Lai Teck led the Malayan Communist Party from 1939 to 1947, through the turmoil of World War II. However, his other life as a triple agent, working for the French, British and Japanese secret services, only came to light after his death in 1947 – and that's if you believe he really died.
This enigmatic figure is now the subject of a theatre piece staged by the Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen that's playing during Asia TOPA 2020. Part spy thriller and part history lesson, The Mysterious Lai Teck is an experimental show taking audiences into Lai Teck’s story of lies, counter-lies, espionage and treachery. The one-hour production employs recording, projections, music and animatronics to give a snapshot of the shifting face of South East Asia in the Age of Treason.
“We begin his story in his childhood in Vietnam,” the artist says, “tracking him through the rise of his career, and finally to the end of his career and also to his afterlife.” The mercurial figure’s journey, Ho says, offers a way to understand both Singapore’s history and the concept of treachery in the 20th century, an era that produced more traitors than any other. “Treachery is seen as something immediately and extremely negative. But we have to understand [traitors] as a historical phenomenon.”
The way the piece is staged underlines the themes of mystery and unknowability. A shape behind a curtain begins narrating the story, unreliably, openly espiousing lies and half-truths. Dramatic lighting and soundscapes accentuate the dramatic peaks as Lai Teck takes us through his many lives under many aliases.
In the spirit of John Le Carré or Robert Ludlum, The Mysterious Lai Teck boasts a highly theatrical twist. What is revealed when those tantalising curtains open is extremely eerie to say the least, and to achieve it Ho has collaborated with visual effects experts, engineers and actor Tay Kong Hui.
Ho Tzu Nyen studied at the Victorian College of the Arts, and also obtained an MA in South East Asian studies from the National University of Singapore. He has represented Singapore at the Venice Biennale (2011) and has an artwork in the collection of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He is fascinated by Singapore as a place of contested ownership and meaning – the city-state only became an independent nation in 1965, and has undergone occupation by many others, including colonisation by the British in the 19th century. Ho’s artwork uses the tools of myth to explore how the past is reinvented for the needs of the present and future.
“For me, history is the material I work with,” Ho says. “I sometimes think it is not so different to how some other artists might work with clay or marble.”
The Mysterious Lai Teck plays at the Martyn Myer Arena, Victorian College of the Arts, Mar 4-7. Tickets are on sale now.