ivle

6:51 p.m. 2004-04-28 taken from ivle the silly little girl and the funny old tree

1) What is the video clip on the old man crossing the road all about?
Answ: He's not only crossing the road but in the process is also going against traffic, against the flow of things, probably against all things modern. You can see him as those people out there - plenty of them, if you ask me - who are overwhelmed with how fast we're moving today and are still trying to come to terms with it.

2) What were those figures doing in the beginning (and the end) of the play?
No, they were not having fits. Its from a Japanese dance form called butoh and this particular move signifies the growth of a plant emerging from the ground until fully grown.

3) Why did the actress take 10 minutes to walk across the stage?
I think she took less than 10 minutes on both nights of the performance. She was clocking 10 minutes during rehearsals! Really, the walk embodies everything about her obsession with the tree and the relationship between them. Its a move from butoh, again, where the emotions and thoughts of the characters are all brought out through the walk. Think along this line: By not moving, everything moves. The changing of lights to represent sunrise to sunset help tell time. Its a bit like time-lapse photography.

4) Why do this play?
In memory of the late theatre legend Kuo Pao Kun who taught me in university. Another name was later added when I found out that Akiko Motofuji, wife of the founder of butoh, Tatsumi Hijikata, had died in October 2003. I had the honor of performing with Akiko Motofuji at the Esplanade in July 2003 when she visited Singapore.

5) Why such an empty stage?
(A) very strong Zen and Buddhist influence in the set design and overall concept of the piece. When a stage is bare, everything is possible. The mind will start to fill up that space. The moving lights placed upstage are a modern representation of the rock lanterns one sees in Japanese gardens. The consumerist society we live in encourages us to 'want' this 'want' that, to empower ourselves with objects of desire. On the flip side, we can strive to ask ourselves what we don't want and to live with only what we need.

6) What's with putting the girl in a box?
You could say it represents an asylum. You could also say it's about trying to put things in order because the little girl, in the eyes of society, is a kind of deviant.

7) What are those jumping people dressed in white? Are they monkeys?
Call them what you want. They are usually known to many as "highflyers" hence they don't walk but "fly".

8) What's with 1971?
That's the year we were committed to making this island a 'Garden City', the year we started Tree Planting Day every first Sunday of November.

9) What happened to the girl? So the tree was cut down?
Its inadvertible the old tree has to go although many would sympathise with it. Coming and going are just cycles in life. The funny old tree may actually be a stubborn old tree, one who resisted change and ultimately paying the price by being rendered obsolete by society.

done by Mr Gary Tang