[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/the-importance-of-being-kwa-geok-choo\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/the-importance-of-being-kwa-geok-choo\/","headline":"New play examines the importance of being Kwa Geok Choo","name":"New play examines the importance of being Kwa Geok Choo","description":"She was only 18 the year Madam Kwa Geok Choo died.\u00a0 Today, actress Tan Rui Shan, 30, assumes the role of Madam Kwa, better known as the wife of Singapore\u2019s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on stage. \u201cThere are so many different interpretations of her, yet there is so little resources and information about […]","datePublished":"2022-07-08","dateModified":"2022-07-09","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/editor1\/#Person","name":"Judith Tan","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/editor1\/","identifier":57,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Judith-Tan-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Judith-Tan-100x100.jpg","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Feature-Image-Template-2022-07-08T102155.574-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Feature-Image-Template-2022-07-08T102155.574-1.jpg","height":900,"width":1600},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/the-importance-of-being-kwa-geok-choo\/","about":["Local","Singapore"],"wordCount":1263,"keywords":["Cambridge","Edric Hsu","Goh Boon Teck","Kwa Geok Choo","Lee & Lee","Lee Hsien Loong","Lee Kuan Yew","Mitchell Fang","Ovidia Yu","Prime Minister","RI","Singapore Repertory Theatre","Spotify","Tan Rui Shan","Toy Factory","Victoria Theatre","Wah Ahmad","Wild Rice"],"articleBody":"She was only 18 the year Madam Kwa Geok Choo died.\u00a0Today, actress Tan Rui Shan, 30, assumes the role of Madam Kwa, better known as the wife of Singapore\u2019s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on stage.\u201cThere are so many different interpretations of her, yet there is so little resources and information about her online. There\u2019s so little about her but there are so many opinions about her so that\u2019s where I think the pressure comes from,\u201d Tan tells TheHomeGround Asia.Tan plays the woman behind two prime ministers of Singapore in a play named after Madam Kwa. It premieres today (8 July) at Victoria Theatre and will be staged until 31July.\u00a0Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Madam Kwa Geok Choo and their first son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. (Photo source: Mrs Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s collection\/PM Lee Hsien Loong\/ Facebook)Kwa Geok Choo, a new play by Ovidia Yu, is the first monologue for the dancer-actress, who has works such as The Amazing Celestial Race by Wild Rice, Forbidden City Musical by the Singapore Repertory Theatre, and Lim Boon Keng Musical by the Musical Theatre Limited under her belt.\u00a0Some of her choreography credits include The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) by the Singapore Repertory Theatre and Behind the Wall by Gateway Arts.\u201cIt\u2019s not really the form that matters to me. I think, more importantly, it\u2019s the story that\u2019s being told and it\u2019s a great opportunity to learn about Madam Kwa, so why not?\u201d says Tan, who is also a drama teacher.Kwa Geok Choo \u2013 the playMadam Kwa is perhaps Singapore\u2019s original enigma. Before she became Mrs Lee Kwan Yew, she broke glass ceilings. She was the first girl to advance to pre-university having topped the whole of Malaya in her Senior Cambridge examination and was accepted into\u00a0 Raffles Institution (RI), which, at that time, did not have any female students.She became the first woman in Malaya to earn a first class honours Law Degree and started her own law firm with husband Lee Kuan Yew in 1955. Madam Kwa did not just marry modern Singapore\u2019s founding father, she also raised its third Prime Minister.\u00a0Yet so little is known of her outside of her formal obligations so the play hopes to offer a glimpse into who she was as a woman, a mother, a friend, even a person independent of the men that she supported.Tan says the play is very special \u201cbecause I think the fact that they made it a one woman monologue and have the men support her in the show\u201d.\u00a0\u201cIt is a very interesting concept in itself, a complete reversal of how she was during the time when she was alive. She supported all the men around her so well and this time when we are telling her story, it is just the other way around and I think there is something very special about this concept that rings and resonates with me very well,\u201d she adds.Three other actors play supporting roles and life illustrators.