HOME » WHAT'S ON: ARCHIVE: 2014 » THE SILLY GIRL AND THE FUNNY OLD TREE

Theatre For Youth

The Silly Girl and The Funny Old Tree



20 – 31 Oct 2014

Time
2:30pm & 5:15pm
Duration: 105min

Venue
SOTA Studio Theatre

Tickets
S$25

School Bookings

  • The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree is pending endorsement by the National Arts Council Arts Education Programme (NAC-AEP). Once approved, school may use the TOTE Board Arts Grant for a 50% subsidy of the tickets.

  • School can also use CPES (Cultural Performance Exposure Scheme) Funding to purchase tickets

  • 1 complimentary teacher ticket for every 20 tickets purchased

The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree is a play written by renowned Singaporean theatre practitioner Kuo Pao Kun in 1987. The play tells of the story about a strange attachment that a girl develops with an old, funny-looking tree in her school. However, development and construction plans by the adults for that area threaten to put an end to this friendship. Despite exhausting all means, the girl fails to protect the tree from the construction cranes. In a rapidly transforming society, how do we respond to the changes and dissolution of our culture and environment?

Directed & Adapted by Han Xue Mei

Written by Kuo Pao Kun

Performed in Mandarin
NO Surtitles


About Kuo Pao Kun

Kuo Pao Kun was born into a poor farming village in Hubei, China. At a tender age, he moved to classical Peiping, then to cosmopolitan Hong Kong. In 1949, he moved south again, this time to the multi-ethnic Singapore. Subsequently, he explored the vastness of Australia as a young man before returning to call Singapore his home. This is the journey of one man’s life, where the inflections of his journey are not lost upon the influence of his work. Where the varied experience of diverse cultures has shaped and inspired a unique and inimitable vision of creativity.

In 1965, Kuo Pao Kun and dancer Goh Lay Kuan founded Practice Performing Arts School, introducing the idea of performing arts education in Singapore, laying the initial foundation for a future arts scene. In 1986, Kuo Pao Kun founded Singapore’s first bilingual theatre company, The Theatre Practice. In 1990, Kuo Pao Kun received the Cultural Medallion, the highest local award bestowed upon an artist. In 1993, he received the ASEAN Culture award; and in 1997, he was knighted Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from France. In 2002, he also received the Excellence for Singapore award.

Arguably the father of Singapore Theatre, Kuo’s 40 years of dedication and kindling of local theatre has been an influence to generations of artistes and practitioners. Aside from 26 years of script writing, Kuo has also written books, adapted scripts, and directed innumerable plays. In 1982, 14 local Chinese theatre groups assembled together to present a production of Kuo’s The Little White Sailing Boat.

Among his other works, The Coffin is Too Big for the Hole is most well known. Adapted and translated into various permutations and productions by local and international theatre groups, The Coffin is Too Big for the Hole has also been incorporated by schools as teaching material. Some of Kuo’s other well-known plays include the multi-lingual Mama Looking for Her Cat, The Silly Little Girl and The Funny Old Tree, and more mature works like Lao Jiu and Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral. Kuo also wrote an original screenplay for film entitled Grandpa’s Meat Bone Tea.

Kuo Pao Kun passed away in Singapore on 10th September 2002, creating an irreplaceable absence in the theatre scene, as well as in hearts of many who loved, admired and respected the man and his legacy.

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