Media Release

For immediate release
17 September 2008

Generations | 《同辈》
A Mandarin Play

It’s uncommon to see gay love and incest develop simultaneously in a family in this country. But the possibility of such an occurrence is real. These elements, when put together in a theatre rehearsal, seem to open up new discoveries; the distance a person would travel to fulfil his/her need for love. The discoveries can be rather disturbing.

The spirit of discovering the intricacies in this highly unusual love relationship between a parent and a child brought Director Richard Chua (Singapore), Actors June Lim (Veteran Actress in Singapore Chinese Television) and Fish Shi (China) to the Mandarin production Generations, the first production of Little Red Shop’s Chinese season, in 2008.

The story revolves around a small family of two – the deluded mother living with an ever faithful son – where life becomes a tedious affair as the mother becomes extremely dependent on her son for love and concern. While her son tries to convey his kinship love for her – likens that of how his father loved him before their separation – the mother secretly plots her journey trying to get her version of love at her son’s expense.

As the rehearsal proceeds into its final stages of presentation, the creative team discovered many harrowing motivations inherent in the characters. All of them return to the need for love. Questions such as “What’s the meaning of loving others and be loved?”, “What does it mean to regret when you have no choice in life?” and “What does it mean when one says, “I will stay with you forever.” are constantly asked in the production. Unfortunately, there are no definite answers.

Perhaps, the most crucial question is – Would a person go at length to keep the promise of a covenant to another and promise him/her of love till the end of time? This seems to be a tall order, especially for lovers in the present day. In Generations, the son seems to keep the covenant his father has given him, under the mother’s constant suspicion.

It is in the spirit of constantly probing these questions that one can see full exposition of the depths of human nature.

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