Loo An Ni

[Interview] Creatives shed light on ‘The Puppets are Alright’ by The Finger Players

/ Isaac Tan / 1 Comment

The Puppets are Alright is a triple-bill of puppetry-led works which features the puppets by the participants of The Maker’s Lab: Sim Xin Feng (2020), Loo An Ni (2021), and Marilyn Ang (2022).

At the end of The Maker’s Lab, a production is created around the featured puppet. The Puppets are Alright serves as a culmination of the past three iterations of The Maker’s Lab, in which the puppets are featured in new plays.

This is borne out of the concerns of The Finger Players (TFP) as they explore ways in which sustainability can be incorporated into the practice of puppetry.

Following my interview with Ellison Tan and Myra Loke, co-artistic directors of TFP, I spoke to the creatives behind the triple-bill to find out more about each piece.

The Bench

On a bench, Paul and his father tell each other stories, disregard their unhappiness
with reckless abandon, and allow their souls to be healed by each other. But as time
goes by, there is an acknowledgement—that nobody can save your soul if you won’t
save your own, and if only Paul knew, that his father would stop at nothing to save his.

THE BENCH features the latest puppet exploration of Marilyn Ang, selected maker
of The Maker’s Lab Cycle 2022/2023.

Playwright: Ellison Tan
Director: Myra Loke
Puppet Designer & Maker: Marilyn Ang
Performers / Puppeteers: Ian Tan, T. Sasitharan

Did you write the play specifically around the puppet? If so, what aspects of the puppet inspired you?

Ellison Tan: For this iteration of The Maker’s Lab, Myra and myself were involved in the process much earlier than before, and what we did was to support the selected maker’s curiosities. 

Marilyn Ang was interested in sound tactility (hence the Playtron exploration), and experimented on a few textures based on emotions. Eventually, she settled on sound tactility as well as soap as a texture, which eventually evolved to be represented by bubbles, and so I wrote a play that could house these two concepts. 

Myra Loke: When Marilyn was exploring different tactile experiences (e.g., using ice, wax, charcoal, etc.), I was captivated by the ephemerality of the bubbles. It is so light, almost weightless, but when it burst in my palm, my heart stopped a bit. How could something so light evoke such a deep and heavy emotion in me? This feeling inspired my approach to the story, and the development of the puppets with Marilyn and Daniel Sim. 

Were there any unique challenges in writing a play with a puppet as a character?

Ellison Tan: I don’t think it’s a unique challenge because it feels quite universal—can this story be told only with puppetry elements? There are infinite possibilities in staging a story, so the challenge then becomes how can I write something that presents this puppet as crucial to the story, and not as an afterthought? It was also absolutely essential for the possibilities of the puppet to be illustrated to its fullest potential.

Were there any interesting insights or discoveries during the rehearsal process?

T. Sasitharan: Acting with puppets and puppeteers requires multiple imaginations to be working simultaneously. I, as actor, must instantaneously “translate” the actions of the puppet into the actions of the baby, while respond to the “baby” in my arms as a puppet at the same time. It’s like being on a high-wire without a net; intensely scary and exciting. It’s the first time I’m experiencing this as an actor.

Has witnessing your creation being used in a different context made you look at your puppet anew? Did you gain any new insights in the puppet-making process as you watch the performers work with your creation? 

Marilyn Ang: As this is my first time leading the puppet design and build of a show, I’ve learnt about what goes into the process of designing puppets and allowing my build to move along with the needs of the director and performers. As an assistant maker for the past two iterations of The Maker’s Lab, it allowed me to learn some of the processes and skills needed to understand the ways a puppet can be made. This helped in problem-solving when it came to designing and making the puppets for “The Bench”.

Sometimes in the process of making something, I get a little frustrated, but when I finally see the puppet in the rehearsal with the puppeteer, It feels exhilarating to see the performers give life to an otherwise static object. My role as a puppet designer would only be as good as a puppeteer makes of the puppet.

Parting

A relationship has run its course and a man sits at his desk to finalize a separation.

Inspired by Director and Playwright Oliver Chong’s first production (I’m Just a Piano
Teacher) at The Finger Players, PARTING is a high octane piece that features
cleavers, limbs, granny panties and sheer fury.

