Southeast Asian Plays

About the editorsAubrey Mellor | Theatre Director, Dramaturge and Teacher, expertise in new work and classics, especially Chekhov, Shakespeare and Brecht. Formerly Dean of Performing Arts at Lasalle and Director of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), associated with arts training colleges across Australasia. Has directed a range of genres from opera, dance and film. Well-known as an acting teacher to a generation of acclaimed Australian actors, and renowned for translations and productions of the classics, and for the development of new work. Brought up in Variety and Circus, Mellor trained as a dancer, visual artist and musician and graduated from NIDA Production Course. In 1972 was awarded a Churchill Fellowship, the first Australian to study Asian theatre, from Japan to India. Artistic Director of the Jane Street Theatre (Sydney). Co-Artistic Director of Nimrod Theatre Company (Sydney). Deputy Director of NIDA, Artistic Director of the (Royal) Queensland Theatre Company, Artistic Director of Playbox-Malthouse in Melbourne. Awarded Order of Australia Medal in 1992 for services to the arts, Australian Writers' Guild's Dorothy Crawford Award for services to Playwriting and the International Theatre Institute's Uchimura Prize for best production, Tokyo International Festival. Visiting professor to theatre schools in Japan, China. Mongolia, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.Cheryl Robson | Writer, editor and filmmaker, Cheryl was born in Australia and has recently been creating literary projects in Singapore. She worked at the BBC in London for several years before setting up a theatre company producing and developing women's plays. She also created a publishing company where she has published over 150 international writers and won numerous awards. As a writer, she has won the Croydon Warehouse International Playwriting Competition and has had several stage plays produced. Her film Rock n' Roll Island, has been selected for several film festivals in UK and USA and won a Gold Remi at Houston Worldfest and was nominated Best short film at Raindance London. www.cherylrobson.net.

'Set in Singapore (Nadirah) dives into thorny issues of love mixed with inter-faith and inter-racial aspects...Go watch it and decide whether love or faith prevails.' THE STRAITS TIMES'They said The Tarap Man is a journalistic thriller. They lied. The Tarap Man is more than that. It is an unflinching look at a system that failed and continues to fail the individual.' THE STAR ONLINE

• INTRODUCTION 7Aubrey MellorPLUNGE 17Jean TayAN EVENING AT THE OPERA 58Floy QuintosTHE NIGHT OF THE MINOTAUR 81Tew BunnagTARAP MAN 117Ann LeeDARK RACE 175Nguyen Đăng ChuongFRANGIPANI 218Chhon Sinatranslated by Suon BunrithPIKNIK 244Joned Suryatmokotranslated by Barbara HatleyNADIRAH 293Alfian Sa’at