Not Tongue-tied: A Q&A with Jason Wee and Sean Tobin
“Tongues is a play that keeps refusing to be a play, with actors and director taking the stage to question their faith in the play, in theatre, and in others. Four bodies that refuse to live or die,”says Jason Wee, one of the co-writers of this theatre production for this year’s M1 Fringe Festival.
Absurd? Tongues presents an intriguing scenario of real-life personalities displaced in a surreal-life situation. Who dares picture chilled human bodies communicating amongst themselves supernaturally at a morgue? Well, both Sean Tobin and Jason Wee venture into an unfettered exploration of perspectives with regards to faith and sex, through this bizarre chance for social interaction.
We got a chance to talk with Jason Wee and Sean Tobin before they staged this macabre theatre piece going on this weekend as part of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival.
Tell us, in a nutshell, what this play is like?
SEAN: It is rather schizophrenic I guess, as we play around a lot with form and style in the piece, and the characters in the piece find themselves in many different kinds of emotional, psychological and spiritual states in this ‘afterlife’ experience. It can go from menacing to meditative, sober to silly, warm to cold. Also due to the interactivity of the piece, the audience’s mood has the potential somewhat to shape the mood of the piece in certain sequences, and I guess the mood of the piece at large will depend largely on the audience’s views on the content of the piece, i.e. their personal experiences with faith and sex.
When and how did you two come up with such a deadly concept?
JASON: From a night of smoking hashish, cigars, kretek, and after blackening our lungs to the deep colors of the night, the idea of the frozen dead awakening to life sprang up like so many zombies from a crypt.
SEAN: How to answer that after Jason’s answer?! In ‘addition’ to that, partly it was a response to the Singapore Fringe’s provocation of theme – ‘Art and Faith’. For me, it is yet another attempt to engage the society in an imaginative exploration of societal taboos; taboos that have somehow been forefront in my experience, and the experience of many loved ones.
What were some of the biggest challenges staging a work that deals with themes of a prickly nature?
JASON: The most important challenge for me is the one that the audience presents themselves with, whether they can watch what we do and see the difference between having trouble with religion and having trouble with faith, and also see the varieties of faith that are possible.
SEAN: Generally I like to approach theatre as if there are no limitations or restrictions. I don’t mean that in an anarchistic way, but I try to embrace it with unlimited restriction and imagination. I try to ask everything from scratch and assume nothing. The challenge presented to me, is whether people will feel they can appreciate how we have managed the material, which really can be so delicate. It’s not easy to explore something so vast and deep. There is a tremendous craft to it, if one can manage it. The risks and dangers are many. Like for instance, are we just relying on stereotypes? Are we saying what’s been said before? Are we reinforcing existing problems? Will people come expecting a seminar or a really rigorous research paper, or the answers to life in the form of a performance and be disappointed? Will people be either too comfortable or too uncomfortable and thus not be able to benefit from it?
BY JOYCE CHENG
Tongues is on this weekend from 16 to 19 Feb at 8pm at the Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore. Tickets $30/$19 from Sistic.