Richard Chua (蔡兩俊) proudly displays a censored copy of his script for Generations (同輩), a play that makes its Taiwan debut on Sunday as part of the Taipei Fringe Festival (臺北藝穗節).
“[Singapore] has tough censorship laws ... But it’s really good for commercial theater because you throw a couple of stones at the government and audiences love it. They say, ‘oh great, you are criticizing the government for us,’” the Singapore-based director said in an interview on Wednesday night. “But our fringe theater hasn’t been too active in doing this.”
Really? After taking one look at the heavily marked-up script, it’s difficult not to think that this is precisely what Chua had in mind when he wrote it. Indeed, Chua has earned a reputation for breaking the boundaries of what the conservative city-state deems acceptable. A play that he wrote in 2004, for example, was banned outright for trying to “change people’s metaphors,” Chua’s euphemism for morals.
So what’s the hullabaloo about? Generations, which premiered in Singapore in 2008, starts out innocuously enough: A gay son lives with his single mother, who is estranged from a husband whose mentality is “feudal Chinese conservative.” In other words, he is a serial womanizer, Chua said.
As the story proceeds, the extremely lonely mother pressures her son to take on the father’s role as companion, in and out of the bedroom.
“I think it’s humanly possible. But it doesn’t make it morally OK. And the son, as a gay man, would he give in to his mom even though, in his metaphor, the female body will never arouse him?” Chua said.
In addition to taking aim at conservative Singaporean mores, the play is also a jab at that city-state’s insular gay community, which Chua portrays as populated by preening whiners who aren’t radical enough for his tastes.
“Singapore’s gay community is pretty much bourgeoisie ... Saying how everyone looks down on us and gay rights and blah-blah-blah. You have all the ... beautiful stuff, [and they] end up in this posh coffee shop drinking tea and having fun. So who is suffering? Here you have clever, educated people who can justify their positions and write statements in the newspaper. They say they are being discriminated against, that they are victims, but they are such a glamorous bunch of victims,” he said.
By presenting a working-class gay man from a broken home willing to sacrifice his sexuality for his mother, Chua hopes that the gay community will become more inclusive.
As Taiwanese society is considerably more liberal than Singapore’s, Chua is freer to draw upon the original script, including, possibly, an on-stage depiction of incest.
“We struggled with the last scene. Should the son just give it to the mother? And how would he give it? And if we just do it like that, is this really morally wrong?” Chua said.
As rehearsals began after press time, this preview cannot comment on the production’s aesthetic qualities. However, Generations tackles many of society’s biggest taboos, so the writing and acting had better be convincing as the play is in danger of coming across as a headline-grabbing stunt.
Taiwan, once relegated to the backwaters of international news media and viewed as a subset topic of “greater China,” is now a hot topic. Words associated with Taiwan include “invasion,” “contingency” and, on the more cheerful side, “semiconductors” and “tourism.” It is worth noting that while Taiwanese companies play important roles in the semiconductor industry, there is no such thing as a “Taiwan semiconductor” or a “Taiwan chip.” If crucial suppliers are included, the supply chain is in the thousands and spans the globe. Both of the variants of the so-called “silicon shield” are pure fantasy. There are four primary drivers
The sprawling port city of Kaohsiung seldom wins plaudits for its beauty or architectural history. That said, like any other metropolis of its size, it does have a number of strange or striking buildings. This article describes a few such curiosities, all but one of which I stumbled across by accident. BOMBPROOF HANGARS Just north of Kaohsiung International Airport, hidden among houses and small apartment buildings that look as though they were built between 15 and 30 years ago, are two mysterious bunker-like structures that date from the airport’s establishment as a Japanese base during World War II. Each is just about
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
RSS