Kuo Pao

Part 1 Kun:

Part 1
 Kuo Pao Kun
Part 1:
Biography & Background
 Kuo Pao Kun
O Born in Hebei province, China,
O Moved to Singapore in 1949
O Co-founder of
O the Practice Performing Arts School in 1965 and
O the Practice Theatre Ensemble in 1986.
 Kuo Pao Kun
O Reached his prominence in the 1980s and continued to be
prominent until his death in 2002
O Fully concentrated on theatre, unlike the earlier playwrights
O Was also a director, teacher and drama critic
 Kuos Bilingualism
O Worked in both the English-language and Chinese-language
theatres
O Started working in English-language theatre and bilingual
theatre in the 1980s
O Attempted to fuse both traditions
O The Coffin Is Too Big for the Hole was in fact his first play
performed in English
O Mama Looking for Her Cat: multi-lingual theatre
O Several languages are used
 Singaporeanness of Kuo?
O The question of who is a Singaporean author, which was
discussed earlier, arose again in relation to Kuo.
O Apart from Singapore and mainland China, Kuo had also
spent some time in Hong Kong and Australia.
O But it was also true that he had spent a good part of his life
in Singapore, in fact longer than he had spent in any other
country
 Citizenship & Being a Singaporean
Author
O The question of citizenship and being a Singaporean author
is also relevant to Kuo.
O In 1977, his Singapore citizenship was revoked by the
Singapore government, and was only restored seventeen
years later
O He was a man without a country in the technical sense,
but would anyone question that he was a Singaporean author?
 Citizenship & Coffin, & Cultural
Medallion
O The question of citizenship and Singaporeanness is also of
interest to The Coffin Is Too Big for the Hole, as the play was
written and produced in 1984, which was during the time
that Kuo was stateless.
O Was the play a response to his statelessness?
O Kuo was awarded the cultural medallion in 1990, in spite of
the fact that his citizenship would only be restored in 1994.
O Recognizing the (unofficial) legitimacy of his citizenship, even if
it is not formally reinstated?
 Kuos Marginality
O Like Cyril Wong, Kuo viewed himself as a marginal figure.
Of course, his marginality arose from a different perspective
from Wongs.
O As a person who had been arrested under the Internal
Security Act from 1976 to 1980, and whose release came
with travel and residential restrictions until 1983,
O To Kuo, his marginality, which he described as a fringe kind
of experience, allowed him to compare and reflect.
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 2-1
 Kuo Pao Kun
Part 2-1:
Setting & Experimentalism
 Dream
What KindSetting?
of Setting?
O I dont know why, but it keeps coming back to me. This
dream. Every time I get frustrated, it comes back to me.
dream
Its the funeral. My grandfathers.
We were all at the cemetery. All my folks my wife, my
kids, my brothers, sisters, my cousins and their kids.

dream
The word dream is crucial to the understanding of the play, and indeed, among
other things, does have a bearing on the plays setting, as it specifies it in a way
that is not often taken into consideration in discussions and analyses of the play.
Feature of Kuos Play: Minimalism
O Kuo is known for the minimalist settings of his written plays
O The minimalist or scanty settings are often carried over to the
relatively bare staging of his plays
O With specific reference to Coffin, we will be discussing this
feature again later
Feature of Kuos Play: Experimentalism
O Another feature of Kuo is his experimentalism
O Might not always find favour with the government:
O One aspect of his experimentalism:
O Not all the words of his plays as they would be performed, were
written down
O Done deliberately.
O However, the government at that time required the scripts of plays that
were to be performed in Singapore to be submiited, and it was
expected that each performance should faithfully follow the script
Aesthetics Viewed Politically?

