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SINGAPORE: Ong Keng Sen is excited about a project he’s been working on for the past two years.
He’s been researching Vietnamese artists who painted propaganda art in the frontlines during the American-Vietnam War of the ’60s. So far, he’s discovered 10 of these so-called painter-soldiers.
It all sounds intense, except for the fact that Ong’s sharing this with us while wearing full make-up and a nice blue wig.
The TheatreWorks artistic director, who was briefly in town before flying off to Lisbon on Tuesday, gamely dressed up for a photo shoot to talk about the theatre company’s latest project, Vivien And the Shadows.
Directed by Ong and written by US-based Singaporean playwright Chay Yew, the multi-disciplinary production was inspired by the movie version of Tennessee Williams’A Streetcar Named Desire and its tragic main actress Vivien Leigh, who played Blanche DuBois.
It will be staged on Oct 21 at the Carolina Performing Arts Center in the US and in Singapore by the second half of next year.
Vivien And The Shadows will be the second time that Ong will be going drag onstage. The first time was in 1986 for Jean Genet’s The Maids, which featured brothers Lim Kay Tong and Lim Kay Siu. It also marked his “debut on the professional stage”.
He still remembers what he wore: “A big, chrysanthemum-yellow dress.”
This time around, Ong will be playing the part of a “Chinese accountant who lives in New York City and dresses up on weekends to be the belle of the town”.
The transformation itself will take place onstage as he’ll be putting on his make-up during the show — which mixes a bit of cabaret, burlesque and video — as three other actresses tell the intertwined story of his character’s and Leigh’s lives.
The issue of going drag, according to the 44-year-old director, is tied to the art of copying.
“The art of copying is supreme in the drag queen,” he said, citing how these performers impersonate celebrities like Diana Ross and Barbra Streisand.
So, what’s the hardest thing about dressing up as a woman?
“It’s a hell of a moment to put on eyelashes!” - TODAY/ra
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