The Finger Players

Directed and written by Ong Kian Sin and Tan Beng Tian, and co-created by the cast,&nbsp;Twisted&nbsp;was first performed at the Esplanade Theatre Studio, from 12th to 16th October 2005. The second staging took place at the Festival Asia in Barcelona, Spain on 16th September 2007.&nbsp;

The lighting and sound were designed by Lim Woan Wen and Darren Ng respectively.

English translation/additional text by Chong Tze Chien.

(Source:&nbsp;Twisted&nbsp;production notes)


Twisted

Playwright

A drag queen, a filmmaker and a movement artist walk into… ONE-TWO-SIX Cairnhill Arts Centre.Home to The Finger Players, and home to puppets that the company has amassed since 1999, three artists give these puppets new lives, enriching their histories and extending their lifespans beyond what they were made for.Puppet Origin Stories @ ONE-TWO-SIX is a night of site-responsive performances + an exhibition of the company’s tangible histories + an easter egg hunting-esque/lucky draw-esque… thing.Come join us l

Puppet Origin Stories @ ONE-TWO-SIX (2022)

Puppet Designer

Puppet Maker

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

Teater Ekamatra

（隔）离是南洋艺术学院戏剧（英语/华语戏剧）文凭，毕业生的三重奏。由Teater Ekamatra剧作家发展计划下开发的三位才华横溢，少数民族女作家的新作品。作品也特别展示NAFA即将毕业的学生。这些令人印象深刻的才华也会在舞台上巧妙地处理复杂的主题，例如死亡，失落以及孤独感。

(隔)离 was made available on Video on Demand from 13 to 14 November 2021.


(隔)离 (2021)

Translator

Director

Seen through the eyes of a child,&nbsp;Love is the Last Thing on my Mind&nbsp;is a collection of vignettes of everyday society.

A child is obsessed by gardening while her mother is obsessed with protecting her from the enveloping haze, an elderly home of neglected old folks confront their mortality, a couple in love gradually transit towards mutual neglect.

Directed by The Finger Players Core Team Member, Ong Kian Sin, Love is the Last Thing on my Mind&nbsp;is a heart-warming piece about the seemingly

Love is the Last Thing on my Mind (2020)

Set Designer

Not In My Lifetime?&nbsp;explores the special education system in Singapore and people in it. The play, based on the experiences of playwright Alvan Yap, is supported by multi-talented performers Inch Chua, Evelyn Chye, Myra Loke, Timothy Nga, Nix Sang and Nur Shafiza (Shai).

Two special education teachers navigate the ups and downs of school life and examine the challenges they face in their interactions with authorities, parents and the students themselves. This inclusive theatre performance shines a h

Not In My Lifetime? (2019)

Wild Rice

For decades, Singapore's oldest flea market in Sungei Road was home to a community that made a living out of peddling their wares under the sweltering mid-day sun. In the one square metre of space allocated to each vendor, what was junk to some was treasure to others.&nbsp;

In July 2017, the Sungei Road Market was shut down by the authorities. In one fell swoop, 80 years of heritage and haggling were erased.&nbsp;

In the weeks before and after the market's closure, playwright 三木 Sanmu interviewed doze

One Metre Square: Voices From Sungei Road (2018)

Cast

To escape her fate in China, Swee Leng, together with her friends who were in the same plight as her, sail across oceans to find hope and livelihood in Nanyang. Upon their arrival, the women manage to earn their keep as helpers to the men at construction sites, eventually making a name for themselves as Samsui women.

However, in the process, their solidarity and friendship are threatened by the repeated taunts from people around them as well as conflicts between Swee Leng and her friends. Friends become 

Samsui Women: One Brick at a Time (2015)

Puppetry Consultant

Love is the Last Thing on my Mind&nbsp;is a collection of stories about people we have neglected around us.&nbsp;

A girl, sensitive to her emotions and senses, is more moved by everything natural and nature than the artificiality of modern technology, throwing her mother off with her behaviour.&nbsp;

A mother’s overzealous desire to protect her family from diseases and pollution sanitizes everything, erasing even her propensity for love.&nbsp;

A couple gets so carried away by the romantic notion of

Love is the Last Thing on my Mind (2015)

The day starts with a flush from the toilet and ends with the pronouncement of the clock ticking loudly. He often wakes up to the bus arriving and boards precariously while making tea, only to come short of reaching his destination because the house phone starts ringing. I see him open the drawer many times to spy on listless commuters swarming on and off trains during rush hour. I hear him sit quietly near the living room windows, waiting patiently in line for his turn to order food. He turns on the fan an

ONETWOSIX (2015)

Collaborator

Turn By Turn We Turn is a sweeping epic about the lives and fates of members in a traditional chinese hand puppetry troupe from 1920s China to the present day. Holding steadfastly to their craft, traditions, beliefs and one another in the face of civil and world wars, political strife, changing times and tastes, the puppeteers survive one ordeal after another, testing their mettle and resolve to perform, entertain and preserve the lineage of puppetry.


