From a new book on the history of Chinese theatre in Singapore: The earliest record they found dated back to 1913 of a spoken drama production performed at the popular Lai Chun Yuen opera house in Chinatown. These early works were mostly philanthropic in nature, and were often used for fund-raising to aid disaster relief in China, or perhaps to build schools in Singapore or support various clans. But gradually a specific Singaporean identity emerged from these theatre productions, especially after World War II. Dr Quah says: Regardless of era, whether in the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s, these works were directed at Singapore not just as a nation, but were also created for Singaporean society, the underclass, the man in the street - and all this was expressed through the theatre. A strong sense of the intercultural also pervaded Singapore theatre in the early days: Chinese language productions sometimes contained detailed synopses in English and Malay, and Malay theatre groups such as Sriwana tackled Chinese classics in translation, such as Chinese dramatist Cao Yus Thunderstorm (1933). solidair23.blogspot.sg/2013/12/100-years-of-chinese-theatre.html
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 13:00:38 +0000
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