Judy Au is an actress and playwright and has just graduated with a degree in English Language from National University of Singapore (NUS). She hails from Hong Kong but does not know how to play mah-jong. She has collaborated with Checkpoint Theatre to co-write and act in City Night Songs and is a current member of the improvisational comedy troupe, The Improv Company. Judy has returned once again to this year's NUS Arts Festival, Play Out: A Double Bill, which stars her in Candlelight by Joanne Hioe as well as her very own play, Wai?.
Tell us a little about Wai? and your inspiration behind it.
Wai? was written under the guidance of veteran playwright, Huzir Sulaiman in 2013 and it depicts the exchanges between an old Chinese couple when they tried calling their son in England after watching news coverage of the London bombings. Wai (å–‚) is the Cantonese word for hello you say at the beginning of a phone call, so I thought it’s a great title for the play.
Tell us a little about Wai? and your inspiration behind it.
Wai? was written under the guidance of veteran playwright, Huzir Sulaiman in 2013 and it depicts the exchanges between an old Chinese couple when they tried calling their son in England after watching news coverage of the London bombings. Wai (å–‚) is the Cantonese word for hello you say at the beginning of a phone call, so I thought it’s a great title for the play.
What inspired my play were the numerous times I missed my parents’ calls when I was interning in New York two years ago. The 12-hour difference made it a little difficult for us to keep in contact, and there were times when I fell asleep and didn’t pick up their calls until hours later.
We may see their calls as a hassle, but for any parent, knowing that your daughter is staying in an unfamiliar place for three months is worrying enough. It becomes pure agony when she is not picking up your calls. “Is she in trouble? Is there anything we can do?” I imagined what could have transpired during moments like that. That was when my play began to take shape.
Can you share an insight about Jadene from Candlelight? Do you relate to her in any way?
Candlelight details how a family struggles with the stories of their Hakka lineage. The lead character Jonathan feels that he is unable and unfit to pass down the stories of his grandfather, while his daughter Jadene shows little interest in those stories and rather creates new ones of her own. It explores the role of stories in creating and grounding our identities.
Candlelight details how a family struggles with the stories of their Hakka lineage. The lead character Jonathan feels that he is unable and unfit to pass down the stories of his grandfather, while his daughter Jadene shows little interest in those stories and rather creates new ones of her own. It explores the role of stories in creating and grounding our identities.
Jadene starts out as a naĂ¯ve 7-year-old, and then we see her slowly growing up... She loves creating stories to entertain herself. She has a lot of life in her, and she makes Jonathan question all the rules he has readily accepted in his life without a second thought.
As a child, I liked creating stories to keep myself occupied too. I didn’t stop at making stories though; I would perform them in front of my parents. And I was very, very serious about it. I had a little table selling tickets, and I made sure the tickets had that tear-away bit. I would pour confetti all over my parents at the end of every performance, because without confetti it just wouldn’t feel complete.
What are you most excited about this year's NUS Arts Festival?
To be able to see Wai? come to life by veteran actors and to be the first to stage Candlelight, which is a soon-to-be published play.
If you were to describe this year's NUS Arts Festival in 3 words, what would they be?
Colourful, candid, moving.
To be able to see Wai? come to life by veteran actors and to be the first to stage Candlelight, which is a soon-to-be published play.
If you were to describe this year's NUS Arts Festival in 3 words, what would they be?
Colourful, candid, moving.
