7x7: spell#7 remixed
9-11 May, 15-18 May 2002, 65 Kerbau Road
The ambassador has been at large too long. Home once more, his thoughts turn to the places he's lived and the people he's loved. In his twilit memory, everything overlaps. The nun and the cowboy shoot the breeze, the ice queen gets fresh with the sleazebag, the pulp novelist writes stories of lost love fit to burst your heart. It's all one to the old man in the funny shirt, as he conjures fantasies out of forgetting, and festivities out of trauma: a remix, with a mashed up soundtrack to match, and digital images re-playing his reminiscences, slow slow, quick, quick, slow.
Devised by the company, Cast: Enlai Chua, Janice Koh, Kaylene Tan, Marianne Wee, Ben Slater, Paul Rae, Hanin Zainomum, Lights: Helmi Fita, Photos: Jack Tan
Double Happiness
5-7, 12-14 October 2000, The Black Box, Fort Canning Centre, 21 October 2000, Contact Theatre, Manchester, an [inter:face] event presented by Digital Summer, 24-25 October 2000, Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham, Breathing Space NOW, 26 October 2000, The Drama Studio, Loughborough University, 24-25 2000 November, Arnolfini, Bristol, Breathing Space
"Together with British bedfellows, Bodies in Flight, Singapore-based group, spell#7 soars above the mire of cultural stereotypes with a winsome blend of intelligence, self conscious irony and good faith." - Life! The Straits Times
fluffboy visited hunny.bunny's website, shygirl7 met 6wasabe9 in a chatroom. Now it's double happiness twice over. But real life is messy. Do you know where he's been? Does she? Across continents where differences of language and culture, shoe-size and disease resistance create turbulence in the flow of information and capital, Double Happiness jacks into the body that braves time-zones and economy class to get fleshy with another.
Director: Paul Rae, Text & Co-Director: Simon Jones, Choreography & Co-Director: Sara Giddens, Cast: Ben Clough, Dan Elloway, Kaylene Tan, Marianne Wee, Graphics: Hanin Zainomum, Sound: Chong Li-Chuan, Costumes: Ted Wu, Accessories: argentum, Production Manager: Khoo Ee Hoon, Photography: Ed Dimsdale, Publicity Design and website: Hanin Zainomum
Bud
11 & 12 June 1999, Zouk, Part of the Late Night Series, Singapore Arts Festival
"Part irreverent deconstruction of tourusm rhetoric, part uncovering of every blase urban heart to reveal the secret, kitschy and complex longings of a Singapore cowboy alive and kicking underneath, Bud was glorious, subtle, subversive fun." - Life! The Straits Times
Director: Paul Rae, Cast: Enlai Chua, Rodney Olivero, Suhaila Sulaiman, Kaylene Tan, Tang Fu Kuen, Music: Azmy Hassan and DJ Kheng, Set/Objects: Ling Hao, Lighting: Lee Teck Khoon, Fight Choreography: Claire Devine, Video/Publicity/Web: Hanin Zainomum
My Last Night in Sin
21-24 June 2001, Sculpture Square. Part of the Singapore Arts Festival Late Nite Series.
Two women stake all love, all tenderness, all blood, sweat and tears on the final fling of the last night before Virtue comes a-knocking. My Last Night in Sin: a micro-musical about risks, riches and rolling good times.
Text: Paul Rae and Kaylene Tan, Director: Paul Rae, Cast: Enlai Chua, Emma Stow, Kaylene Tan, Music: Emma Stow, Lights: Jeffrey Tan
Spring Awakening
15-19 September 1999, Dramaplus Arts, #02-13, Shaw Towers
Spring has sprung and it smells like teen spirit...
Moritz wants it, Melchior's got it and Wendla's dying for it. Literally. Frank Wedekind's controversial classic is brought bang up to date for a new era of techno-sexual confusion.