PARTING is a collaboration between Oliver Chong and Loo An Ni, and is an
extension of Loo An Ni’s journey in The Maker’s Lab Cycle 2021/2022. Witness
Oliver re-imagine An Ni’s puppet in this short, swift and bloody piece.

Playwright & Director: Oliver Chong
Puppet Designer & Maker: Loo An Ni
Performers / Puppeteers: Alvin Chiam, Angelina Chandra, Jo Kwek, Rachel Nip

Did you write the play specifically around the puppet? If so, what aspects of the puppet inspired you?

Oliver Chong: Yes. I was inspired by the body parts of the puppet which are easily detachable and interchangeable.

Were there any unique challenges in writing a play with a puppet as a character?

Oliver Chong: In this case, the challenge is in showcasing the unique qualities of the puppet. The play has to justify these qualities in such a way that the puppet has been specifically created for the narrative. Otherwise, it is about justifying why the character must be played by a puppet and not a human actor.

Has witnessing your creation being used in a different context made you look at your puppet anew?

Loo An Ni: A different puppet was created for “Parting” using the modular system of bones and joints developed during my time with The Maker’s Lab. It was thrilling to be able to apply the system in another context, and further test the concept of modularity.

 

My Father the AI Machine

She clings on to her dead husband’s memories, lovingly preserved in an electronic shell
of him in her house. He lives on in a fictional world that she tenderly and tirelessly
recreates, while their son is caught in between, unable to move on. In a near future
when one can preserve the dead as an AI machine, would you do it, and at what price?

MY FATHER THE AI MACHINE brings back the puppet created by Sim Xin Feng,
selected maker of The Maker’s Lab Cycle 2020/2021.

Playwright: Chong Tze Chien
Director: Liew Jia Yi
Puppet Designer & Maker: Sim Xin Feng
Performers / Puppeteers: Doreen Toh, Neo Hai Bin

Did you write the play specifically around the puppet? If so, what aspects of the puppet inspired you?

Chong Tze Chien: I wrote the play as a response to Chiam (the name of the puppet built by Xin Feng), specifically its earlier incarnation as a puppet developed under The Maker’s Lab, which Xin Feng conceptualised and crafted over a year.

I was intrigued by my impression of that relationship between the maker and the created, and the co-dependency and embryonic bond between the two. Using that as a running theme, I created a parallel story between a mother who crafts a narrative around a construct, as a puppeteer or puppet-maker would with her creation. To the puppet-maker and mother character in the play, their creation is as real as a human being.

What were some challenges in creating this piece?

Liew Jia Yi: I am usually a more “micro” person, so one challenge was to keep reminding myself to step back, see the big picture, and envision how the different design elements come together cohesively to tell the story. Thankfully, I have a very good mentor and team who keep me on track and ask good questions to shape the show more clearly.

Were there any interesting insights or discoveries during the rehearsal process?

Liew Jia Yi: One discovery was that the future I would like to paint for AI machine is not so much of a dystopian state, but rather a very possible future where the people are offered more high-tech options that can interfere with what was typically impossible (e.g., time travel, space travel, reversing death, reversing environmental damage, etc.). So in a way, it is quite hopeful and exciting.

Of course, there would be other possibly negative “symptoms” such as greater income gap, inflation, older retirement age, wars happening elsewhere in the world, etc.

But in this piece, I would like to focus more on how the layman (i.e., the two characters) position themselves in such a world, and how they deal with death when choices such as the Revive the Dead Programme become possible (in the play, advancement in medical science has made memory transference of the dead to machines possible).

Doreen Toh: This is my first experience acting with a puppet. Other than having to find ways to adapt to him, the most important thing is just to be there to listen to him. As a puppet, he supposedly cannot give and take spontaneously like a human actor, but as the days go by, I can sense his response and the connection between us.

Neo Hai Bin: Working with the puppet, and by the puppet, brings back fond childhood memories of playing with toys. I love how puppets (re-)kindle our sense of imagination.

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[Theatre Review] No Disaster on This Land by The Finger Players — What disaster? What land?

