Wit & Wisdom
Roger Jenkins
storyteller
storyteller
© Roger Jenkins 2011 Made With Serif WebPlus.
Chaucerian at its best.
Its world is
marvellously peopled.
Its vitality and vigour
are celebratory….
The book’s idiom is unmistakably Singaporean.
(Asad Latif, Straits Times 19/10/96)
Each character in From The Belly Of The Carp is associated with the Singapore River from Raffles to the present.
Coolies, boat-builders, rickshaw-pullers and punkah-
wallahs gradually become businessmen, bar-owners, gardeners and tourists as times change.
wallahs gradually become businessmen, bar-owners, gardeners and tourists as times change.
Some characters are famous, but most are the ordinary
men and women who loved and laboured to make Singapore what it is. But history usually deals with
famous people – politicians, generals, kings. I wanted to concentrate on the ordinary men and women (not that anyone can be described as ordinary!) whose efforts
and experience, dreams and determination, have made
this country what it is.
men and women who loved and laboured to make Singapore what it is. But history usually deals with
famous people – politicians, generals, kings. I wanted to concentrate on the ordinary men and women (not that anyone can be described as ordinary!) whose efforts
and experience, dreams and determination, have made
this country what it is.
I wanted to give these anonymous people a voice and let them share with you what it meant to be living and loving, working and worrying, winning and losing by the banks of the Singapore River.
The poems in From The Belly Of The Carp were written to be staged, or at least spoken aloud. Each one is a dramatic monologue in which the speaker tells us something about their life. Finding a distinct way for each person to speak was one of the challenges of writing the book. For this reason, I tried to avoid adopting too ‘poetic’ a voice; this may be a strength or weakness, according to your taste.
The cast of the first production staged at Jubilee Hall, 1998
Neo Swee Lin, Tony Quek
Wendy Ng, Melvin Tan,
Neo Swee Lin, Tony Quek
Wendy Ng, Melvin Tan,