Text: Frank Wedekind, Directors: Paul Rae and Kaylene Tan, Cast: Christian Huber, Suhaila Sulaiman, Netty Montenegro, Anand Baland, Anjeli Narandran, Jeremiah Choy, Rodney Oliveiro, Joseph Cheong, Deng Fuquan, Marianne Wee, Melissa Wong, Tracy Koh, Khainurizah Koh, Tan Teck Chou, Chris Ho, Jean Luah, Set: Ling Hao, Lights: Eugene Lee Teck Khoon, Sound: Adrian Tan, Costumes: Little Red Book Illustrations: Sharon Lee, Publicity Illustrations: Martin Yeo, Chris Chee, Graphics/ Video: Hanin Zainomum, Choreographer: Stephanie Yap, Stage Managers: Lisa O'Neill, Judy Tan, Photographs: Heman Chong
Meena & Me
3-6, 10-13, 17-20 March 1999, The Black Box. Presented as Artists in Residence at Theatreworks
"A shot in the arm for theatre-goers here who appreciate pop cultural sensibilities, thoughtful, non-linear ideas and a skilful yet understated use of multi-media. Not forgetting theatre's ability to laugh at itself." Life! The Straits Times
High altitude, high drama. For the star with the beautiful feet, love is in the air. Come fly with Meena & Me.
Written and directed by Paul Rae and Kaylene Tan, Cast: Enlai Chua, Janice Koh, Kumar, Netty Mattar, Karl Suriya., Music: Azmy Hassan, Lighting: Dorothy Png, Puppets: Jeremy Hiah
Live from the Valley of the Dolls
4&5, 11&12, 18&19, 25&26 September 1998. Part of TheatreWorks' Got to Go... Play till Dawn Festival
Inspired by Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, three beautiful girls from a small town hit the big city. Determined to make it, they will do anything to get a piece of the acrion. But when they get to the top, they realise there is nowhere else to go but down...
Devised and performed by Naz Nasir, Paul Rae, Kaylene Tan, Marianne Wee, Hanin Zainomum
Walk with me & be Perfect
30 July - 2 August 1998, Caldwell House, CHIJMES
"... taps into the urban pulse and probes our relationship with and experiences of perfection, without forgetting to add shades of human yearning, tragedy, sensuality and fallibility" - The Flying Inkpot
Walk with me and be Perfect is about stories from the city. The notion of the city as a utopia and the struggle to create places and moments of perfection, which runs on a grand scale throughout history, but also in our everyday lives.
Devised by the company, Director: Paul Rae, Cast: Ben Slater, Kaylene Tan, Marianne Wee, Choreography: Clare Norton, Research: Goh Chien Yen, Graphics: Hanin Zainomum, Loo Soon Keat, Publicity Photos: John Wong, Kaylene Tan, Publicity Design: Hanin Zainomum, Music: Azmy Hassan
I GOT STUNG: A Performance in Three Attacks
20 & 25 May 1998, The Substation. Presented as part of New Criteria 6.
This performance springs from Albert Goldman's claim in his essay, 'Return to Sender' that Elvis Presley committed suicide. Towards the end of his life, the King was dependant on three separate and very sizeable (which he called 'attacks') of prescription drugs to see him through the night. Goldman asserts that one night, Presley simply saved up the doses and took them all at once.
Devised and performed by Paul Rae, Kaylene Tan and Marianne Wee
apocalypso!
18-20 December 1997, The Substation
apocalyso! is about finding yourself at the end of the millenium without a partner for the ball. It is about playing dirty to get one and coming clean as the clock strikes midnight. Inspired by the sounds and footsteps of Latin America and Cowboy Mouth by Sam Shepard, spell#7 throws in a few ingredients of their own: spying, romance, cultural differences, confessions and pre-millenial tension.
Performance Credits
Cast: Diana Ding, Paul Rae, Kaylene Tan, Devised by Paul Rae and Kaylene Tan, Stage Manager: Nicola Harris, Assistant Stage Manager: Kym Lim, Marketing: Janice Koh, Kym Lim & Evelyn Fong, Costumes selected by: Song & Kelly, Sound: Leon Lim, Set: Sugiman Rahmat, Publicity design: Hanin Zainomum, Photos: Georges Cardona