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Forum Theater in Singapore: Resistance, Containment, and Commodification in an Advanced Industrial Society
Abstract and Figures
Forum theater is an interactive practice whose “third-world” revolutionary origins have been transposed into techniques for dealing with “oppressions” within bourgeois societies. By constructing an analytical framework that articulates a Marcusean “one-dimensional society” approach and a Gramscian “constant struggle for hegemony” approach, this article discusses forum theater’s relative autonomy from and susceptibility to the authoritarian and culture-industry logics of advanced industrial society. In 1993, forum theater was successfully introduced to Singapore by local professional theater company The Necessary Stage (TNS) and then quickly proscribed by the state for its Marxist associations and unscripted nature. At the turn of the millennium, however, the state has come to realize more clearly the economic value of the arts, including its “subversive” qualities that may generate excitement and nurture a culture of innovation necessary for the creative economy of renaissance Singapore, a global city for the arts. In the transition to this new climate, TNS and another professional theater company, Drama Box, have attempted to negotiate new forum spaces for critical thinking against the grain of hegemony, without being co-opted by authoritarian capitalism. Both have attempted this in often-contrasting ways: for instance, TNS addresses a mostly English-speaking, theater-attending, middle-class audience, while Drama Box inserts Chinese-language forum theater into the organic everyday-life spaces of working-class communities. While TNS stages most of its forum theater work within the conventional walls of theater space, Drama Box embraces an aesthetic and site specificity that are closer to the form’s popular roots. The Marcusean/Gramscian framework presented in this article offers a dynamic approach for critically analyzing the birth, death, and rebirth of forum theater in Singapore, and the contrasting and yet complementary ways in which TNS and Drama Box have negotiated with new opportunities and limitations in their socially conscious artistic practice. That forum theater has “reemerged” — a decade after its proscription by the state — as a “legitimate” part of the global city’s state-led and economically driven artistic and cultural “renaissance” calls into question the extent of its radicalism today, but it also offers suggestions for new and more sophisticated modes of resistance and collaboration.
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... In 1993, The Necessary Stage put up two Forum Theatre pieces; Mixed Blessings and MCP which centered on issues of racism and patriarchy, respectively (Kok 2004). While the plays and the facilitation were positively received by the public (Tan, 2013), they faced criticism in the media for being "provocative and inciting agitation" to achieve a political end (Soh, 1994). Consequentially, the government imposed a de facto ban on this form of theater, requiring a "$10,000 deposit that was refundable only if there was no trouble" (Tan, 2013, p. 200). ...
... With the strict censorship in Singapore and its aim to prevent discord on sensitive systemic issues, there has been a need to negotiate the conformity to the state's restrictions and the theater form's resistance to the dominant hegemony (Tan, 2013, p. 213). Nonetheless, Forum Theatre has been more prominently commissioned today by various government-linked organizations in Singapore, such as National Youth Council and People's Association to tour in communities and schools (Leong, 2016;Yang, 2018) to allow the public to be critically reflexive and explore creative solutions collectively (Tan, 2013).Thereby, it has the potential to value add within social services where different groups of people, in this case youths, come together with various struggles. ...
There is limited literature of the usage of Theatre of the Oppressed within Social work practice. In this study, a group of youth offenders (n = 9) and three social workers known to a Social Service Agency participated in a 9-week Theatre of the Oppressed workshop, consisting of activities aimed to raise critical consciousness. The workshop eventually culminated in a Forum Theatre performance, put up to an invited audience (n = 17). Data was collected throughout the workshop and performance and analyzed using an arts-based method. A focus group discussion was also held with the youths and the social workers separately at the end of the program.
Data revealed that the Theatre of the Oppressed games and activities built solidarity among the youths, although the cultural subgroups of the youths played a part. There was also a general increase of awareness and understanding of power and privilege, and an ownership of the issues that they were experiencing. While the youths felt empowered by the process of designing the script and sharing their stories, the actual medium of performing in front of a group and the power differential with the audience members was seen to have created a negative experience for them.
This study provides an idea of the impacts of Theatre of the Oppressed within group work settings, for marginalized youth offenders. Through the carefully curated activities, social workers may be able to tap on Boal’s techniques as a way to build rapport, raise critical consciousness, and empower these youths.
... ' Tan (2011) also linked Singapore's governmental system directly to its ability (and desire) to continually shift and re-image in order to develop and deliver a brand of pragmatism necessary to maximise the attraction of global capital (2012: 67). In this conceptualisation, Singapore exemplifies the neoliberal global city, having been born as a deliberate (colonial) trading post and still very much playing that role in the global economy, which Tan (2013) likened to the type of advanced capitalist society that Herbert Marcuse would have called 'one dimensional' (Tan, 2013: 190). Shatkin (2014), meanwhile, explored how Singapore's specific style of state -capitalism, which operates through state-ownership of land and state-owned corporations such as Temasek Holdings, is different than larger state-capitalist models such as Hong Kong or (the much larger) South Korea. ...