Turn By Turn We Turn (2014)

Drama Box

1960. Pulau Senang, located 15 miles south of Singapore, was used in a bold experiment, led by Superintendent Daniel Dutton. He believed he could reform the inmates through labour and abolished the use of arms to police them. Over the next three years, the detainees transformed the island into a jail without bars, as they constructed the prison settlement from scratch. However, things went horribly wrong on 12 July 1963, when a bloody riot initiated by the detainees led to the death of four officers and the

Senang (2014)

Legend tells of 24 sons and daughters in ancient Chinese times who took parental respect to exceptional extremes, even wrestling tigers and weeping to make plants grow for their parents. Here, three of the top tales are adapted by celebrated local puppet theatre company The Finger Players.


Tales of Filial Piety (2013)

Adapted from a classical Chinese epic, Journey to the West: Treasures from the Dragon Palace is the story of Sun Wukong the Monkey King, his master Xuanzang, and his friend Pigsy. Follow the powerful but rebellious Monkey King as he goes on a quest around the Earth and the Heavens to hunt down the perfect weapon to fend off evil.

Watch the legendary story of the Monkey King come alive through an array of traditional hand puppets and puppetry techniques. The audience will be invited to participate in an i

Journey to the West: Treasures from the Dragon Palace (2013)

Sound Operator

A daughter faces her transvestite father’s impending death. However, her last lap with him does not come smoothly, as she unearths his suppressed secret which wreaks emotional hell on the parent-and-child relationship.

It is not the father’s penchant to cross dress that drives a wedge between the two — that is open knowledge. It is something else.

While the horrified daughter struggles with the emotions that run riot through her, her father, trying desperately to discern the meaning of life, is greete

The Book of Living and Dying (2013)

Actor

Puppeteer

The Book of Living and Dying (2012)

Performer

Puppet Construction

two remnants of a day
yesterday and tomorrow

day in, day out... unchanging
lingering in between
intimate, yet distant

One Fine Day
wherefore the reminiscing?

Perchance the present

tacit,

breathing,

looking within.

ONE FINE DAY is the latest multi-disciplinary performance by The Finger Players and the same collective of award-winning designers and performers who had helmed the visually charged productions –suitCASES and 0501. Come witness the transformation of a black box theatre int

One Fine Day (2013)

Creator

Project Mending Sky: US&nbsp;is the final installment of Drama Box's Community Art Project on Environment. In the finale, we come together as a community and go through an experiential journey to discover/re-discover our connection with the environment.&nbsp;

We'll journey through (over 1.5km) the now defunct Bukit Timah Railway Station to "search" for the legendary Bukit Timah Monkey Man, starting from the bustling city into the darkness of the forest.&nbsp;


Project Mending Sky: Us (2012)

Designer

In war, there are no winners. One is either killed as an innocent bystander caught in a cross fire, loses a loved one, or becomes morally scarred as a consequence of our aggressive actions.

War makes a victim out of everyone, even those who start the conflict.

This play celebrates and honours the men and women who stood up for their beliefs despite the difficult and trying times. Unlikely heroes emerge out of extraordinary circumstances. The pages of history are dotted with stories of these brave soul

My Friend, A Japanese Soldier (2012)

Mask Designer

As part of a series inspired by the Nobel prize-winning novel by Gabriel Garcia Márquez,&nbsp;One Hundred Years of Solitude - Cultural Revolution&nbsp;is a spellbinding examination of social history, following multiple generations of cultural evolution and uprisings.&nbsp;

Led by Zuni Icosahedron's celebrated Artistic Director Danny Yung, this production features an international cast in an exciting new cultural twist. Collaborating in this performance are 12 of Singapore's rising theatrical practitioner

One Hundred Years of Solitude 10.0 - Cultural Revolution (2012)

Adapted from a classical Chinese epic,&nbsp;Journey to the West: Treasures from the Dragon Palace&nbsp;is the story of Sun Wukong the Monkey King, his master Xuanzang, and his friend Pigsy. Follow the powerful but rebellious Monkey King as he goes on a quest around the Earth and the Heavens to hunt down the perfect weapon to fend off evil.