\u201cThey are actors Mitchell Fang, Edric Hsu and Wah Ahmad. \u2026 Sometimes they pop in to deliver a few lines and illustrate the scene for me. So in a way, there is support from behind, which is really nice. At the same time, (the play) is really being very clear about her journey and being very sure about what part of that journey we are trying to convey and in what way,\u201d Tan says.Becoming Kwa Geok ChooFor Tan Rui Shan, it is not the form of the play but the story that\u2019s being told and the great opportunity to learn about and become Madam Kwa Geok Choo on stage. (Photo courtesy of Toy Factory)\u201cThe story that we are telling here is also very different. It is really about her and how she had gone through all these challenges \u2013 raising three children and a nation at the same time,\u201d Tan adds.Not having met Madam Kwa, Tan gets her information on her from any way she can \u2013 researching on the Internet, watching clips and videos of Madam Kwa and speaking to people who had met her or interacted with her..The team managed to invite one of the lawyers who worked at Madam Kwa\u2019s law firm Lee & Lee and who had interacted with her to come share his experience.\u201cThat was nice. At least, it was like a more personal touch. That\u2019s what we try to also show in the production \u2013 to show not only this one-dimensional side of her that we all see, the very stoic political front that we all see; but also what she was like talking to her kids, what she was like talking to the maids in the house \u2013 those are the smaller things that we are more interested in,\u201d she says.\u201cHe also mentioned that she was quite a feisty person. We all painted her to be a very gentle and caring (person). But there was this other side of her where, when she really wanted something or when she wanted to work hard for something, she was not afraid. And she was quite a rebel, a trailblazer. It must take a certain level of courage and rebelliousness to be able to do that kind of thing. For me, it is really discovering all these little things and really looking beyond the surface and finding out the more multi-dimensional side of her,\u201d Tan says.Tan is still continuously reading about Madam Kwa up to the time the curtain rises for the premiere as \u201call this new information never stops adding meat to my skeleton\u201d.And to get into Madam Kwa\u2019s psyche, Tan is also listening to the music that Madam Kwa used to like.\u201cI actually created this little Spotify playlist of the music she liked. Listening to them helps me understand her. You know, art, like poetry and music, were a kind of escape for her, and she loved them so much. I kind of dabble into all these little things as well to fully understand the dynamics of her,\u201d she says.Tan says the moment chief artistic director of Toy Factory Productions Goh Boon Teck, who is directing the play, and playwright Ovidia Yu mentioned the focus is really about telling Madam Kwa\u2019s story \u2013 her growing up and being the woman behind this powerful man, \u201cthe pressure kind of really wore off\u201d.For Tan Rui Shan, it is discovering all the little things and looking beyond the surface to find the more multi-dimensional side of Madam Kwa Geok Choo in order to play her well. (Photo courtesy of Toy Factory)And to ensure the play goes on smoothly, \u201cIt is about going through it over and over again \u2013 the way she would go over Mr Lee\u2019s scripts and contracts and speeches. It\u2019s really going over and over again and making sure you practice until there is no room for failure,\u201d Tan says.\u00a0And in Madam Kwa\u2019s voice and clipped British accent, Tan says, \u201cYou can never defeat the rising tide but don\u2019t fear it. You must look beneath the surface or you\u2019ll never know the beauty of the rocks beneath or learn to flow and adapt like water, with the water.\u201dKwa Geok Choo runs from 8 to 31 July at the Victoria Theatre. Tickets start from S$58, and you can get them here.\u00a0Join the conversations on TheHomeGround Asia\u2019s Facebook and Instagram, and get the latest updates via Telegram."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Destinations","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singapore","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/\/singapore\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"New play examines the importance of being Kwa Geok Choo","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/the-importance-of-being-kwa-geok-choo\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]