Aesthetics Politics
Theatrical Tactical
experimentalism: exclusions:
Not all words written Politically sensitive
down, large room for statements to be
improvisation on the uttered only when
stage. the play was staged
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 2-2
Kuo Pao Kun
Part 2-2:
The Monodrama
Determining Coffins Genre

But quite
often
Regarded as
Coffin: performed by
monodrama
more than
one actor
Regarded as
monodrama
 Regarded as
monodrama

Not whether the play

is often performed by
more than one actor When looked
in actual performance, at from this
What is at
But how its angle, then the
issue: performance is play is clearly
indicated in the script,
which specifies
a monodrama
performance by a
single actor-narrator
 Regarded as
monodrama

Not whether the play

is often performed by
more than one actor When looked
in actual performance, at from this
What is at
But how its angle, then the
issue: performance is play is clearly
indicated in the script,
which specifies
a monodrama
performance by a
single actor-narrator
 Coffin as Monodrama When looked
at from this
angle, then the
O One prominent feature of most monodramas: play is clearly
O Stage settings are usually less elaborate: a monodrama
O They may even be minimalist, as in Kuos play
O Much of the narrative is not actually enacted on the stage, but
indirectly conveyed via language by the narrator, who is also the main
character
O The main character is thus an intermediary who conveys the story to
the audience (or reader) through recollection and commentary
O One consequence of the presence of a narrator (usually absent in
drama): brings the dramatic work closer to prose fiction
 The Monodrama, the Monologue &
Language
O The main character tells the story to us through a
monologue in a monodrama.
O But there are some questions that we might want to ask:
O Is the monologue actually spoken out in language?
O Or is it the manifestation of a thought process?
O Or a mixture of thought and language?

Thought Speech

Monologue Audience
 The Monodrama, the Monologue & the
Fictional Universe
O Another question about the monologue in a monodrama:
O Does it occur in the fictional universe?
O If it does, how come the direct addressees the readers and
audience that the main character speaks to are in the real
world?
O How does someone in the fictional world talk to someone in
the real world? No possibility of
reply
O Is the monologue merely an artificial device to let the story
Direct Address
be told? You can ask these questions again
when you do Emily of Emerald Hill
No Dialogue
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 2-3
 Kuo Pao Kun
Part 2-3:
Missing Stage Directions
Stage Directions for Coffin: Are There Any?
O Find the stage directions for
Coffin.
O Take a look first at its
beginning on p. 290
O What do you see?
O Can you find any stage
directions there?
O For those of you who are familiar with reading written plays,
is this usual? If this is not usual, why does Kuo do this?
 Missing Stage Directions: Individual
Predilection, Technique, Genre?
O Is the lack of stage directions reflective of theatrical
tradition, or conventions existing during that time?
O Was the lack of stage directions an individual predilection?
O What does it tell you about Kuos technique?
O What does the lack of stage directions tell you about the
kind of play Kuo has written (i.e. its genre or sub-genre)?
O Kuos experimentalism
 Theatre: more emphasis on
performance
Drama: more emphasis on the
written text
O However, this does not mean that performance is irrelevant:
Kuos experimentalism, for example, opens the possibilities
of performance within the written text itself, by avoiding
detailed descriptions or instructions on what the director
should do
 Missing Stage Directions: Individual
Predilection, Technique, Genre?
O Is the lack of stage directions reflective of theatrical
tradition, or conventions existing during that time?
O Is it an individual predilection?
O What does it tell you about Kuos technique?
O What does it tell you about the kind of play Kuo has written
(i.e. its genre or sub-genre)?
O Kuos experimentalism:
leaves it to the director
to make his or her own
decisions.
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 2-4
 Kuo Pao Kun
Part 2-4:
The Script & Authorship
 Is the Script Necessary?
O Some experimental dramas not only dispense with stage
directions, but with the script altogether
O The stage performances are not fully finalised, but leave
some room for variation
O There will be variations from performance to performance
O Kuos play could be described as a half-way house between
a play with a script and a play without a script
Undermining of Kuos Authorship?
O Most of Kuos plays were written collectively.
O Kuo was not viewed as an author or playwright in the
conventional sense. Authorial
1. After brainstorming discussions with his theatre groups,
drafts of the plays were written by Kuo.
2. Each plays rehearsals began after the third draft was
written. Who has full authority over the text of the play?
3. Additional authoring of Coffin in performance: reflection of
the earlier stages of the production process, where Kuo was
not the single or sole author
 Modification of the Concept of
Authorship