Watch the legendary story of the Monkey King come alive through an array of traditional hand puppets and puppetry techniques. The audience will be invited to participa

Journey to the West: Treasures from the Imperial Palace (2011)

“Master said… in our world, there are two levels: one that is above us, where the gods and deities, heroes and emperors roam. The other is the level below, where we are. All that the audience pays and wants to see is right above our heads. They are not interested in what goes on below.”

Turn By Turn We Turn is a sweeping epic about the lives and fates of members in a traditional chinese hand puppetry troupe from 1920s China to the present day. Holding steadfastly to their craft, traditions, beliefs and o

Turn By Turn We Turn (2011)

A little girl is being ostracised by the society because of her apperance.
A middle-aged man suffers from depression but is in constant denial of it.
An elderly lady loses a large part of her memory due to dementia.

These characters are representations of hte marginalised people we see around us everyday, people whom some of us have chosen to neglect or ignore.

A.I.D (Angels in Disguise) is a community play which attempts to awaken our senses and rekindle our human spirit.


A.I.D. (Angels in Disguise) (2010)

To truly love a land, one must first unearth the beauty buried in its sorrows.

On a strange and yet familiar city-island, a group of travellers drift about, but are ever-so ready to fulfil their obligations in life. They breathe but they can’t fill the void within. A howl is heard from afar, sensual and primitive. The travellers embark on a journey in search of this calling.

suitCASES is a multidisciplinary performance which attempts to unravel the secrets of our lands. Expect surprises.


suitCASES (2010)

Props Designer

This is the second instalment of our community performance project on the Environment in the heartlands. In 2009, expanding on what we have built on in 2008, the project will shift from "ME" to "YOU"; ie what you can do for others.

The forum theatre and puppetry performances feature senior citizens from The Glowers, and are the fruits of their 5-months training with Drama Box and The Finger Players. The performances focus on environmental issues and why we should stop the destruction of our Mother Earth.

Project Mending Sky: YOU (2009)

One lives out of her tattered suitcase, drifting from place to place. Another, a wife and mother devoted to her family, is torn by an unquenchable desire to be free. A third, haunted by requited love, yearns to embark on a new life. All three are runaways, but are they truly free?

Whispers recreates the emotional journeys of three women who have run away only to rediscover the long-suppressed whispers of the heart.

Whispers is an unconventional, non-linear play, featuring monologues with traditional a

Whispers (2009)

Cake Theatrical Productions

Flare&nbsp;presents a tapestry of characters whose lives are disrupted by the strange appearance of horses. These horses stalk them in the streets, show up in their living rooms and become at once a mesmerising and ominous presence.

In the wake of recurring tremors and in the face of these strange creatures, each character must come face to face with mortality.&nbsp;

This collaboration between The Finger Players and Cake Theatrical Productions is an original dramatic work that draws from each company'

Flare (2008)

Production Designer

Pinocchio's Complex: A mental state in which everything imagined is deemed real.

A lonely old man longs for a child so much he constructs him out of wood. The 'child' however tries to convince his make that he's not real. Fearing that his child has been tainted by logic, the old man tries to rescue his child from objective reality by summoning an UFO to take them to fairyland.


Pinocchio's Complex (2008)

Puppet Conceptualist

Fairy takes are real. Elves, fairies and demons still lurk out there in the mordern world, only they are hidden from our view.

Our eyes are so blinded by science and technology, we cease to believe in miracles and legends anymore.

Unable to survive this cynical world, a demoness grieves; it is a grief so great it casts a dark shadow over the world.

Actor/musician Lim Kay Siu together with a troupe of actors/puppeteers Koh Wan Ching, Oliver Chong, Ong Kian Sin and Ang Hui Bin reopen the door of imag

Enchanted Tales (2007)

"A woman dreams of Wong Kar Wai dreaming of her..."


Wong Kar Wai Dreams (2007)

Conceptualizer

Film Crew

A Multidisciplinary Site-specific Theatrical Production

A boy used to walk on the grass barefooted&nbsp;
After rain, the grass was wet and soft&nbsp;
It’d feel like stepping on clouds&nbsp;
The grass was lush and warm when the sun was up,&nbsp;
It’d tickle his toes and his soul&nbsp;&nbsp;
Now the boy wears shoes&nbsp;
Now he could only feel the rubber of his soles&nbsp;
He has long forgotten how the grass had felt like underneath his feet&nbsp;&nbsp;

Poet, dancer, visual artist, actress, puppe

0501 (2007)

A Kungfu parody in English, Mandarin and Cantonese with surtitles.

