Lee Shyh Jih

Lee Shyh Jih

Playwright

Lee Shyh Jih is another member of the theatre community who I met at Drama Box. He does have a day job, though, and even tried his hand at running a restaurant. He once wrote a play with a wedding photographer character that was based on me. I found it very amusing to see myself, albeit exaggerated, in the play.

Ngiap Heng, you’ve always given me refreshing views on any topic in our conversations. Thanks for capturing a refreshing, albeit exaggerated (albeit some friends would disagree with me), version of me.

I hope I did capture fragments of you, although exaggerated, in the name of storytelling:

「 所以,我想替你们捕捉你们真实的记忆。比如你们常约会的地方,是不是楼下
的咖啡店,还是哪个MRT STATION 的control station,还是哪个hawker centre 
的炒粿条摊。越平凡越普通越贴近你们的生活,而且是在新加坡的,不是在
日本、韩国、法国、马来、中国和泰国。而且,三十年后,这些地方说不定都
不见了,到时,你们、你们、还有你们,是要记得这些呢,还是那5千块6套的
HELLO KITTY?」 [3]

[3] So, I would like to capture your authentic moments for you. For instance, where you usually meet for dates: at the coffeeshop downstairs, or at some MRT station’s control station, or at the fried kway teow stall at some hawker centre. The more everyday the place is, the closer it is to your life, and these places are in Singapore, not Japan, Korea, France, Malaysia, China, or Thailand. Moreover, 30 years later, these sites may not be around, and at that time, you guys, you guys, and you guys should remember these, or would you rather recall the $5,000 and six sets of Hello Kitty?