research by Robin Loon
Dr Robin Loon is a playwright, dramaturg and educator, as well as one of the co-founders of Centre 42. Presently, he is an Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore.
His playwriting career began as a member of TheatreWorks’ Writers’ Laboratory in 1990. His plays include Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (1992), Watching the Clouds Go By (1994), Longing (1994), Broken Birds (1995), Destinies of Flowers In The Mirror (1997), Workhorse Afloat (1997), The Global Soul (2003), Geisha (2006), 120 (2007), RPM (2009), Mata Hati (2011), DNR (2011) and Lan Fang Chronicles (2012).
His other works include the Chinese translation of Chay Yew’s A Language of Their Own,《男男自语》 (2012) and Casting Back (2012). As a member of The Blue Statesmen, he wrote and compiled the text for BluePrince (2012).
As a dramaturg, he was the co-commissioning dramaturg for Full Frontal (2007 – 2009), the Singapore Arts Festival’s incubation platform for directors. Subsequently, he was appointed as the commissioning dramaturg for Open Studio (2010 – 2012), the Singapore Arts Festival’s platform for new works.
Videography by Joanne Tan
Joanne Tan is a photographer and the founder of Dreamers Farm, a studio which specialises in family photography. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Industrial Design.
Performed by Ranice Tay
Ranice Tay is a multi-disciplinary theatre and martial arts practitioner. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Theatre Studies and was a recipient of the NUS Centre For the Arts’ Performing and Visual Arts Scholarship. Presently, she is a member of the Singapore Traditional Wushu Elite team.
She has collaborated with Ang Gey Pin on works such as That Day That Book That Fell (Grain Performance and Research Lab) and Dreamtalk (NUS Arts Festival). Other works that she has performed in include A Mouthful of Birds (World-in-Theatre) and The Silly Little Girl and The Funny Old Tree (Young People’s Performing Arts Ensemble).
Performed by Serene Chen
Serene Chen graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Theatre Studies. Presently, she is an Associate Lecturer at Republic Polytechnic, School of Technology for the Arts.
She is a three-time winner of the Straits Times Life Theatre Awards for Best Supporting Actress, for her roles in Landmarks: Asian Boys Volume 2 (Wild Rice), 8 Women (S’ing Theatre) and Public Enemy (Wild Rice). She was also nominated for the same award in 2020, for her role in Caught (SRT). Her other stage credits include The Sound Inside (SRT), The Son and This Is What Happens To Pretty Girls (Pangdemonium), The House of Bernarda Alba (Wild Rice), GRC and Charged (Teater Ekamatra), Framed, by Adolf and Wong Kar Wai Dreams (The Finger Players), as well as Fear of Writing and 120 (TheatreWorks).
She starred in Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen’s award-winning feature film, Singapore Dreaming. Her other film credits include Paper House, Singapore Panda, Sex.Violence.FamilyValues, Dirty Bitch, Autograph Book and 3Meals. For television, her credits include Invisible Stories, Code of Law, Avenue 14 and Gone Case.