MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS HUNGRY GHOSTS BY JEAN TONG 3 — 19 MAY SOUTHBANK THEATRE, THE LAWLER WORLD PREMIERE — Cast — Emina Ashman Jing-Xuan Chan Bernard Sam — Production — Director Petra Kalive Set Designer Eugyeene Teh Costume Designer Sophie Woodward Lighting Designer Emma Valente Composer & Sound Designer Darius Kedros Movement Director Lyndall Grant Lighting Secondment Marty Shlansky Sound Secondment Rory Tyzack Directing Secondments Karla Livingston-Pardy, Ryan A. Murphy Stage Manager Lisette Drew Rehearsal Photographer Nick Tranter Production Photographer Jeff Busby — About the play — When you’re a young queer Chinese-Malaysian Australian, how do you work out where you belong in the world? Criss-crossing between our unnamed protagonist, the disappearance of flight MH370 and an unsolved mystery, Hungry Ghosts offers an unconventional take on the complexities of contemporary life. Hungry Ghosts was commissioned with the support of the Joan & Peter Clemenger Trust. Developed with the support of The Cybec Foundation through MTC’s Cybec Electric Playreading Series as part of the 2017 AsiaTOPA Festival, directed by Mark Zhuang Yi and read by Emina Ashman, Jing-Xuan Chan and Gareth Yuen. Melbourne Theatre Company acknowledges the Yalukit Willam Peoples of the Boon Wurrung, the Traditional Owners of the land on which Southbank Theatre, MTC HQ and Arts Centre Melbourne stand, and we pay our respects to Melbourne’s First Peoples, to their ancestors past and present, and to our shared future. Emina Ashman, Bernard Sam and Jing-Xuan Chan From the playwright JEAN TONG Hungry Ghosts in rehearsal When did you first realise sense of loss, or an inability to speak do these labels fail, and what other that your three parallel stories in due to either the suppression or expectations come with those new Hungry Ghosts could work together lack of knowledge, or the wistful identities or categories? Language in a full-length play? melancholy for something missing. is intoxicatingly powerful, but The writing unfolded from there; incredibly slippery: who are we I’d been interested in 1MDB and the beginning of the process was with it, and who are we without it? MH370 for a while, but couldn’t just me making lists about how I hope that my writing opens up quite pinpoint what it was about these three things were like each some spaces on all of those levels – those events that interested me. other, whether in terms of abstract finding the words to say who we are, Then in early 2016, I came across a concepts like loss and distance, or but also realising that those words conspiracy theory about how some more tangible things like coinciding may not (and should not) always individuals involved in 1MDB might dates and personal experiences of be able to dictate who we are. have instigated the disappearance flying with Malaysia Airlines. of MH370 due to certain passengers’ What are the overarching themes knowledge about the financial What interests you about the in this new play? scandal. Something clicked then exploration of identity in your – the nature of grasping at straws writing? It’s about belonging and non- during a tragedy, the scale of the belonging, the terse relationship financial operations and volume I enjoy when identity fluctuates. between desire (wanting something) of assets, my physical distance I think people are increasingly and greed (wanting everything) from home and inability to fully discovering highly specific ways of and collective group identity (family contribute to the discussions that identifying themselves and figuring and nationhood). were unfolding about the country’s out how to talk about the way they socio-politics – it fell into place experience the world. However, so suddenly. I noticed that the I’m really interested in the outliers common thread seemed to be a of these categories; when and why From the director Jean Tong is a fiercely intelligent karma is an insatiable hunger. Jean PETRA KALIVE playwright with something to say. Tong’s hungry ghosts are seekers, Hungry Ghosts’ complexity is at once but they also exist in and embody exciting and terrifying. corruption, another central tenet of the play. In Chinese Buddhism, ‘hungry ghosts’ are beings driven by intense I hope to create a work that is emotional needs and only manifest emotionally affective, a piece of from tragedy or ‘evil deeds’. Further theatre that agitates, and connects back, in very early Chinese and with its audience. Vietnamese mythology, hungry ghosts are those who have been deceitful, greedy people and their ‘Language is intoxicatingly powerful, but incredibly slippery: who are we with it, and who are we without it? JEAN TONG Emina Ashman, Jing-Xuan Chan and Bernard Sam Cast & Creative Team EMINA ASHMAN JING-XUAN CHAN BERNARD SAM Cast Cast Cast Emina Ashman is a Malaysian-Australian Jing-Xuan Chan graduated from the Born in Melbourne and raised in Malaysia, actor, theatre-maker and writer based in Victorian College of the Arts in 2006. During Bernard Sam holds a degree