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SINGAPORE: "One vision with two bodies", that was how playwright Ken Kwek described the creative process of his latest theatre collaboration, The Composer, with producer and director Tan Kheng Hua.
Kwek, whose name was tossed around like a buzzword in the local arts scene after picking up awards for Best Play and Best Playwright at the 2008 Short+Sweet Theatre Festival, gave up journalism for full-time writing two years ago.
His first feature screenplay The Blue Mansion made its debut on the world stage at the 14th Pusan International Film Festival earlier this month.
Thriving on the adrenaline of hopping from one project to the next, the prolific writer, who is also working with film director Kelvin Tong on his second feature screenplay, takes obvious pleasure in the spontaneous progression of his latest undertaking.
"She (Tan) wanted to write a play about a man who, we discover, has a number of lovers and that was the premise – as simple as that. But to deepen the play, we needed to find out the nature of these relationships and how he got involved with all these women, and the consequences of the affairs," Kwek elaborated.
Tan, a well-known actress here, is credited for creating the critically acclaimed TV series Do Not Disturb, which was shown on MediaCorp's Arts Central (now Okto) channel. Each episode explores the relationship of seven different couples in the same budget hotel room in an art-house film style.
And judging from a promotional trailer of The Composer, she seems to have conceived an equally titillating tale about love and betrayal this time round, with first-time actor and real-life musician Leslie Tan playing the lead.
"We went for Leslie because there's something quite edgy and sexy about him. I like the fact that he is a musician, so I started crafting a story around it... spent weeks listening to classical music," Kwek recalled. "I like exploring subject matters that I'm not familiar with at all – that's the natural curiosity of any writer."
Besides T'ang Quartet's renowned cellist, choreographer-dancer Tammy L Wong is also marking her acting debut on stage in this production as The First Love, Sonia.
Said Wong affably: "Performing is not an unfamiliar environment for me. I turned 39 in July and I'm curious in my life right now to attempt another art form. I can't think of anything scarier than having to memorise lines, so I thought it would be an interesting new challenge for me. I'm always up for trying something new!"
To draw people from different creative and artistic fields, Tan and Kwek interviewed and auditioned more than 40 women and half a dozen men before finally deciding on cast members Leslie Tan, Wong, Andrea Fonseka, Sol Foo, Chio Su-Ping and Marilyn Tan.
The latter, a freelance TV director by profession, is also new to acting.
Other than placing an uncommon number of amateur actors on stage, Tan has roped in Lee Hwa Jewellery as the presenting sponsor for The Composer – an unprecedented move for a local theatre production.
The jeweller jazzed up its patronage by pairing several collections of its diamond and sapphire pieces with the characters in the play, in line with the temperament of each individual.
According to Lee Hwa's senior brand manager, Elaine Ng, the production parallels its philosophy of being an avant-garde innovator in "pursuing creations that are meaningful, courageous and exciting".
This visionary piece, about life's "different loves and desires", will be staged at the Esplanade Theatre Studio from December 16 to 20. Tickets are available at SISTIC.
- CNA/so
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