31 Mar – 2 Apr 2016 Thu – Sat, 8pm

Esplanade Theatre Studio

A Commission by The Studios

by Jean Ng and Joavien NgINTRUS IONS

Recalling the past can sometimes be a strange affair. It is often said that we are the sum of our memories, yet there are also moments when they betray us. Shaped by our emotions and experiences, our memories continue to multiply as we grow older. Some inevitably get lost along the way while others start to fade like faint visions flickering in the dark.

In bridging what is gone with what remains, the only way to preserve our memories is by sharing our knowledge and stories with others. Theatre allows us to excavate and reconstruct them, reflect on the past together as we learn more about one another and rediscover ourselves.

The Fiction of Memory is not just a recollection of stories, identities and time. It is an exercise in recreating shared memories as narratives—even though it is not always accurate. Here, life seeps into the mix, and as it does, it compels us to think about the future. In this space where imagination and reality meet, we explore what we could have been or can be.

So thank you for being here, where memory blurs into fiction and life into memory, where we retreat into our collective consciousness, if only for a moment.

Fezhah MaznanLead Programmerand The Studios team

The Fiction of Memory

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About Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Board Members

1 Esplanade Drive, Singapore 038981 Tel: 6828 8222 Fax: 6337 3633Customer Service Hotline: 6828 8377 SISTIC Hotline: 6348 5555

Esplanade’s Community Programmes are supported by Tote Board Family, comprising Tote Board, Singapore Pools and Singapore Turf Club.

Mr Lee Tzu Yang (Chairman) Mr Benson Puah (Chief Executive Officer)

Mrs Rosa Daniel Ms Kathy Lai

Mrs Christine Ong

Mr Ramlee Bin Buang Ms Saw Phaik Hwa

Mrs Mildred Tan-Sim Beng Mei

Mr Yap Chee Meng

Dr Ming TanMrs Valarie Wilson

Mr Andre YeapMr Kenny Powar

Esplanade is Singapore’s national performing arts centre and one of the busiest arts centres in the world. Since its opening in 2002, the centre has presented more than 31,000 performances, drawing an audience of 22 million patrons and 84 million visitors. This architectural icon, with its distinctive twin shells, houses world-class performance spaces complemented by a comprehensive range of professional support services. Its two main venues are the 1,600-seat Concert Hall and a Theatre with a capacity of 2,000. In March 2014, Esplanade’s Concert Hall was listed as one of the “world’s 15 most beautiful concert halls” by Hamburg-based building data company Emporis.

Esplanade’s vision is to be a performing arts centre for everyone and it seeks to enrich the lives of its community through the arts. The centre’s programming is guided by its mission – to entertain, engage, educate and inspire. Its year-long arts calendar of about 3,000 performances presented by Esplanade, its collaboration partners and hirers cater to diverse audiences in Singapore and span different cultures, languages and genres including dance, music, theatre, visual arts and more. More than 70% of the shows that take place each year at the centre are non-ticketed. In May 2015, Esplanade was chosen as one of SG Heart Map’s 50 special places.

Esplanade regularly presents world-renowned companies and artists that attract international attention and add to Singapore’s cultural vibrancy. The centre is also a popular performance home for arts groups and commercial presenters who hire its venues to stage a wide range of programmes. These carefully curated presentations complement Esplanade’s own diverse offerings for audiences.

Esplanade works in close partnership with local, regional and international artists to develop artistic capabilities, push artistic boundaries and engage audiences. The centre supports the creation of artistic content and develops technical capabilities for the industry nationally.

Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay is operated by The Esplanade Co Ltd, which is a not-for-profit organisation, a registered Charity and an Institution of a Public Character.

Visit www.esplanade.com for more information.

Dr Jennifer Lee

Esplanade is a proud member of

Association of Asia Pacific Performing Art Centreswww.aappac.net

All rights reserved. UEN: 199205206G Information correct at time of print.Please note that photographs and videos of patrons may be taken at this event for use in our archival and publicity material.

This work, perhaps more than any other I have done, needs to exist without my framing or explaining it. I do hope though, that we engage and move you enough for your imagination to take away what it so desires. I hope too that our dreams, whether sleeping or waking, dark or bright, painful or pleasurable, translate to all that is beautiful, life-giving, liberating and spacious. Because we know that there are dreams that destroy and kill.

– Jean Ng

Since I was a little child, I have been fascinated by my often illogical and irrational dreams.

These days, I still wake up and spend the rest of the day thinking over and again about that very special dream I had the morning before. Sometimes it is comforting, sometimes disturbing and haunting. Dreams have always been intriguing and precious to me, even though I know very well that these other worlds of reality will eventually evaporate like dewdrops.

I feel that I do not give my dreams enough respect, as I dismiss them altogether as nonsensical and ridiculous. I feel embarrassed telling others my dreams. I mean, it is awkward to tell someone, “I dreamt of you last night, but you were a purple vacuum cleaner…”

Some cultures believe that dreams are channels where the other universe communicates. I see dreams as our subconscious mind speaking, a reflection of our lives, thoughts and emotions, albeit in the most unexplainable and strangest fashion, which we slowly and meticulously decipher. I am glad Intrusions dives into this risky and obscure fantasy, a world that is never to be fully comprehended.

– Joavien Ng

Created & Performed by Jean Ng & Joavien Ng

Sound Designer Sergio Cardoso

Lighting DesignerSuven Chan

Set DesignerBernice Ong

Production/Stage ManagerNeo Kim Seng

Assistant Stage ManagerDavid Li

Publicity Photographywww.lemonnierfoto.com - Vasco Emidio

This production was created in residency at Esplanade – Theatres on The Bay, Singapore, ACCCA - Companhia Clara Andermatt, www.clara-andermatt.com, Lisbon, Portugal and QUINTA DAS CERCAS, Monchique, Portugal.

