How do we get Singaporeans excited about local theatre?

Question

Answers staff note: This is the real Tan Kheng Hua, well known stage actress and producer! To take part in the Y!ureka contest for a chance to win Dopod phones, register at http://yahoo.com.sg/answers

Answer 1

We need to dispel the psychological bias that local means mediocrity, a compromise in quality and creativity. Rather than fight inertia, let's channel our creative energy to inspiring the young, who are full of wide-eyed wonder and ignite that love for performance arts in them, local or international. With that cultivated love and appreciation for the arts, support for local theatre will come naturally.

Answer 2

When you asked this question, have you ever thought about WHY Singaporeans aren't excited about local theatre?
Why most people don't know what are the shows going on in Esplanade?
That people find stage and theatre to be boring?

Let's trace back in time a little bit.
When Singapore first gained independence, the education system set up and schools were built.
Those were the days where people visit roadside opera shows, the shadow plays and stuff like that. Now, where got this kind of things liao?! If have, how many people are watching?

As Singapore began to grow, the mindset of our founding fathers become to be like "have a society of elites, so that even without resources, we can still stand out in the world"
And it went on for 40 years.
40 long years.

Ever notice how in schools, the Arts stream always needs lesser score to get into?
Notice how people are biased against the Arts stream?
Notice how your parents always tell you to go to the science stream go to the science stream?

I am not saying that advertising and good production doesn't matter. In fact they play a huge role in spreading the word. If you give a bad production, who in the right mind would want to see a local production again?
I am just saying that, maybe, we should really look into how we educate the people.
Education is the foundation of the society.
It shapes the way people think and act.

Answer 3

Although there has been an increased awareness about Singapore's local theatre, I feel that there is much room for improvements.

The most difficult part of this is to attract audiences. To make people excited, I feel that the best way is to create a one time major theatre play. It may be a remake or a new creation. However, it must be something that attracts Singaporean to it. Maybe a play about the current problem situation in Singapore would be great.

Next, publicise it widely so that people would come forward and learn about the upcoming play. Targeted age group should differ for different plays. For example, if it is a play about some current affairs in Singapore, then I feel that it would be appropriate to target working adults of 25 years old onwards. This is because people are more aware of current affairs at that age onwards.

Once people are attracted to the play, and if the play is indeed good, it would leave a lasting impression on those people. This helps in creating an audience base. Such people would be more enthusiastic to watch other plays too.

Also, once there is an audience base, it would only increase as word gets spread around and people promote the local plays.

Answer 4

The standard of local theatre has actually always been good. However, as with just about everything in the world today, it's all about marketing. The best things often lose out to the best-marketed things. I suspect local theatre is one such thing. We all hear about foreign productions that come in because of their respective marketing engines. It doesn't matter that some of these foreign productions are sub-standard. They do well because they're advertised and sponsored well.
Perhaps it's time that we do the same for local theatre. I know that marketing of local productions has come some way in the past 10 years but perhaps it's time for a quantum leap. Market it to the max - a very generous sponsor or patron may be needed for this process - all the while making it the best production possible.
I've also noticed that many known Hollywood actors take to the stage from time to time to keep in touch with "real" acting. So perhaps some of these actors could be engaged to take part in local productions. That would probably increase the draw factor.
Of course, at the end of the day, it's the audience who are the best marketeers. Societal "wanna-be"s aside, if a production is good, people will recommend it to their friends and that's something i hope to see because the more good things people hear about local theatre, they more excited they will become. So here's to local theatre! May the "sold out" signs go up everytime the lights go down! :)

Answer 5

I understand that only handful of Singaporeans have interest in local theatre. Or perhaps, the fact is that they do not have the time to watch it. If time is the factor for the adult, I suggest we should get the school children to watch it during their excursions. I believe that it is only when we plant the interest in them when they are young, they will tend to develop that interest further. Once the children have interest in local theatre, I’m sure they will be very excited to ask the parents along to watch it with them. That is when we can go on to the next stage to capture the adults’ interest. How do we make Singaporeans feel excited about the local theatre then? Well, as we all know, Singaporeans prefer watching television. If that’s the case, why not we show a few minutes of the acts on television, including the behind-the-scene, favourite celebrities inviting people to watch the theatre and people giving positive comments. Not only that! You can have some popular celebrities on stage as well. Try to be more creativity, come out with an idea for the act that no one has every thought about it before and make it totally unique (Uniquely Singapore!!). Or maybe, you would want to touch on real life stories but the only different is try to make it more dramatic (because its theatre). Time-wise, maybe what you can do is to advertise it on television a month before the theatre begin so that the adults will have the time to sort out their schedule.

