Theatre
The Coffin Is Too Big for the Hole
Kuo Pao Kun · 1985
Synopsis
A man tells of a dream that haunts him: on the day of the funeral of his grandfather, for whom he is responsible, it is discovered at the cemetery that the coffin, huge and sumptuous, cannot fit into the regulation grave. An absurd discussion begins with the funeral director and the cemetery manager, and the grandson comes up against bureaucracy in trying to have his grandfather buried.
Context
The monologue was written in 1984, in four or five hours according to the author, at the invitation of the director Tzi Ma, for a set of local plays at the Singapore arts festival. It is the first play in English by a dramatist who until then had written only in Chinese. The English version was premiered on 11 November 1985 at the Marine Parade library, with Lim Kay Tong alone on stage; actor and author had spent weeks talking about the text and visiting a coffin maker before rehearsals. It was subsequently performed in Malaysia and Hong Kong. The text was published in 1990 in a collection of the author's plays.
Who it is for
A monologue of about thirty minutes, in English mixed with Singaporean turns of phrase; it does not exist in French, but is also performed in Mandarin.
Prizes and reception
Counted among the classics of Singaporean theatre, and the best-known work of a playwright regarded as one of the pioneers of that theatre.