/ Isaac Tan / Leave a comment

Hairi Cromo as Table Boy and Vanessa Toh as Debris Girl / Photo: Tuckys Photography

No Disaster on This Land

The Finger Players

25 February 2022

Drama Centre Black Box

24–27 February 2022

In its bid to place the process of puppetry construction at the forefront, The Finger Players decided to create No Disaster on This Land around the puppets crafted by Loo An Ni during her stint with The Maker’s Lab. 

The production is helmed by the co-artistic directors of the company as Myra Loke directs, while Ellison Tan came up with the general narrative through a workshopping process.

The two puppets featured are Table Boy and Debris Girl. Loo wanted to work on exoskeletons and a modular system which would allow one to easily make modifications to a base structure. This prevents wastage from creating a completely new puppet for every show. 

Both puppets have an exoskeleton with aluminium extensions. For Table Boy, different table legs are attached all along the extensions. For Debris Girl, intimations of flesh and concrete pieces are placed along the extensions. 

In the show, these two characters are placed in an apocalyptic scene with concrete bricks and a backdrop of a partial grid wall, as we see how they interact.

The information above was mostly gleaned from the digital programme booklet. The information that we should be getting from watching the production, however, is fuzzy. 

Who are the characters? What sort of world do they inhabit? Why are they there? These questions are hardly answered as we see two characters tentatively existing in the same space. 

Beyond the initial encounter, as the characters suss each other out, it is difficult to make out the dynamics of the relationship. What are they disagreeing about? How are these conflicts actually resolved? How did they fall in love? (I only know they fall in love because the synopsis mentions a “love story”.)

A love story? But how did it develop? / Photo: Tuckys Photography

What about the puppets themselves? Do we ignore the human puppeteers and take the built structure as characters? Or are the structures extensions of the puppeteers, and both man and mechanics form a creature?

Given the skeletal nature of the puppets, it would seem that the latter is the case. But what sort of creatures are they? What do the extensions do? Are they hands or do they have some sort of magical power? 

In terms of actual movements, the extensions are used to move the concrete bricks perfunctorily as the puppeteers still use their hands when not manipulating the extensions. 

To make matters worse, the general rigidity of straight aluminium rods for the extensions meant that there is a limit to what the puppeteers could do with them. In manipulating Table Boy, Hairi Cromo carries the structure like a shell. And the extension occasionally gets in the way of Vanessa Toh’s movement work as Debris Girl—she has to figure out how to tuck it away when she is on the floor. 

All these limitations mean that whatever metaphors or concepts that the show is trying to convey are not articulated clearly. For example, a baby doll and a cradle feature quite strongly in the show. Do they symbolise birth, rebirth, or a literal baby?

Despite all the flaws, there are a couple of lovely moments.

Lovely moments emanating from the anguish of Table Boy / Photo: Tuckys Photography

When we are first introduced to Table Boy we see Hairi Cromo seemingly struggling against the structure placed upon him. Despite the black box being a rather small space, the intensity of his physicality, coupled with the garish strains of the electric guitar and the distortion of Hairi’s voice provided by Ctrl Fre@k, amplifies the struggle to tectonic proportions.

In another moment of anguish later in the show, Hairi rears his puppet up like a pair of wings, and the table legs attached look as if they are floating above him. This seems to suggest a certain sense of implosion or disintegration. 

Unfortunately, those moments could not save the show that is vague in its intent and story-telling.

Further Reading

Interview with director, Myra Loke

Interview with Loo An Ni

[Interview] Director Myra Loke on Creating ‘No Disaster on this Land’ Around the Puppets

/ Isaac Tan / 1 Comment

Following last week’s interview with Loo An Ni about her experiences in designing and creating puppets during her stint at The Maker’s Lab 2021, I was interested in finding out more about No Disaster on This Land, a non-verbal performance that features Loo’s puppets.

What makes this production different from most puppet shows is its workflow. As the main focus of The Maker’s Lab is to nurture designers and makers of puppets, the production was created around the puppets created by Loo. This gives her the freedom to explore and experiment rather than worry about abiding by a pre-determined brief.

No Disaster on This Land 无灾难岛屿
There is no disaster on this land but it is the end of time. The body is defiled. Debris Girl meets Table Boy. In their hands, an effortful tug, an accident of air, a love story that ends with death.

To find out more about the show, I spoke to Director Myra Loke, who is also the co-artistic director of The Finger Players.

