Date: 25 March – 11 April 2010

Venue: Drama Centre Theatre

Creative Team 

Playwright: Wu Xi

Composer & Arranger: Eric Ng

Lyricist: Xiao Han

Co-Director: Kuo Jian Hong & Wu Xi

Music Arranger: Bang Wenfu & Clement Yang Xi

Music Director & Conductor: Julian Wong

Vocal Director: Lim Shieh Yih

Choreographer: Low Ee Chiang

Acting Coach: Kuo Jing Hong

Concept Artist: Jiang Liheng

Set Design: Lim Keng San

The Theatre Practice Creative Team

Costume Design: Moe Kasim

Lighting Design: Lim Yu-Beng

Sound Design: Shah Tahir

Hair Design: Ashley Lim

M.A.C Creative Artist: Beno Lim

Cast

Sang Xiao: Ric Liu

Ying Ning: Joanna Dong

Feng San Niang: Celine Rosa Tan

Cheng Ban Xian: Sugie

King Yama: Huang Wenhong

Tian Zi Zai: Liu Xiaoyi

Ying Wu Huo: Xu Bin

Hell Hawker, Scholar: Andrew Lua

Scholar Ma: Yang Guoxiu

Ghost Captain: Hang Qian Chou

Ghost Soldier on the Bridge: Gordon Choy

Meng Po: Jacqueline Chow

Ghost Soldiers, Spirits, Ensemble: Isabella Chiam, Jacqueline Chow, Gordon Choy, Hang Qian Chou, Audrey Luo Baoling, Judee Tan, Catherine Wong, Yang Guoxiu

Children: Hsieh Yu Chun (Cast A), Leow Jia Le Enrico (Cast A), Olivia Yi-Le Hatton (Cast B), Leo Tan HeQin (Cast B), Lex Tan PengQin (Cast B)

Band

Conductor: Julian Wong

Keyboardist & Rehearsal Pianist: Julian Wong

Guitarist: Chan Ka-Chi

Guitarist: Joshua Tan

Bassist: Patrick Ang

Violinist: Lim Hui

Percussionist: Din Safari

I have always suspected that Pu Song Ling (1640 – 1715) lived in a different reality from ours. How else can you explain how he conjured up such a mystical world?  

In that world, fairies and spirits roamed the forests at night, while celestials and demons filled the heavens. Beings from all six realms frolic in a vibrant cacophony of life, a boisterous world of emotional interplay, and every shade was displayed in all its hedonistic glory. 

In that world, humans existed too, but in an obscure corner, as lesser beings that live with a little more innocence and a little less clarity.

In essence, it was a world of possibilities. You could relish being good or evil, create havoc, battle gods, and roam the universe. An elegant stroke of writing could elevate you above the adoration of thousands. Demons and spirits could be your comrade, your enemy or even your lover as you journey through the doors of heaven and hell! And when your time was up,  a quick tally would be made before you headed back out to the next life. With a potent brew of Meng Po’s soup down your throat, you were cleansed of the baggage of your previous existence and get to start life anew. For souls who had not attained enlightenment, they would be subjected to  being recycled and reused in this endless cosmic wheel of existence (this is very eco-friendly).

Putting that colourful world behind, the reality of modern living pales, recumbent in the stark absence of imagination that the modern man has readily discarded for the comfort of technological advances. But how can I criticise what has won me over as well?

But the strange world of Liao Zhai beckoned, it lured me to pen this fantastical adventure on paper and the script was born.

After writing the script, Kuo Jian Hong promptly insisted that I co-directed the musical. So we find ourselves here again, battling on in The Theatre Practice’s sweltering rehearsal hall – actors work well into the night and designers create woks of wonders. We are increasingly seduced by Xiao Han’s sweet lyrics of a world where we are free to love and hate, as Eric’s rock music fills the Waterloo Street.

Repetitive rehearsals are alike to reincarnating, where every injury and mistake accumulated shaped the next rendition of your performance. But we move on fearlessly. Despite the seemingly ceaseless onslaught of mutual aggravations, I grow to like this group of actors. Carefree, and brimming with optimism, the biggest crisis is deciding where to go for supper at the end of every rehearsal!

And so we force the rusty devices of our imagination to reach that ever further place, that long departed world in order to seek pleasure in our inner sanctums. And though it is uncertain how this journey will end, there has been no doubt that it has an immensely happy one.

Wu Xi

26 February 2010