Metamorphosis: “Modernity” on Stage – The Formation of the Chinese Spoken Drama in Singapore (1913–1937)

Abstract

A young nation with only half-century’s history, Singapore has in fact bred a Chinese spoken drama at the beginning of the twentieth century, a genre bearing the same title of spoken drama as in its source country of China, from the latter of which it was introduced and influenced. The research investigates into the original route of how such a new staging form has been distinctively brought out as a Chinese-speaking spoken drama of its own in the process of modernity upon its birth and formation at this multilingual and multicultural society in Southeast Asia.

This article is one of the chapters from the author’s manuscripts of SINGAPORE STAGE (working title), a research started at the International Research Centre of Interweaving Cultures in Performance at Free University Berlin, Germany, where the author worked as a resident research fellow (2009–2010) for the project, which was initiated and led by Prof. Dr. Erika Fischer-Lichte and commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Science and Education of Germany. This paper was first delivered at the International Conference of Asian Theatre Research Working Group (IFTR) initiated and led by Prof. Yasushi Nagata at Osaka University, Japan, in March 2014; to the both of whom, the author wishes to express his sincere and immense gratitude for their support to have made the final publication of this entry possible.