This article considers the value of growing up stories among theatre practitioners in Singapore as a resource for learning theatre in multicultural contexts. It engages with the lived experiences of five Singapore theatre practitioners, Alfian Sa’at, Alvin Tan, Haresh Sharma, Kok Heng Leun and Ong Keng Sen, whose contributions to discourses on multiplicity and performance are significant in the city–state and internationally. Concepts of ‘Open Culture’ (Kuo. 1998. “Contemplating an Open Culture: Transcending Multiracialism.” In Singapore: Re-Engineering Success, edited by Arun Mahiznan, and Lee Tsao Yuan, 55–60. Singapore: Oxford University Press), ‘postcolonial conviviality’ (Gilroy. 2005. Postcolonial Melancholia. New York: Columbia University Press) and ‘critical multiculturalism’ (Goh. 2009. “Conclusion: Toward a Critical Multiculturalism.” In Race and Multiculturalism in Malaysia and Singapore, edited by Daniel P.S. Goh, 213–218. London: Routledge) are proposed as useful frames for understanding theatre in multicultural contexts, and from which the idea of a ‘bricoleur imagination’ is derived.
This chapter is the final of four case studies exploring contemporary practices of community performance. This chapter investigates a community-engaged performance project by Singaporean theatre company, Drama Box. IgnorLAND of its Time (2014) was the third of four instalments in the IgnorLAND series, initiated by Drama Box Artistic Director Kok Heng Luen, in 2007, to unearth hidden histories of spaces within the fast-changing Singaporean landscape, effectively recirculating forgotten cultural narratives contesting hegemonic national identity. As one of the first Housing Development Board (HDB) estates to be built in post-independence Singapore after a large conflagration, Bukit Ho Swee, holds a mythical place in the creation story of the HDB nation. IOIT was, itself, a significant moment in Drama Box’s performance history as it was the company’s first experiment with community engagement methodology in a geographic location. The chapter follows this experiment implemented by Drama Box artists, Koh Hui Ling (associate artistic director) and Han Xuemei (resident artist), to engage various stakeholders and (past and present) residents of the Bukit Ho Swee estate to become collaborators and co-creators of performance that excavated Singapore’s national foundations.KeywordsCommunity-engaged methodologyAnti-liberalAuthoritarianCommunitarian valuesExclusive corporate governanceInclusive corporate governanceHousing Development Board (HDB) nationHegemonic consensusKampong nostalgiaOral historyTheatre of the real
In Theater as Data , Miguel Escobar Varela explores the use of computational methods and digital data in theater research. He considers the implications of these new approaches, and explains the roles that statistics and visualizations play. Reflecting on recent debates in the humanities, the author suggests that there are two ways of using data, both of which have a place in theater research. Data-driven methods are closer to the pursuit of verifiable results common in the sciences; and data-assisted methods are closer to the interpretive traditions of the humanities. The book surveys four major areas within theater scholarship: texts (not only playscripts but also theater reviews and program booklets); relationships (both the links between fictional characters and the collaborative networks of artists and producers); motion (the movement of performers and objects on stage); and locations (the coordinates of performance events, venues, and touring circuits). Theater as Data examines important contributions to theater studies from similar computational research, including in classical French drama, collaboration networks in Australian theater, contemporary Portuguese choreography, and global productions of Ibsen. This overview is complemented by short descriptions of the author’s own work in the computational analysis of theater practices in Singapore and Indonesia. The author ends by considering the future of computational theater research, underlining the importance of open data and digital sustainability practices, and encouraging readers to consider the benefits of learning to code. A web companion offers illustrative data, programming tutorials, and videos.
Performance and politics, ‘whatever connection they do or do not have with each other,’ as Joe Kelleher describes in Theatre and Politics (2009), in Southeast Asia both as a region and its constituent countries is the concern of this chapter. The introduction expounds on the efficacies of performance’s intervention in politics and politics’ persecution of theatre and performance in Southeast Asia, whose own imagined state is also interrogated. It considers carefully the concepts of politics and political theatre in the Southeast Asian imaginary, and posits an understanding of the contemporary condition as local social environments and global political climates frame it. In addition to providing a summary of the consequent chapters, the authors interrogate the book’s own politics of representation.
When Singapore embarked on its high-rise public housing scheme post World War II, citizens often bemoaned the loss of the 'kampong spirit', a colloquial term describing the sense of community felt while living in villages. More than 50 years on, the kampong spirit continues to inform Singapore's nation-building plans. This article considers a community theatre project in Singapore aimed at reigniting the kampong spirit among residents from low-income neighbourhoods. The theatre project, which relied primarily on Boal's (1974) Theatre of the Oppressed, sought to initiate conversations within the community in order to foster greater agency among residents. Examining the work through relevant frameworks on belonging revealed how the project enabled the community to build and maintain connections beyond the immediate space of the theatre performances, thereby deepening the emotional and affective dimensions of belonging. Belonging becomes a force of agency when cultural citizenship is activated, and the community participants become agents for change.
