Leaping into a Jungian Journey: Preview of Leaping Fish in the City (21-22 March 2013)

Preview: 20 March 2013

A woman who embarks on a research to find out more about the city she is living in and a man who is eccentric, but throws one or two lines of wise words at moments least expected, sustained the 45-minute Leaping Fish in the City with humorous moments.

 

To me, it's a very Jungian piece, where the woman encounters the shadow, animus and Self aspects within her. According to the psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1990), the shadow consists of the dark elements of the personality with emotional and primitive aspects that resist moral control; the animus is the masculine aspect that a woman experiences; and the Self archetype is often a spiritual character with knowledge, insight, wisdom, cleverness and intuition, represented by a wise old man. To Jung (1964), the shadow in each individual represents the hidden, repressed and unfavorable aspects of the personality.

In the performance, the peculiar man, who does not behave within the boundary of a commonly accepted social behavioral convention, is a reflection of the woman’s inner shadow that she is rejecting and repressing. At the same time, the man is also the wise Self within the woman, which is represented by her inner voices that she hears at some points of time despite her hectic lifestyle.

After rejecting and ignoring the shadow and inner silence within her for the majority of her adult life, the woman eventually embraces the animus and accepts the shadow within her. She finally stops and listens to her heart, and starts to understand who she is. 

Dates: Thursday 21 March (SOLD OUT), Friday 22 March (Limited tickets available)

Admission: $18/$12 (concession) available from The Substation box office (63377800) 

Time & Venue: 8pm,  The Substation Gallery (45 Armenian Street, S179936).

References:

Jung, C.G. (1964). Approaching the Unconscious.In C.G. Jung (ed.). Man and His 
            Symbols (pp.1-94).  London: Aldus Books.

Jung, C.G. (1990). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious(R.F.C. Hull, 
            Trans). NJ: Princeton University Press (Originally published 1963).

 

Oh! We are the LEAPING FISH! - Leaping Fish in the City (20-22 March 2013)

“Are we living in a complex labyrinth and trying to find a space to breathe? Are we passing each other but have never noticed each other? Are we traveling from one point to another point of the Earth endlessly, trying to make a living or trying to live up to our dreams? Somehow, as part of the evolution into the frantic modern life, we learn how to live in the north, and also in the south; and we build our lives on earth and also live at levels beneath the earth. We have become adaptable. We are the

LEAPING FISH.”

Above is the publicity text for Leaping Fish in the City, a multimedia theatrical piece. What is a leaping fish? According to a report from BBC Nature, there are at least six different types of fish that are able to launch themselves into the air from a solid surface, and they are called the “Leaping Fish”.  This phenomenon is seen as an evolutionary snapshot of the transition from living in water to inhabiting land.

I was invited to view the work-in-progress of Leaping Fish in the City in November 2012. I especially like the segment that reflects the irony of humans inhabiting not just above the land but levels beneath the land too. This reminded me of Ion Orchard- shoppers travel all the way down to Basement 4!

Two main characters are presented in the piece.

One is a typical city dweller. One day, she starts to search for memories as part of her project. However, she is unable to find any. She starts to wonder “Am I living in a city without memories?”. She begins her search for memories, which include heritage, uniqueness of the city and people…

Another character is an unassuming peculiar man, who may irritate city dwellers with his seemingly undesirable habits. He speaks to himself while traveling on the bus, sings as he feels like singing, and dances on the street as he feels the music.

At several moments in the piece, they face each other while traveling in their daily lives. The city dweller has never noticed the man. These scenes give me a strong sense of how a modern person may reject the primitive or “raw” aspect of himself/herself. I wonder-- are we really that “advanced” to the extent that we have to reject old items, old memories, and the old self (which is our childhood?)...?

Certain segments may change, as the creative team continues to develop the work till 20 March 2013. I will give you an update of the creative process!

Directed by Ang Gey Pin, performed by Jacklyn Kuah and Vincent Chia, with visual, audio, and sound desiged by Nickolai D. Nickolov from Bulgaria, this is a piece filled with reflections, memories, and dreams, presented with an intellectually stimulating and humorous overtone.

Performance details:

Leaping Fish in the City
presented by In Source Theatre & The Substation. 

(It comprises English, Mandarin and dialect. There will be English subtitles and multimedia images.) 
Preview: Wednesday 20 March 2013,7pm 
Open to public: Thursday 21 to Friday 22 March 2013, 8pm 
The Substation Gallery 
Admission: $18 / $12 (Student, NSF and senior citizens) available from The Substation box office (6337 7800 / boxoffice@substation.org)