Not solitary activity

Leader or manager
Authorship to Kuo: of collective
Close consultation authorship
with the
performance and
production teams.
Not the sole author
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 2-5
 Kuo Pao Kun
Part 2-5:
A Sense of History
 Sense of History in Coffin
O There is a sense of history in Coffin,
O The work clearly refers to the society and politics of Singapore,
during the time that the play was written and performed (1984)
O However, its picture of Singapores history is not well
developed
O Less well developed than Kons Emily: several references to
specific historical places and events in Kons play.
O Kuos sense of history is more abstract.
 Advantage of Sketchy Depiction of
History
O Due to its avoidance of a more substantial or concrete
depiction of history, Coffin could be more easily related to
the present, and has some contemporary relevance.
O The play is not merely confined to a fixed stretch of time in
the past, but easily extends beyond that
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 3-1a
Kuos Coffin: A Closer Look at the Text
1. Monodrama as genre:
a. Resemblance to fictional prose
b. The main character as narrator
2. Critique of upper classes
3. Critique of govt, mass production
4. Television / bureaucratic language
5. The personal and the social / political
Coffin: Monodrama & Fictional Prose
O The main character of Kuos play functions as a narrative
intermediary, which makes the play resemble fictional prose.
O Another factor which makes the play resemble fictional
prose is the fact that it is actually written like a short story:
O One reason
just like it is treated
the first-person asofawritten
narrator dramatic work
fictional is the background
prose
knowledge that we have about the work and about its author:
O But this is not something that is readily apparent on the page.
Something for You to Think About
O How is Coffin technically related to Catherine Lims The
Taximans Story?
Coffin: Difference from Fictional Prose?
O We might want to argue that there is a difference between
the two:
O Many first-person written narratives are strongly plotted, but
this is not the case with Coffin:
O The play has a rather rambling plot, and has more of an
argumentative than narrative structure.
O But cant the same be said of The Taximans Story?