Answer 6

Basically, I feel that most Singaporeans still view the "theatre-going experience" as something that is (perhaps) for those with 'social-status'. We get the impression from shows like that going to the opera, the theatre is something that is exclusively for the rich. Well, we're not that far off either. Say a night at the theathre for 2: dinner before the show, tickets to the event itself, and possibly drinks after that. Well, that's quite a bit to spare! At present, motivating those who are already threatre-goers to continue going to the theatre is just a matter of bringing good productions into the limelight. Focus ought to be on those who still have time to try different kinds of activities - theatre to be exact. These focus groups ought to be those who still spared from the stresses and rigid 9-5 office life. A good part of people in these groups will be students, especially the tetiary students. These students have the time, they are willing to try, and they are also willing to pay. However, the problem is also the part of "$". When the show is a little too pricy (especially for productions they haven't heard of, shows they are not confident it's going to be worth the burnt hole in their pockets), there is less tendency to take the plunge and give it a shot. Although the prices of famed theatre shows like was expensive, people are willing to pay the price since it is a well-known thing. The bottomline is that money will always be an issue. It's not a cheap past-time to have. And to cultivate the interest in young people requires the initial "investments", like having concession prices for all students, and not jus up to a certain age limit. And to keep these people glued to the local theatre scene, we can consider loyalty programmes. For a start, perhaps something like this would work: for those who have gone to at least 2 shows can get their tickets for the 3rd show (within a year from the first one) at a discounted price. For those hard-core theatre fan, maybe there can be special privileges even.
Also, I believe the locals are not exposed enough to the arts scene, locally or internationally. So, bringing in "foreign talents" to participate in our production may be a good way to draw the crowd. However, the fact that many won't know who that "foreign talent" actually is, they don't know how good he/she actually is, then it is not much of a pull-factor for them. On the other hand, the fact that these "foreign talents" are probably drawing a higher wage, the ticket prices will only increase. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a definite push-factor.
Think about this...

Answer 7

Hello there,
There are probably many ways of exciting and involving the masses in local theatre. This yahoo opinion outreach scheme is commendable. I do not have the specifics down to the detail but then again i am not an artiste. I am just a person who has a high interest in the arts and whom would want to see the local arts enjoying a higher profile. Below are some points i consider to be the "root" of the problem where promotion and profile of local arts are concerned.

1)Themes/circle of promotion. More evolution of modern themes. People have the impression that the themes/plot/narrative used in theatre arts are too abstract for public consumption. This myth should be debunked with real evolution from "classic" play scripts. More devotion should be given to themes closer to the local heart. (Not every successful script has to have generous doses of murder, sex, transvestites and homosexual themes.) Needless to say the promotion and advertising should extend well beyond the arts circle. More banks and other commercial companies should be drawn into the sponsorship and eventual promotion drive.

2) Involvement of the public/increasing the local theatre acting pool. Granted the current acting circle in the local theatres are experienced and have achieved much in acting plus theatre play. However with all due respect, they can only cover so much ground. Subtle nuances in themes and scripts cannot be 100% covered by a single actor or actress 100% of the time. There is such a saying as "being made or born for this script" In short to put it bluntly, people are bored of seeing the same faces in different makeup and costumes for every single play/role/theme... Get out more auditions - Increase the talent pool. Get new and different faces/talents in and you will indefinitely see more fans and followers. Theatre is not the same as screen acting but then again you cannot avoid all the associated commercial pitfalls and stereotypes.

3) Occasional collaborations with famous playwrights and producers. This may or may not have a local flavour but in terms of increasing one's profile, there is nothing like a famous name or celebrity to do it. Considering mass appeal, there will always be the element of commercialism in even the most underground theatre production. Eliminating either one is not the key and will cause a premature death. Striking the right balance between this commercialism versus the pure showmanship of theatre credibility is the key.


The above suggestions are just my two cents worth as a "closet actor wannabe" . i do not even think the Dopod phones are worth a dime. Ok if you do read this and if for some miraculous reason you manage to make good sense out of what my tedious tirade is all about, please discount my last statement about the Dopod.....

cheers,
keane

Answer 8

The best way to get Singaporeans excited about theatre is to stop making theatre look like it is an exclusive, high brow affair. There is a common misconception amongst Singaporeans that theatre is extremely arty and hard to understand. This is in fact the wrong idea on theatre. Art is essentially non-class binding and everyone can understand it. Event though one may not understand the plot, I’m sure they can easily empathise with the emotions on the actors or actresses on stage.

