Epic Poem of Malaya

by spell#7 and Zai Kuning

22 -24 April 2010, 8pm
Esplanade Theatre Studio
$25, $16 (Concessions for students, NSF and senior citizens)


My father cries, and I cry, and then he says to me:
Our life has just begun, and it will be a great one.

Combining traditional storytelling with theatrical experiment, Epic Poem of Malaya presents a kaleidoscopic vision of a society in flux. In a constantly shifting stage environment, a multi-generational cast unfolds an expansive, big-hearted story of Singapore seen from the sea.

A boy leaves Singapore for life on the South China Sea. He loves it, but history has other ideas. In a 1956 painting by the artist Chua Mia Tee, a passionate young man is declaiming a vision of the future; and there isn’t much room in it for sea nomads.

Then there’s you. Somewhere in your experience, whether you know it or not, you carry the hopes of an earlier time, a dream of freedom, and a map of the Riau Archipelago.

And here comes spell#7, with its own version of events. Spell#7 uses theatre to tease out the layers of meaning and memory that make up the present. In 2008, they drew on the work of Chua Mia Tee for their critically acclaimed race-relations drama, National Language Class. Now, they return to paint the invention of Singapore on an even broader canvas.

Epic Poem of Malaya is the story of an island, but it is also a story about people: how they remember, what they forget, and how they shape and are shaped in turn by the place they live.

Presented by spell#7 in collaboration with Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay as part of 

Tickets from Sistic.

Supported by

LEE FOUNDATION