Tightness of plot structure is not always directly

related with literary merit, as noted earlier in the
video on plot.
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 3-1b
Kuos Coffin A Closer Look at the Text
1. Monodrama as genre:
a. Resemblance to fictional prose
b. The main character as narrator
2. Critique of upper classes
3. Critique of govt, mass production
4. Television / bureaucratic language
5. The personal and the social / political
 Coffin: Monodrama & the Main
Character
O Unlike Kons play, the main character is not named,
and is less fully embodied than the character of Emily
O From the perspective of
narration, the main
character of Coffin is more Not named, Less fully embodied
of a storytelling device than
the more fully-formed Main character
character of Emily: of Coffin
O He appears as a character so
that the story could be told, Less character-autonomy
and has less character- More a storytelling device
autonomy than Emily
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 3-2
Kuos Coffin A Closer Look at the Text
1. Monodrama as genre:
a. Resemblance to fictional prose
b. The main character as narrator
2. Critique of upper classes
3. Critique of govt, mass production
4. Television / bureaucratic language
5. The personal and the social / political
Coffin: Critique of Upper Classes 1
O Kuos criticism of society in Coffin offers Political
a wide political spread criticism:
wide spread
O Although his critique of the upper
classes will be discussed here, they
are not the only target Critique of
upper
classes:
not the
only target
O Narrators (and Kuos?) criticism of the upper classes:
O 291 I mean how many people had a grandfather who enjoyed
the honour of getting buried in such a rare, refined, solid,
grand and heavy coffin.
O Funeral parlour man:
292grandfathers
O The No, sir! he said. No, sir! The hole
distinctiveness is not too to
is reduced small.
The magnificence
the coffin is too big!
of his coffin and not on the
O Indirect critique
qualities of his of narrators while
character family: he was alive.
O Refuse to conform to the parameters set for other people;
O Cannot see the situation for what it is.
O Unjustifiably blame others for not allowing what they want to do.
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 3-3
Kuos Coffin A Closer Look at the Text
1. Monodrama as genre:
a. Resemblance to fictional prose
b. The main character as narrator
2. Critique of upper classes
3. Critique of govt, mass production
4. Television / bureaucratic language
5. The personal and the social / political
Coffin: Critique of Govt, Mass Production
1
O Kuos critique of or reflection on society is not restricted to
social and familial concerns.
O It touches on larger political concerns as well.
O But he looks on the other side of the coin too.
O The rich may be unfair, but at the same time,
Critique
No
why cant they have freedom of choice, if they
can afford it? of the
freedom
upper
of
classes
choice?
Coffin: Critique of Govt, Mass Production
2
O To the authorities, there
should be no freedom of
choice for some things.
O Theres no fairness if a
person is given more than his
or her entitlement.
O Everything must be according
to set dimensions, nothing
more.
Coffin: Critique of Govt, Mass Production
2
O 293
292 Sir you sir,
You see, must we have to
understand,
work according there
to aisstandard
no room
for exceptions!
size.
O 293 Irrespective
292 You see, sir,ofthe
the
persons
regulationstatus and dead
says one condition,
is
everyone is treated
allotted one plot. Howin exactly
can you
the
havesame manner.
two graves for one
coffin.
 Coffin: Critique Of Govt, Mass
Production 3
O The official tries to contextualize the restrictions:
O Its not merely regulation for regulations sake, or strictly based
on an abstract principle of fairness.
O Involves larger issues of development and planning on a
national scale.
O For this reason, these restrictions must be observed, even if, at
a personal level, they may seem unsympathetic, or even
inhumane.
 Coffin: Critique Of Govt, Mass
Production 3
O 294 No, no, no, no! that will be running against our
national planning. You are well aware of the fact that we are
a densely populated nation with very limited resources. The
consideration for humanity and sympathy cannot over-step
the constraints of the state policy! he declared.
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 3-4
Kuos Coffin A Closer Look at the Text
1. Monodrama as genre:
a. Resemblance to fictional prose
b. The main character as narrator
2. Critique of upper classes
3. Critique of govt, mass production
4. Television / bureaucratic language
5. The personal and the social / political
Coffin: Bureaucratic / Television Language
 Coffin: Bureaucratic / Television Language
Aversion
towards
A mocking
bureaucratic
commentary
language,The or on the society
language of
the at large,
apology
mechanicalused which
for the
official increasingly
disruptionof
language of sees serious
television
apology that events in
isprogramming
sometimes terms of their
entertainment
seen in the
value.
media, also
shown in
Kuos work
 Kuo Pao
Part 2 Kun:

Part 3-5
Kuos Coffin A Closer Look at the Text
1. Monodrama as genre:
a. Resemblance to fictional prose
b. The main character as narrator
2. Critique of upper classes
3. Critique of govt, mass production
4. Television / bureaucratic language
5. The personal and the social / political
Coffin: The Personal and the Social /
Political
O The monodrama genre appears to highlight Kuos contrast
between the personal on the one hand, and the social and
political on the other:
Coffin: The Personal and the Social /
Political
O The monodrama genre appears to highlight Kuos contrast
between the personal on the one hand, and the social and
political on the other:
O It gives the main character
Coffin: The Personal and the Social /
Political
O The monodrama genre appears to highlight Kuos contrast
between the personal on the one hand, and the social and
political on the other: Gives main character his
O It gives the main character his own own personal voice; only
personal voice, and this is the means to voice in the play
highlight his personal difficulties
vis--vis social demands or
expectations, and political restrictions or bureaucracy
O Another genre might be less
effective in giving the
emphasis to this issue
Coffin: The Personal and the Social /
Political
O This of course does not mean that readers or audience view
what the character says without a sense
of irony. Gives main character his
There is a strong sense of irony running through the
own personal voice; only
play: voice in the play

Perhaps rendered more effective

by not having another voice clumsily

restoring some balance
by directly challenging the main
characters voice and personal views.
 GES1025: Singapore
Literature in English:
Selected Texts