Puppetry has been part of The Finger Players’ DNA since the inception of the company. In your opinion, what is it about puppets that captures our imagination?

Puppets can be anything and everything. They can be so close to life that you can’t help but relate to them. At the same time, they are not bound by gravity, physics, logic, and social expectations.

This constant flux between reality and fantasy brings audiences to a level where you simply don’t wish to or can’t rationalize what you are seeing and feeling. And you ultimately just give in to your imagination and intuition. 

Puppeteer Vanessa Toh testing a prototype of the puppet used in the show / Photo: The Finger Players

As No Disaster on this Land is created around the puppets by Loo An Ni, what were your first impressions of the puppets?

The primary material used is metal and we often relate that material to a cold and distanced feeling. However, the movements from the puppets were fluid and transformative, contrasting with what your brain tells you. It was as if I’m watching blobs in a lava lamp morphing into different shapes and images.

As there is no dialogue in the show, how was the general plot of the show conceived?

Oftentimes, we start with a script and the puppet design comes after to complement the story. But as part of The Maker’s Lab, we were interested in the reverse—to discover how a story can be inspired from the puppet design instead.

So at the start of the process, Ellison Tan and I met with An Ni monthly to understand her thought process and creative impulses. Then we moved on to a phase where we had a series of jamming sessions with An Ni and the puppeteers to develop characters or explore possibilities of a narrative. With the devised content, Ellison would piece them together into a script that is inspired and informed by the puppet design and the jamming sessions. 

Puppeteer Hairi Cromo testing the makeshift handles of the prototype / Photo: The Finger Players

Could you describe the rehearsal process? What were some of the challenges? Were there any interesting moments that left an impression?

The puppet design and its manipulation method developed by An Ni are quite new to us. We were quite lucky that we had jamming sessions in the pre-rehearsal phase to give the puppeteers more time to be familiar with the puppets. This is so that we can concentrate on creating the physical score and visuals in rehearsals.

As this is a non-verbal performance, words are no longer the source of information. A huge challenge is to create imagery that is indicative enough for the audience to follow the journey or thought process of the characters. Yet, it must still be imaginative and leave some space for interpretation.

That involves a lot of trial and error in rehearsals, and it can sometimes be quite frustrating whenever we can’t “nail down” a scene. When that happens, I try to tell myself to be patient and there is no need to create everything at one go. This is something that I learnt through my journey of creating non-verbal performances.

Now, whenever I start a rehearsal process, I would pre-empt the performers and stage management team that there will be a lot of repetition, and that we may find ourselves feeling frustrated, and that is ok. 

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No Disaster on This Land runs from 24-27 February 2022 at Drama Centre Black Box.

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Sustainability in Puppetry: An Interview with Loo An Ni

/ Isaac Tan / 4 Comments

The Maker’s Project is a series of events that serve as the culmination of The Maker’s Lab by The Finger Players. The Maker’s Lab is an initiative that seeks to grow and nurture designers and makers of puppets and objects.

In a span of nine months, the maker will conceptualise, prototype, and research puppet design for performance.

The theme for the second iteration of The Maker’s Lab is Puppetry and Sustainability, which touches on the longevity of the puppet, generating less waste in the construction process, and renewing the afterlives of the puppets after the performance.

One of the main events of The Maker’s Project is a non-verbal production, No Disaster on This Land. This production is created in response to the puppets developed by Loo An Ni, the maker for The Maker’s Lab 2021.

I spoke to Loo An Ni to find out more about her experiences in The Maker’s Lab as well as her processes in creating the puppets.

Loo An Ni, Maker for The Maker’s Lab 2021 / Photo: The Finger Players

What made you decide to join The Maker’s Lab? Could you briefly describe your experiences in the programme?

I wanted to have the opportunity to examine and develop ideas that have been floating around in my mind for quite some time. As there were many components to the puppets, there were a lot of testing and trialling of ideas as I try to improve a different aspect of the make or design each time.

Loo was interested in exploring exoskeletons / Courtesy of The Finger Players

How did you go about creating the puppets? Did you have a character in mind at first?

I started with the puppet structure and explored different movements each puppet structure allowed. The script and the characters emerged from there.