On top of that, the importance of art should not be discounted in schools. Students have to understand that the arts in general are very important for a holistic and well rounded education.

If all else fails, there could always be some sort of festival dedicated to theatre alone with attractive packages to entice Singaporeans.

Answer 9

Singapore is a multi-races island and this has built us into something significantly different from others. We do not do theatre in the past as there isn't any. But now, Singapore is promoting it and this is somehow helping the circle to move a bit faster than before. I think advertising and promoting is very important. Of cuz, the performing must be good to lure local to get excited over it.

I personally realised that Singaporeans luv their localized drama a lot. Hence, we should do more local stuffs in theatre to make it feel home. (for instance, some big foreign theatre always add in a bit of our local cuisine or slang to make it more homely.)

Usually, a local theatre work starts up with very small and simple layout but if it works out well, it will get improved. I think more sponsorship should be brought in to. More local company should show some sponsorship support to help advertise and promote the merit of local theatre; and not only for the overseas/foreign theatre works. The advertisement must be done islandwide including school. Where students learn about theatre work since young, would definitely assist in adding theatre as their daily lifestyle which is similarly to going for a movie.

I also agree that by giving more freebies might help to improve the awareness. As Singaporeans are always "kaisu" in grabbing free things (this applies to all other countries; just that "kaisu" is our local term.)

There are many area which we can do more for the local theatre, we just need a bit more time to get ourselves more involved in it.

Good luck!

Answer 10

Singapore has excellent infrastructure for the arts and theatre, a multi cultural society, a global city and a group of hardworking artists who pursue their works in this small and limited audience.
Out of 4.3 million people in Singapore, I expect not more than 100,000 who has been to the theatre performances in Singapore. Let me know if I am wrong about the figure. My point is the audience size available in Singapore is too small to create enough Big Bang effect which would make more interested.

Also, the average time spend by this group who do watch theatre performances may be very low - hence limited to a few thousand persons who do watch theatre performances regularly.

My suggestion is to put emphasis on these points,
1. we need a local star performance to lead the way.
2. identifying and promoting such a star that relates well to those who do not go to theatre is important factor. Performances related to politics, life in Singapore, history of Singapore remade, modified, local story writers' works, true to life story performances, etc works that enhance the extreme ends of life in Singapore, in getting people to think and make changes to their lives, a dream that every person here would want to live for a few hours in theatre.
3. Time ! - In Asia, we spend too much time working, not that we could help it with the economic ministers pushing the people to progress with economic and productivity improvement. How many of us do take 1 or 2 months continuous leave from work to think, regroup, recharge and make new plans for the next year of work. Almost negligible, I think. Maybe the CEOs and MDs and etc do so but majority do not. In Europe, almost everyone working is entitled to this 1-2 months leave which the employer encourage. The work environment here do not understand the importance of this 1-2 months leave. It is during this 1-2 months leave that people would think, do something exciting and new and theatre is a place to sit and ponder the inspiration behind the performance, to look at the artist's face closely and examine the detailed expressions. Sometime we do not really understand the meaning of productivity, some of us think that by spending more time on the work, we could do a better job and help increase productivity. That is all wrong, the meaning of productivity is very simple, doing the same job within less time should be the definition, not doing more jobs within the same time. By doing the latter, the quality of the work would suffer and no time to recharge and take 1-2 months leave. So, what we could do about this is to make 1-2 months leave an accepted norm, not the task of the government but the people, collective force is greater than legislation, we could start with Union to ask for 2 weeks leave, then year by year add 1 day more, tehn we would reach 2 months over ten years. Remember, when people take leave, there is always someone to cover the work, we are also creating more flexible work environment which benefit all as a country. The economic figure is important, but without breakthroughs, Singapore would dry out on creativity.

We could discuss more but I stop here.

Answer 11

Excited? With the Singapore Idols and such, Singaporean are getting excited about local celebrities nowaday. At least more locals now are enjoying local theatre.

To get more people excited and involved, make it more accessible and cheaper, maybe even free haha. Local groups can always give free excerpt of their productions, just to arouse the public's appetite. Publicity is the key to any production for if not enough is generated, the targeted will not know of it. Sometimes the pricing plays an important part as many will not throw away their hard earned salary on something they think are not worth it. Especially when branded local. So maybe have a category for those want to get a taste of the production but who are on a budget. Of course, they will not have a good seating but at least they will be there to support the production. Isn't this what every theatre group wants?