First there was the Yang Generals.&nbsp;

Now there is the First Family!

7 maidens try to protect the emperor from his assassins. But they soon find themselves in peril when the tables are turned on them.&nbsp;

First Family parodies the patriotic tale of the female generals and campy 70s' Hong Kong kungfu cinema.

Expect irreverntly funny kungfu sequences and an amazing use of shadow puppetry incorporated into the action. Funny 

First Family (2006)

Shadow Puppetry Designer

Inspired by Gavin Menzies' 1421 -&nbsp;The year China discovered America, Furthest North, Deepest South&nbsp;dramatizes legendary sea-navigator Eunuch Cheng Ho's emotional discovery of the new world and his fate.

Using actors, mime, puppets and live music, this dramatic story unfolds through the perspective of the legendary sea-navigator Eunuch Cheng Ho and his emperor, Zhu Di.

The production charmed and dazzled audiences with its fusion of puppetry and human actors when it was first staged in 2004.


Furthest North, Deepest South (2006)

A grandmother is dying.
Her grandson is in New York and she’s in Singapore. He refuses to come home and she puts her foot down. She buys him a flat and he buys her a coffin.

A woman and a man are in love.
A third party buys a bed but gets nothing else. Three’s a crowd but no one wants to budge. Does love know no boundaries or is there just too much greed?

A criminal is on the loose.
His father is going berserk. His mother has bought breakfast but no one wants to eat.The Devil pays all three familie

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (2005)

The Theatre Practice

Dario Fo's mischievous yet haunting work is set in a police station, where outside a crowd has gathered to protest the "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" who supposedly fell from the precinct window. The play is dominated by a seeming madman who has been apprehended by the police, released, but keeps hanging around while changing identities, gradually forcing the political truth from the other characters.&nbsp;


Accidental Death of An Anarchist (2000)

黒暗的高天、黑暗的厚地，幾個辭世多年的亡魂，沒有忘卻人世的季節。每一年的這個時候，在季節輪替的瞬間，他們共赴一場重聚的儀式， 開始訴説自己的故事。

他們原來是什麼？漢子、媽媽、姑娘、將軍和詩人。他們是怎麼來到逍裏的？他們怎樣和一場最血腥慘烈的戰爭結合在一起？好好的人，怎麼能，忍受骨肉分離而無怨無悔？看着自己的同胞慘死而視若無睹； 為什麼把自身送I, 給無數人蹂躪？怎麼會，在戰場上讓自己03醫生報銷自己的軍隊？人性在哪裏？人性是什麼？

當生命進入混沌的狀態，人與物難辨、真與偽難同列、神與鬼難分時，家是什麼？回不去了。為什麼？

靜消悄的。顏色、生死之間的顏色。最終，一切在靜消悄裏，歸於黑暗。

&nbsp;


The Spirits Play (1998)

On these final resting grounds lay soldiers, prostitutes and a scholar. This sounds like a foreign land, ruins on a faraway wilderness. In actual fact, this cemetery is in our midst. It sits quietly in a private residential district, on Chuan Hoe Avenue in Yio Chu Kang.

The soldiers were from the Japanese Imperial Army of the Second World War. They were killed on battle grounds during the war, in execution chambers after. They died of illness, by accident, by suicide. They all lay here, regardless of ran

Stage Crew

Adapted from Journey to the West - one of the most beloved and enduring classics of Chinese literature - Treasures from the Dragon Palace is a dramatic portrayal of how Sun Wukong the Monkey God unwittingly offends the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, and brings upon himself the wrath of the Jade Emperor and his Heavenly Army.


Treasures from the Dragon Palace (1997)

Centre 42 currently has limited information on this archive entry. If you possess any relevant information and/or archival material, please contact us at archive@centre42.sg.


The Legend of Giants (1995)

Maker

Co-Founder

Kian Sin is co-founder of The Finger Players. He often designs and constructs puppets. His puppet creations were seen in Furthest North, Deepest South, First Family, Wong Kar Wai Dreams, Twisted, Flare and suitCASES. In 2007, he staged 0501, a site-specific production that won two technical awards (Set and Sound Design) at the 8th Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, as well as a President’s Design Award. His subsequent directorial works include Let Dreams Fly, Twisted, Whispers (Huayi Festival) and The Musical Canvas (Ding Yi/Esplanade FYI). Some performing credits include: The Book of Living and Dying, Turn by Turn We Turn, Senang (Drama Box) and One Metre Square: Voices from Sungei Road (Wild Rice).

Photography by Juliana Tan

Ong Kian Sin

WORKS DOCUMENTED IN THE ARCHIVE

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