Puppeteer Hairi Cromo testing out the puppet structure / Photo: The Finger Players

As the theme for this cycle of The Maker’s Lab focuses on sustainability, what are some of the features of your puppets that speak to that?

I approached the theme of sustainability both in the creation process and in terms of performance. I developed a modular puppet structure that will allow us to devise different structure variations using the modular parts. This means that the puppet can be reconfigured for different shows.

I also developed a supportive harness with the aim of reducing the stress on puppeteers’ bodies when working with large puppets.

Loo An Ni (centre) working closely with puppetry consultant, Oliver Chong (left), and physiotherapist, Choong Li Sann (right) / Photo: The Finger Players

How has your experience with The Maker’s Lab inform the other roles you play in the arts scene such as wardrobe or design and construction?

While the other roles that I play such as costumes design and props and puppet design are different, I find myself leaning towards working with textiles. In The Maker’s Lab, I had the chance to apply the use of textiles once again in a very different manner; for long-term use instead of single use.

As a culmination to the project, a production, No Disaster on This Land, is created in response to the puppets you have created. Could you describe your involvement in the production?

I designed and made the puppet structures, of which the production emerged from. Subsequently I designed and made the puppets for the show. 

Further Reading

The Maker’s Lab Journal

Catch It!

No Disaster on This Land runs from 24-27 February 2022 at Drama Centre Black Box.

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[Theatre Review] First Fleet – A Boatload of Artful Ingenuity

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Photo: Bernie Ng

First Fleet 《第一舰队》
Nine Years Theatre
21 July 2019, 3 p.m.
Far East Organisation Auditorium, Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
18‒21 July 2019

Those who are familiar with Nine Years Theatre’s repertoire might be surprised by director-writer Nelson Chia’s decision to write an original Mandarin script inspired by Thomas Keneally’s novel, The Playmaker (1987), and the subsequent play based on the novel by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Our Country’s Good (1988).

With both works appearing in the late 1980s to a limited reach, they could hardly be considered classics. However, Chia’s literary script and masterful direction truly makes a case for it to be considered so.

First Fleet revolves around the voyage taken by the first batch of British convicts and their accompanying officers to Australia to set up a penal colony. Governor Arthur Philip (Hang Qian Chou) tasks Lieutenant Ralph Clark (Timothy Wan) to rehearse a play with the convicts as a form of rehabilitation, to the sneering disapproval of Major Robert Ross (Mia Chee). Also wading into the debate are Father Richard Johnson (Jodi Chan), Dr John White (Shu Yi Ching), and Judge David Collins (Neo Hai Bin).

For a country that prides itself on the Magna Carta and how Britannia ruled the waves, First Fleet is a searing indictment on the seeming values and accomplishments that our former colonial masters hold dear.

Throughout the course of the play we see the officers debate the merits of punishment and rehabilitation; find out the backstory of the various convicts, which is a critique of the bluntness and corruptibility of the justice system (one sees poignant parallels to Edith Podesta’s Dark Room); see the potential of theatre espoused within the plot and staging; and receive a valuable acting masterclass.

Chia not only manages to fit all these themes into the show, he boldly exercises some artistic licence to reiterate his stance as an artist, while enhancing the audience’s experience of the show.

He departs from the original text by having the convicts rehearse Moliere’s Tartuffe. This is not merely a cheeky nod to the company’s production in 2015. Rather, this allows Chia to have one of the convicts, Lady Anne Sheldon, ask why they are presenting a French play when they are English—a common query that Chia faces himself whenever he stages a translation of a classic foreign play. In the show, Lieutenant Clark speaks about empathy and the value in the message of the play, regardless of provenance.   

Additionally, the fact Tartuffe is a comedic farce lends itself easily to the actors presenting a highly stylised acting. This is not only paves the way for Lieutenant Clark to coach his actors on naturalistic acting, in which characters act on inner motivations, it also provides comic interludes for the audience to take a breather from the darker themes in the show.

Whether you are viewing the show from port, starboard, bow, or stern, there is a stunning level of attention to every detail in the show.

