# Details Cannot Body Wants

Details Cannot Body Wants is a Singaporean feminist play written by Chin Woon Ping and directed by K. K. Seet. It was first published in 1992 as The Naturalization of Camellia Song & Details Cannot Body Wants (which included the poetry anthology The Naturalization of Camellia Song) and staged on 12 and 13 September 1992 in The Substation's Guinness Theatre as part of the double bill Renewable Women, which contained Robert Yeo's Second Chance. It is a monologue by a nameless character (played by Chin) who rants against the societal, cultural, and emotional restrictions of Asian women in a mixed culture society and is supported by a chorus as well as an array of props. Due to its unconventional structure, reviewers gave the play mixed reviews, with the play later being restaged by the Ubu Repertory Theater in New York City, 1998.
The play mostly originated from Chin's personal experiences. When the play was to be adapted on stage as a part of Renewable Women , the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU) initially refused to administer the license unless certain parts of the play were changed, but later allowed it to be presented uncut (through an appeal by Yeo) with an R-rating, on the condition that all publicity material for Renewable Women contained a warning "discouraging" those under 18 years old to view the play. This technically made both Second Chance and Details Cannot Body Wants the first R-rated play in Singapore, though it was only Details Cannot Body Wants that was deemed as "offensive".

## Synopsis

The play is a 45-minute monologue presented by an unnamed character (played by Chin Woon Ping) exploring an Asian woman's societal, cultural, and emotional restrictions in a mixed culture society. It is divided into four concepts: (i) details - details of women's struggles in life, (ii) cannot - restrictions placed on women when creating their identity/destiny, (iii) body - male and female's perceptions of women's form, (iv) wants - women's wants.
Chin is supported by a three-person chorus as well as props such as a sex doll, an inflatable bra, masks, and risqué costumes to rant against feet binding, the cultivation of a coy voice, and other issues. She also uses a combination of Christmas carols, advertising jargons, rap music, Cantonese jingles, and pantuns, as well as alluding to Western and Asian cultural figures such as Billie Holiday, Édith Piaf, geishas, Mae West, William Shakespeare, Marlene Dietrich, The Platters, and Sutardji Calzoum Bachri.

## Production history
### Creation

When Chin was writing the play, she had the play's four concepts as well as two images (one of a woman crawling on the floor with a trail of pots and pans and the other of a woman undergoing a breast examination) already in mind, with the breast examination image inspired from her friends undergoing mastectomies. Although some parts of the play came from Chin's personal experiences, she claims that it is not entirely autobiographical. She also felt the success of the play relied on gaining the audience's sympathy for struggles women face in society. Before it was performed, the play was published in 1992 alongside a collection of 69 poems written by Chin (with some dating back to the 1960's) in The Naturalization of Camellia Song & Details Cannot Body Wants.

### Stage adaptation

When the play was to be adapted for the stage, director K. K. Seet (a friend of Chin) asked her to take on the lead role. Chin was initially hesitant as she has not acted in a while but agreed to do so since she knew most of the play's songs by heart.
In June 1992, the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU) of the Singapore Police Force received a request from playwright Robert Yeo for a license of the double bill Renewable Women, which featured his play Second Chance and Details Cannot Body Wants. By August 1992, Yeo had not received a response and called PELU. PELU then revealed that a license would be granted only after certains scenes of the play would be omitted/changed. Yeo appealed against PELU and an agreement was reached. Although PELU was against the "adult language" and "taboo gestures" (such as grabbing/scratching the crotch) used in the play, it nevertheless approved for the play to be fully staged with an R-rating (restricting those under 18 years old of viewing the material), though all publicity materials of Renewable Women must have a disclaimer discouraging patrons below 18 from attending. Even though the term "discourage" did not imply a full-on ban of those under 18, it also implied that the NUSS was responsible for "discouraging" those under 18 to view the play.
Chin accepted the decision as the play is "essentially an ideological piece" but expressed confusion over PELU marking a scene involving a simulation of a breast examination as "offensive". Meanwhile, Seet commented that "the play's target audience is basically those who are above 18, so the disclaimer doesn't really affect us". It was reported that the public relations and activities manager of NUSS was "surprised" over the decision but supported it as well. Even though the rating was for the double bill (which meant that both Second Chance and Details Cannot Body Wants would have been Singapore's first R-rated plays), in effect, only the latter was deemed "offensive".

### Premiere

The play premiered on 12 September 1992 at The Substation's Guinness Theatre with two shows, a matineé at 2pm and a show at 8pm. Given the play's rating, three students from the National Institute of Education were instructed to screen play-goers who looked "suspiciously young" along with handling the tickets. Eight people were screened in total, all of whom were above 18 years old. Four of them were screened before the matineé and the other four before the 8pm show. The Straits Times reported the show was sold out with more than 300 tickets sold, as well as the audience seemingly mostly between 20-30 years old. There was another show at 8pm the next day.

### Later developments

Following the performances, Chin hosted a reading of the play in Canada, which was aired on ABC Australia. The play was also restaged in 1998 by the Ubu Repertory Theatre in New York.

## Reception

Due to its unorthodox form, the play received polarising reviews. Hannah Pandian of The Straits Times criticised the play for its unusual structure as well the monologues in the play, calling it "myopic" compared to Ovidia Yu's Three Fat Virgins and Woman On A Tree On The Hill. She did compliment the play's variety of music choices, though wondered if the play "would have engaged more than a tenth of the audience" without the music. In response to Pandian's criticism, David Britton of the National University of Singapore's (NUS) English Language and Literature Department gave an alternative perspective of the play, calling it "a thoughtful and witty consideration of an Asian woman emerging in a world of mixed sexual and cultural influences". Britton also said the writing is of "intense humanity" as the play is not only "the demands of men and the restrictions of [Chin's] background are lampooned without mercy" but also "Chin is equally mocking of her own response to the situations she finds herself".