Salty

TBC Salty Shannan LimTwo-time Melbourne Fringe award-winner Shannan Lim and his spook buddies Jayde Harding and Tye Norman vomit three short, interconnected plays – contemporary slants on the lurid demons of Singaporean-Malay mythology – at The Butterfly Club for a limited season from 25 July 2017.

Accompanied by neat video projections, Salty features a curious stillborn fetus, a slippery oily man nobody can catch, and a smouldering sex vampire looking for somebody to impregnate her. Each story places a ghost of Singapore in a modern Australian context and deconstructs contrasting ideas about culture, masculinity and self that exist between Asia and Australia.

Southeast Asian ghosts are frequently people who died in agonising circumstances, and whose motives are therefore recognisable as base human desires, only so pure and singular to the point of terror. In Singaporean folklore, salt is the currency of the afterlife.

Salty – together with acclaimed Asian Ghost-ery Store and upcoming The Yonder – are part of a series that looks at cultural identity with absurdity and play.

Shannan Lim is a Melbourne-based artist born in Singapore. He has lectured in film and digital media at the University of Western Australia and graduated with a Master of Design from RMIT. Shannan received the New Director Award at Nice International Film Festival and two Melbourne Fringe Awards. Trained in clown at École Philippe Gaulier and improvisation at The Second City, he is a current ambassador for Melbourne Theatre Company and Multicultural Arts Victoria’s CONNECT initiative.

Jayde Harding is an award-winning creative producer, film and theatre maker who has lived in South Africa, Australia, the UK and US. She has a particular interest in documentary filmmaking and exploring the effect that well-told stories have on human connection and understanding. Jayde’s work spans the fields of developmental psychology, design thinking and experiential learning with a focus on the social impact that technology has on our everyday lives.

“Lim is a very physical performer whose sense of humour and timing catches us off guard.” – Perth Arts Live

Salty
The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne
Season: 25 – 30 July 2017
Information and Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com

Image: Shannan Lim features in Salty (supplied)