in Psychology Melbourne. She graduated with a Bachelor her studies she received the Irene Mitchell from the Royal Melbourne Institute of of Fine Arts in theatre practice at the Award for outstanding performance, the Technology (RMIT) and a degree in Theatre Victorian College of the Arts in 2014 and Orloff Family Charitable Trust Scholarship Practice from the Victorian College of the completed her Honours at VCA in 2017. for outstanding commitment to training, Arts (VCA). While at the VCA, Bernard For Melbourne Theatre Company, Emina and the Friends of the Victorian College performed in Mother Courage & Her previously appeared in Moths and Hungry of the Arts New Emerging Talent Award. Children (dir. Chris Kohn); as Creon in Ghosts as part of Cybec Electric. Other She has since worked for various theatre Antigone (dir. Melanie Beddie); Doctor theatre credits include Bock Kills Her Father companies including Melbourne Theatre Chebutykin in Three Sisters (dir. Melanie (She Said Theatre/La Mama); Tales of a City Company, Red Stitch, and Malthouse Beddie); and Stevie Sprague in The Boys by the Sea (La Mama); Lotus (Playwrights Theatre; she has also performed in (dir. Alister Smith). Bernard devised and Australia/Malthouse Theatre – National Play productions both locally and overseas performed in NEVER for FRISK, presented as Festival); Roberto Zucco (Le Poulet Terrible/ including Dancing at Lughnasa, The Three part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2017. La Mama); and Too Ready Mirror (Darebin Sisters, Criminology, Othello, The Merry Outside of the VCA, Bernard worked with Arts Speakeasy). Stage credits while training Wives of Windsor (Green Room Award Malthouse Theatre in researching and at VCA include The Little Prince, Plus Sign nominated for Best Ensemble), Incognito, developing Little Emperors for the 2017 Asia Attached, Lucky Country (Melbourne Fringe). and Wit (for which she was nominated for TOPA festival. For the same festival, Bernard Film credits include Love Automated written a Green Room Award). Her television and also performed with the Pichet Klunchun by Melanie Killingsworth. Emina is also a film credits include City Homicide, The Dance Company in Dancing with Death poet and playwright and has had her work Family Law, Dirt Game, Winners and Losers, (Arts Centre Melbourne). Since graduating featured at Beta Fest: Theatre in Various and Happy Country. Jing-Xuan has also from the VCA, Bernard participated in the States of Undress, the VCA Master of attained her A.T.C.L Associate Diploma in development of Hungry Ghosts earlier in Writing for Performance Presentations and Speech and Drama and aside from acting, 2017 and is thrilled to have joined the cast most recently, on Melbourne Spoken Word. enjoys lending her voice to narrating audio at Melbourne Theatre Company. Emina is a proud member of MEAA. books and audio plays. Emina Ashman and Bernard Sam, (right) Abbie Trott, Eugyeene Teh and Sophie Woodward Cast & Creative Team JEAN TONG PETRA KALIVE EUGYEENE TEH Playwright Director Set Designer Jean Tong is a Melbourne-based writer Petra Kalive has extensive experience as a Eugyeene Teh is a designer across multiple whose work, tonally best described as director and dramaturg of new works for the artforms. Recent design credits include ‘wry outrage’, makes explosive statements stage. For Melbourne Theatre Company she Abigail’s Party, Endgame and Straight White using dark humour and vivid imagery. directed Melbourne Talam, Beached (winner Men (Melbourne Theatre Company); Blaque Her previous work includes Romeo Is Not of the 2010 Patrick White Award), the Cybec Showgirls, Meme Girls, A Social Service The Only Fruit (Melbourne International Electric reading of In the Kingdom of Cha and Approximate Translation (Malthouse Comedy Festival at The Coopers Malthouse); and was Assistant Director on Constellations. Theatre). As a co-artistic director of Little Anti Hero (Monash Centre for Theatre and Her acclaimed adaptation of Peter Ones Theatre, his many designs include The Performance); and Macdeath: a Coda Goldsworthy’s novel Three Dog Night toured Happy Prince, Merciless Gods (with Griffin (Union House Theatre). She has also nationally in 2009. She was dramaturg Theatre Company); Dracula, Dangerous presented at the Emerging Writers’ Festival, at Red Stitch from 2009 – 2012, Assistant Liaisons (with MTC NEON); Salome (with and published in Peril Magazine and Dramaturg at Malthouse Theatre in 2010, Malthouse Helium); Psycho Beach Party Meanjin (Spike). In 2018, she was selected and Assistant Director on Macbeth (Sydney and The House of Yes. For MKA, his designs for Screen Australia’s ‘Developing the Theatre Company). Petra has directed for include The Trouble with Harry, The Developer’ workshop, and for Film Victoria’s Arena Theatre Company, Complete Works Unspoken Word is ‘Joe’ (Griffin Theatre TV and Online Concept lab (Plot Twist). Theatre Company, St Martins Youth Arts Company); Triangle and sex.violence.blood. Centre, La Trobe and Monash University gore.