Roman Tam & The 3 Bears

Roman Tam & The 3 Bears | Between Chinas | Everything But The Brain | Ticketing Info | Book Now

BETWEEN CHINAS

• The Synopsis
• About the Playwright
• Conversation with the Playwright
• The Cast of Between Chinas

Between Chinas: Synopsis

Between Chinas is about two strangers and their feisty disagreement over what sort of a statue should grace the national park. It was inspired by an actual proposal by Hong Kong’s Wan Chai Council to replace a statue of King George VI in the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens by a statue of Dr Sun Yat-sen after the handover of the British Colony to the Chinese government.

About the Playwright

Pek Siok Lian is an award-winning journalist with a distinguished career in television news and current affairs. The first Singaporean Anchor hired by CNN, Pek fronted all of their flagship Asian programs such as News Biz Today, Bizasia, Asia Business Morning, Asia Tonight and her own show, E-Bizasia, the network’s first regional technology program. Pek also developed and successfully launched E-Bizasia as well as the network’s first three-hour regional news cycle, Asia Business Morning. She has reported extensively around the region for CNN, producing and presenting numerous special feature programs from China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

Prior to CNN, Pek was Anchor/Correspondent with Bloomberg Television and bureau head for its Singapore broadcast operations, responsible for Bloomberg Radio and TV publicity and syndication. Pek began her broadcast career in Singapore after winning a scholarship from Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, now Media Corp. As the corporation’s Business Editor, she conceptualized and successfully launched its first daily business news bulletin in 1996 and anchored a slew of programs including Moneymind, News 5 Tonight and Business Day. She has also filed reports for the BBC World Service Radio, Public Radio International, WGBH Boston and the Singapore Straits Times. In 2001, she was named Best Current Affairs Presenter at the Asian Television Awards for her work at CNN. She was also runner-up for Best News Presenter at the 1996 Asian Television Awards for her work in TCS.

Pek has also written and directed for the stage, working with one of Singapore’s foremost theater companies, Action Theater where she was Associate Artistic Director. Her play, Mail Order Brides and Other Oriental Takeaways made the Best Attended list at the 1998 New York Drama Festival Fringe. Her other plays include: Between Chinas – a piece about the Chinese Diaspora due out in January 2005; The Mad Sport of Zeng, and a devised piece The Lift. Sayonara Changi is her first documentary film.

Pek graduated with an Honors degree in English Literature from the National University of Singapore and a Masters in Theater Arts from Goldsmith’s College, University of London.

Conversation with the playwright

1. What is your play about?

The play is about two strangers who run into each other at the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens and have a feisty disagreement over what sort of statue should grace the park. Its inspired by an actual proposal by Hong Kong’s Wan Chai Council to replace a statue of King George VI (the father of the present Queen Elizabeth) installed in the park some 50 years ago to mark the centenary of Hong Kong as a British colony with a statue of Sun Yat-sen, China’s nationalist hero.

2. Why did you decide to write this play?

When I first moved to Hong Kong, I felt caught ‘between Chinas.’ There I was: a Chinese Singaporean in a Cantonese Hong Kong that was trying more and more to be part of Mainland China. Not only was I adjusting to Hong Kong, Hong Kong was also feeling slightly uneasy in its own skin. It struck me then that while East-West differences have been talked about ad nauseam, the gaps between people from the same race are just as huge, just not as obvious. Sometimes, the only thing we have in common is the food.

3. What are the issues/themes that you want to explore with it?

Between Chinas is a play about Chinese identity and what it means to be Chinese today. As the title suggests, there is no one homogenous Chinese identity given the Diaspora and now increasing globalisation. The play is an attempt to explore the subtleties of identity.

4. When you think of HK, you think of…

…people decompressing at Lan Kwai Fong after a hard day’s work.

5. The hardest thing to leave behind when leaving Singapore for HK was…

…my family.

6. The hardest thing to leave behind when leaving HK for Singapore was…

…my friends.

7. you wish Singaporeans would be…

…kinder to themselves. Work hard but play a little more.

8. You wish Hong Kong people would be…

…more open to cultural diversity.


The cast of Between Chinas

Conversation with Brendon Fernandez



Brendon has appeared in Bent (Toy Factory), Comrade Mayor (TheatreWorks), Asian Boys Vol2 (Wild Rice) and Rent (SRT). His television credits include Perceptions, The Singapore Short Story Project and Spin. He is currently working on a Raintree movie, One Last Dance starring opposite Hong Kong actor Francis Ng.

1. Being an Eurasian, how does it help you in understanding and playing the role of American-born Chinese?

My own personal situation is very different. If I had to draw a similarity, it would be in the hybrid nature of both James’ identity and mine. However, James has chosen 1 identity over another, whereas I am most comfortable in the fluidness of mine.

2. What does the play mean to you?

It is the search for absolute truths in a world severely lacking in them.

3. How do you define yourself? Chinese Singaporean? Singaporean Chinese? Why?

Singaporean. I’ve got some Chinese blood, some Portuguese, some Irish and who knows what else. But culturally, psychologically and spiritually, I’m Singaporean.

4. What does being Singaporean mean to you?

It’s hard to define it. But you know it when you see it.

Conversation with Gerald Chew

Playing the other role in Between Chinas is well-known stage and TV actor Gerald Chew. In 2004 he was very active in theatre – performing the role of Ben in the Dumb Waiter (Luna-id); Murray in The Odd Couple (SRT), Don in Kiss Me Like You Mean It (Escape Productions) and Dr Boyle in Prelude To A Kiss (ACTION Theatre).

1. Being born and bred in Singapore, how do you prepare for playing the role of Hong Kong citizen?

Actually, there are certain similarities – being an ex-colony, being Chinese etc. But I feel that the Real Hong Kong is more of an elusive one than the popular images – so following the trajectory of the play itself and taking my cues from it – I try to get a feel from films & music. I think Ann Hui’s movies get close – and a whole mix of these genres and styles. The mordern Chinese identity is complex – not traditional but still conservative, ultra mordern and urban and motivated by money; but with this huge weight of historical precedent behind it.

2. What does the play mean to you?

It illustrates how difficult it is to pin down something like identity and should we even try… life is there as we live and create it – I think there are labels we use to cope with the ever-changing nature of life.

3. How do you define yourself? Chinese Singaporean? Singaporean Chinese? Why?

Singaporean Chinese because I don’t know how to be any other type of Chinese.

4. What does being Singaporean mean to you?

Half-half of everything…East & West… Old & New…. Trying to hang on to the past whilst hurrying at full speed towards the future.

To read about other play featured in Roman Tam & The 3 Bears, click here.


Roman Tam & The 3 Bears | Between Chinas | Everything But The Brain | Ticketing Info | Book Now