清 Qing is a theatre of memory, reimagining the stories implicated in the Sook Ching massacre during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. Devised using a range of primary historical documents, 清 Qing moves away from black and white stories told through the national narrative to recognize the intersection of individual experiences. We hope to subvert the nationalist discourse of history by presenting a ritual of memory. Present multimedia expressions are arrested by rituals of memorializing. As such, we don’t expect a suspension of disbelief for actors aren’t attempting to be characters, but to grapple with history as actors in the process of acting.
Our team envisioned for the set design to highlight the performative aspect of remembering past events. We made obvious the artificiality of the set through adopting an unembellished aesthetic, and having the actors move the set pieces while fully lit onstage. Hence, set pieces looked like set pieces rather than an illusion of another world or time in history.
Art Direction & Set Design: Zhiwen Yap, Natalie Tan, David Chia
Curators: Rachel Lim Wan Shuen, Anisha Charan, Mariel Chee
Multimedia: Janel Ang
Photography: Aleithia Low
Curators: Rachel Lim Wan Shuen, Anisha Charan, Mariel Chee
Multimedia: Janel Ang
Photography: Aleithia Low
The simplicity of each set piece allowed for a range of uses and modes of interaction with the actors in different scenes. Inspired by the large central urn in Japanese temples, the square basin filled with rice was simultaneously an urn, a dining table, a bench, etc.
Inspired by Japanese interior architecture, we designed wooden panels with grid-like forms. These versatile, mobile panels helped parition the space in different ways, altering the dynamics between characters and the spaces they inhabit between scenes. The 3x3 grid lined with scrims also served as a screen for multimedia projection.
