Welcome to MEDEA
The journey to this moment where we now share in The Substation Theatre has been a relentless one. It began 18 month’s ago in a room upstairs with me trying to put to words, and question, why theatre matters.
That question brought me to Bangkok to meet Tua Pradit Prasartthong, who showed me that the biggest of hearts can create beautiful theatre even with the smallest of resources. It brought me to Hong Kong, where Danny Yung showed me that a well-posed question has better mileage than any answer. At home, it showed me the relentless hope of many of us theatre makers-in spite of numerous betrayals-for that one meaningful moment when what we do speaks of something greater than our past and present.
It brought me to MEDEA.
The process of MEDEA under the Lab allowed me the chance to revisit some rehearsal processes that defined me as an actor. Christina Sergeant’s firm practice; Jeremiah Choy’s care for the sacred; Alvin Tan’s precise analyses; Jonathan Lim’s love for words; and many more. If my task under the Lab was to create a new directorial process, I think I have failed. I cannot create in a vacuum. My work links my past to my present to speak of my future.
We are working in an industry where tasks are increasingly being specialized to meet growing demands of an ever-changing society. With that comes isolation. We can’t create culture in isolation. For that, I am immensely grateful for the numerous individuals who have been generous with their time and craft. Without them, the process of staging MEDEA would have been impossible, or worse, for me only.
Thank you to my family and A; my mentors under the Directors’ Lab Jeremiah Choy, Tua Pradit Prasartthong, Alvin Tan, and Danny Yung; the creatives, crew and collaborators for their generosity; The Substation team; thank you Faizal Abdullah; Isabella Chiam, Hang Qian Chou, Elizabeth Loh and Audrey Luo for being the first actors to take the risk of working with me; and members of the theatre community for your support.
So here we are now. Thank you for coming and supporting new work, and for having hope.
This is MEDEA.
Yours,
Tan Shou Chen
Sept 26, 2014
For MEDEA, staged at The Substation Theatre, 26-27 September 2014
Tan Shou Chen 