Staging Nation: English Language Theatre in Malaysia and Singapore

Jacqueling Lo, Staging Nation: English Language Theatre in Malaysia and Singapore (Hong Kong University Press, 2004) With great care and meticulous scholarship, Jacqueline Lo has assembled an important work that maps out the ways in which nationhood is articulated and contested in the English-language theatre of Singapore and Malaysia. At the end of the book, Lo reminds readers of her intent: 'By drawing attention to the ways in which power is negotiated and challenged within the field of English-language theatre in Malaysia and Singapore, this study has endeavoured to draw attention to the struggle of theatre artists and intellectuals for a more pluralist political culture in these countries' (190). What makes this work particularly fruitful in this regard is its willingness to engage selectively and thoughtfully with the history, social policies, and political landscapes of these two related nations, while consistently linking these fields to specific plays and theatrical productions. By focusing not merely on the dramatic text, but also on the larger context for the production and frequently the performance text as well, Lo is able to show, for instance, how the casting or costuming in a particular production fits into her larger thesis of how theatre reflects a contested political landscape. Throughout the work, contemporary theory in postcolonial and cultural studies is used skillfully, elucidating key points and bringing text and production into a fuller light rather than obscuring the object of study, as is too often the case elsewhere. Though separate nations, Singapore and Malaysia are well-partnered for purposes of this study, as both possess a lively English-language theatre scene that has become an important site for the articulation of competing political discourses. Both nations are essentially one-party states with a similar history of colonisation that has resulted in each being a sort of demographically opposing mirror of the other, making them natural relatives for a study such as this. Colonised by the British, both received independence in the 1950s and after a brief period of federation, they became separate nations again in 1965. While Singapore is predominantly comprised of ethnic Chinese, with smaller populations of Malays and Tamil-speaking South Indians, Malaysia reverses these demographics with a Malay majority, a smaller, though relatively prosperous Chinese minority, and a less economically successful and less numerous Indian population. Because of language policies and the primacy of English as the language of international commerce and finance, English-language theatre in both countries is largely created and seen by a highly-educated, uppermiddle class minority. Ironically, rather than being the marginal theatre one would expect it to be, in both countries theatre in English has emerged as a lightening rod for work that has pushed the acceptable boundaries of expression in the arts while frequently also mirroring or challenging the dominant discourse of the nation's leaders. Lo argues that it is possibly precisely its marginal status as the province for the educated and large expatriate population that makes it a 'safe' place for competing discourses to play themselves out, in part because this dramatic space is relatively removed from the life of the majority of each country's citizens, most of whom are more likely to speak languages other than English at home or with their closest friends. Rather than attempting to chronicle and document the vast terrain of English language theatre in both countries, Lo wisely devotes well over half of the book to an extended analysis of four key works, two from each country. K. S. Maniam's The Cord (1984) and Kee Thuan Chye's 1984 Here and Now (1985) are pulled from the Malaysian repertory, while the key Singaporean texts are Stella Kon's Emily of Emerald Hill (premiered 1985) and Kuo Pao Kun's The Coffin Is Too Big for the Hole (premiered 1985). …