Photo: The Pond Photography

Undoubtedly, First Fleet is incredibly demanding on the ensemble. Not only do they have to double up as the convicts,—the blind witch, Liz Abraham (Mia Chee); the man who avenged his brother, Henry Mason (Hang Qian Chou); the hangman, William Paterson (Neo Hai Bin); the aristocrat, Lady Anne Sheldon (Jodi Chan); and the maid, Mary Beckman (Shu Yi Ching)—they have to manoeuvre the sails and perform movement sequences as transitions. The nuances in the actors’ body are amazing to watch as they endow the sails and boxes with a certain amount of weight that is actually not there.

Kudos to Chia, in working with Lim Chin Huat (movement coach and set designer), to block movement sequences that adds visual interest and complement Lim’s nautical set design by creating the feeling of a rocking boat. Furthermore, the sudden tilt of the kerosene lamps that were attached to metal poles, and suspended from the top, in conjunction with the movement of the actors’ bodies is nothing short of astounding sorcery.

There is also an additional layer of gestural language in which the actors signal their roles by rubbing their wrists or looking at their palms when they are playing convicts, or clench their fists and clutch their coats when playing the officers.

This is, and I actually mean this literally, layered on by Loo An Ni’s wonderful costumes as the skirts, vests, and capes of the convicts turn into military coats by inverting them. What puzzles me is how she manages to provide a strong structure to the shoulders of the military coats without any obvious bulges indicating the presence of shoulder pads when they are turned to skirts or capes. Sartorial enthusiasts will also appreciate her designs that are vaguely appropriate for the 18th century while having whimsical details that are quite fashion forward, such as the steel grey faux leather shoes with diagonal zips running across them.

Add other details such as Gabriel Chan’s lighting design that carves out the cramped space of the lower deck, and washing the stage with a tinge of light blue to create the expanse and coldness of the upper deck; Ng Jing’s inclusion of a didgeridoo as a base drone in the soundscape, while having percussive elements on top of it to create tension; the slight wave-like effect when the surtitles are flashed on the screen; and the serifed font to differentiate the text of the play that the convicts are rehearsing from the dialogues of the characters—we get an extravaganza of theatrical languages that is diverse as the Tower of Babel.

Rather than descending to utter chaos, Nelson Chia—by some miraculous means or sheer ingenuity—ties them all together and brings us on a theatrical voyage that I have not experienced in years.

Of course, one cannot review this show without speaking about the ending. My colleagues may have expressed surprise and delight, but they have done you, my gentle readers, a disservice for not relaying the full impact of the scene.

Unlike most audience members, I am familiar with the auditorium and went into the show fully aware that the audience is seated on the stage of the auditorium. I half-expected the rest of the auditorium to be revealed as it would be a missed opportunity otherwise. However, as the expected come to pass, and we see the sole kerosene lamp on a seat in the auditorium with constellations projected on the ceilings, it is breathtakingly beautiful. As the convicts go into the auditorium and clamber over the seats, there is something cinematic about that and the seats turn into the rocky terrain of New South Wales in an instant. I had to take a moment to catch my breath even as the lights went up and we are ushered out of the venue.

Fun fact: Had the stars aligned slightly differently, Nelson Chia would have been a naval officer. If Mr Chia promises similar experiences in the future, the Republic of Singapore Navy can definitely do without an officer. In fact, it is in the national interest that they do so. 

Other Reviews

“First Fleet more than another colonisation play” by Ong Sor Fen, The Straits Times Life! (Behind paywall)

航向希望的港口 ——观“第一舰队” by李连辉 , 剧读 (originally published in《联合早报》)
[Title Translation: Towards a Port of Hope—Watching First Fleet] by Li Lian Hui (pinyin transliteration), Lianhe Zaobao

“Doesn’t God dream of forgiving our sins?” by Idelle Yee, Centre 42 Citizens’ Review

“Review: First Fleet (第一舰队) by Nine Years Theatre” by Bak Chor Mee Boy

“Experience Meta-tea-trical Magic with First Fleet” by Cheryl Tan, Popspoken

“剧场与艺术的力量 —— 观《第一舰队》” by 张棋汶 , 剧读 
[Title Translation: The Power of Theatre and Art—Watching First Fleet] by Zhang Qi Wen (pinyin transliteration), Ju Du

“Looking away for clarity: ‘First Fleet’ by Nine Years Theatre” by Nabilah Said, Arts Equator