Pan Jinlian

"Pan Jin Lian must surrender to her fate".

Date - September 2023

Venue - Singapore Airlines Theatre, LASALLE College of the Arts

Director - Chen Gang

This grandiose production of the ancient Chinese story of Pan Jinlian was spearheaded by Chen Gang, an award-winning Chinese film and theatre director from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. This age-old tale from the Water Margin was told through a modern lens, with interruptions to the original story, filled with criticism of the narrative and of the titular character's actions. Pan Jinlian is harassed by Zhang Dahu, and married off to the dwarf Wu Dalang in a loveless marriage. She instead falls in love with Dalang's tall, handsome brother Wu Song, but Wu Song will do anything but accept her love. She has an affair with Ximen Qing, is caught by Wu Dalang. Ximen injures Dalang, and persuades Jinlian to kill him. Wu Song finds out about the affair, and slaughters Pan Jinlian in return.

Playing the dwarf Wu Dalang in this production was a challenge, not just as an actor, but as a human being. Wu Da is a dwarf, and I stand at 180cm tall, decidedly not passing for a dwarf in daily life. I did not perform at my full height, but rather reduced my stature to about 110-120cm (around 4 feet tall). It took a lot of training, extensive warm-ups and lengthy cool-downs to perform this role and avoid injury. This, paired with the emotional intensity of the plot, made for a gripping experience.