“Intrusions by Jean Ng & Joavien Ng” was commissioned by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore for The Studios

Special Thanks To:Sharon TangCake Theatrical ProductionsOrlando CardosoJudite CardosoAudio Resources Pte LtdRobin Village Development Pte LtdMAX.TAN Yuan Zhiying

A dream world where logic and reason do not exist.Moral-less, rule-less, borderless and timeless.Intrusions summoned, intrusions uninvited.A collective journey, alone.

Our dreams lie in a world beyond common sense, beyond morality, beyond objectivity. They are rich, powerful, sensual, mysterious, disturbing, tragic, hilarious—a sort of madness.

Are they revelations of the past or tellers of the future? Are they the unconscious trapped in slumber, screaming to be heard? Or are they mere accidental side effects of random neural impulses?

Intrusions is an exciting collaboration between Jean Ng and Joavien Ng who bring to the work their rich backgrounds in theatre and dance.

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JEAN NG

Trained at the Jacques Lecoq Theatre School in Paris, Jean Ng is an actor, director and educator. Apart from her work with professional theatre companies, she is passionately involved in community theatre projects such as Theatre for Seniors and groups with special needs.

JOAVIEN NG

Joavien Ng is an independent choreographer from Singapore. Her works have been presented locally and internationally by TheatreWorks (Singapore), Esplanade – Theatres On The Bay (Singapore), Alkantara (Portugal), Singapore Arts Festival and Kampnagel (Hamburg).

Her most recent work Incarnation Of The Beast, produced by TheatreWorks, premiered in October 2015. Other works include a LIFE performance (2012); LAB (2008); Body Inquire (2008); The Diary of Alice with Paloma Calle, Madrid (2011); and Body Swap with Dani Brown, Hamburg (2009).

www.joavienng.com

SERGIO CARDOSO

Sergio Cardoso was born in Portugal. Since the late ’90s, he has been working as a sound technician in Lisbon for live music shows. He is also a professional DJ and has played in clubs and other events.

He started to work with theatre and contemporary dance companies in 2004. In the last few years, he was involved in audio production and sound design for performances and installations. In May 2012, he designed Joavien Ng’s a LIFE performance, commissioned by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.

SUVEN CHAN

Suven Chan graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and came to Singapore in 1990 to join The Substation as its technical manager. She then worked in different commercial companies and returned to theatre in 1998 as a freelance lighting designer. She has worked with major theatre companies in Singapore.

Suven now teaches part-time and still designs for different theatre companies. She was the lighting designer for the 8th ASEAN Para Games Opening Ceremony held in Singapore in December 2015.

BERNICE ONG

Bernice Ong works in theatrical spaces as a technician and designer. She also practices as an artist across visual and live formats, and is primarily concerned with the experience and residual memories of transitory spaces. She has a BFA / BA from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, graduating from the performance studies programme with honours. This is Bernice’s first involvement with The Studios as a designer, and she is excited to be collaborating with Jean and Joavien.4 5

“Talking, thinking, excavating, playing, trying, experimenting, getting lost, reading, remembering, writing, making sense, not making sense, and so on and so forth. Much like what most creators go through really. I spent two months last year living in the Portuguese mountains with Joavien and our sound designer in near-total isolation, doing all of that before coming back to Singapore this year to continue the work. Sometimes in the mountain, it drove me crazy in the head but it was an important part of the process. Not to mention it was breathtakingly beautiful up there.” – Jean

“So after our first meeting, we started planning studio time to find out what really interested us for the work. That was before we attempted to secure any commission. We did lots of interviews. We shared random thoughts, images on a closed webpage we created. We were trying to find a subject matter that would interest both of us. In the studio and residencies, we played and experimented a lot. We shared lots of laughter, but also lost moments where we would stare blankly at each other, finding ourselves trapped in our own labyrinth. We never took for granted that either of us knew something for sure; or held on to ideas too precious to drop. This allowed us to venture into new grounds that were both exciting and intimidating to us.” – Joavien

“We have just been incredibly open, both of us. And Joavien is one of the most authentic people I know. She wasn’t able to pretend that something was OK if it wasn’t. So there’s no worrying about “watering it down”… And she’s honest without being confrontational or unkind. There’s a vastness and spaciousness in her spirit that has no room for pettiness like competition with me. I don’t think I could have gone into such an intimate collaboration with someone who’s not all of that. Even if I did, I would have been miserable. In this process, there has just been lots of generosity, and complicity, and deep listening.” – Jean

“I do agree and have witnessed that in all collaborations, there is a danger where collaborators feel intimidated by each other or are crippled by their own insecurities. That is when the intended purpose of collaboration fails big time. There will only be space for unhappiness, ego, power, competition, struggles etc. And these are not what we are interested in…” – Joavien

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One of our favorite Portuguese friends Our Production Manager shopping for props in Singapore

Cold morning photo shoot in the mountainsRehearsals in the Lisbon studio Our Sound Designer at work in Singapore

Rehearsals in our mountain house in Southern Portugal

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The Studios

Eclectic, genre-bending and running the gamut from neo-realism to experimental, The Studios features works that challenge the boundaries in theatre and performance. Where inspiration, innovation and imagination meet, local artists take centre stage as they delve into the human condition and beyond.

The Studios is an Esplanade Presents series that develops, produces and presents local theatre productions. Supporting local artists in international collaborations, co-productions, as well as restagings, it offers a space for dialogue and reflection, for both artist and audience.