This article interrogates the persistence of heavy-handed censorship of political films in Singapore at a time of cultural liberalisation when the state has generally shown greater tolerance for alternative political expression in theatre, the literary arts, academia and public events. Part of this has to do with the focus of these films on political dissidents and their greater capacity to present a fundamental challenge to The Singapore Story, which is the regime-legitimising official account of Singapore’s history. It also has to do with the power and outreach of relatively low-budget independent films and the documentary genre in particular to evoke alternative histories vividly, give voice to the silenced, and channel these voices digitally into the collective cinematic and social media experience of the present. With the jubilee celebrations of 2015, the ruling party has been working hard to regain hegemony after experiencing its worst electoral losses in the 2011 general elections. Its main approach for achieving this has been to sponsor widespread national nostalgia coupled with highly selective censorship of political films that challenge the dominant official discourse in ways that can erode the government’s electoral dominance and political authority.
208 Words Full Text: 6,667 Words (All-Inclusive) Singapore has undergone a 'cultural turn' in which the publicly-funded arts play an important role. Efforts are underway to involve the citizenry in 'arts and culture for everyone, everywhere, everyday' (MICA, 2012:26). This arts push corresponds to rising grassroots dissent and critical movements in Singapore, which challenges and questions the authoritarian rule that has shaped and defined the City-State. These movements are often cloaked in symbol and critical views are neither straightforward nor easily demarcated: participatory art-making is one such example and provides a lens to interrogate broader socio-cultural tensions. This chapter analyses alternative spontaneous grassroots arts in Singapore, which challenge top-down, elite imaginary identities and place-making initiatives. This examination of the praxis of 'dragon kilns' shows how locals, engulfed in the tense relationships between the arts, citizenry, city and the state, empower themselves to enliven marginalised urban heritage .This chapter also raises critical issues about the dominant power hierarchy, more particularly the staged-managed relationships between 'parachuted' art and publics' agencies in a City-State increasingly torn by socio-cultural fault lines and ruptures. 'Awaken the Dragon' emerges not only as example of the tangible formation of Singaporean identity through shared artistic practice, but also as a metaphor for the ways the grassroots re-appropriates and produces space and cultural heritage.
Taking ideas and frameworks from philosophy, psychology, political science, cultural studies and anthropology, this book tells the larger 'truth' about the Singapore state. This book argues that this strong hegemonic state achieves effective rule not just from repressive policies but also through a combination of efficient government, good standard of living, tough official measures and popular compliance. Souchou Yao looks at the reasons behind the hegemonic ruling, examining key events such as the caning of American teenager Michael Fay, the judicial ruling on fellatio and unnatural sex, and Singapore's 'war on terror' to show the ways in which the State manages these events to ensure the continuance of its power and ideological ethos. Lively, and well-written, this book discusses key subject areas such as: leftist radicalism and communist insurgency. nation-building as trauma. Western 'yellow culture' and Asian Values. judicial caning and the meaning of pain. the law and oral sex. food and the art of lying. cinema as catharsis. Singapore after September 11.
This article explores the effects of Singapore's Global City for the Arts project on the local theater industry. It begins by describing the character of the Singapore state and its ability to meet the challenges of globalization. It then shows that while historically global in orientation, the city-state's early cultural policies were resolutely local and insular prior to the economic recession in 1985. From that year on, local arts and culture was driven by an economic rationale — eventually culminating in the birth of a globally oriented national cultural policy: the Global City for the Arts project. The author contends that the Global City for the Arts project has pressured the Singapore state into shedding some of its authoritarian practices in order to conform to international norms. However, the author also illustrates how certain theater companies with the requisite cultural capital for the Global City for the Arts project have benefited from the country's cultural policies while others that do not possess such cultural capital are marginalized. The article concludes by arguing that the Singapore state, in going global, exacerbates the economic disparity by accentuating preexisting inequalities and divisions in the local.
Herber Marcuse (1898-1979), filósofo alemán, plantea en la presente obra un estudio que tiene como fin contribuir en la construcción de una filosofía del psicoanálisis y destacar sus implicaciones sociológicas en la comprensión de la sociedad, como una cultura que paulatinamente se ha ido emancipando de los instintos represivos.
Chronology of a Controversy Also online at Biotechnics, www
- Lee Weng Choy Sanjay Krishna
Lee Weng Choy, " Chronology of a Controversy, " in Commentary: Looking at Culture, ed.
Sanjay Krishna et al. (Singapore, 1996). Also online at Biotechnics, www.biotechnics.org
/Chronology%20of%20a%20controversy.htm (accessed September 4, 2012).