"In Love We Dive": An Interview with Senior Play Director Lily Wu
By Jean He
Lily Wu is the director of the 2020 senior play, a student production of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed that pushes the limits on what is and isn’t acceptable in theater, at the Arens Performing Arts Centre, FJU on December 23, 24, and 26.
Sarah Kane’s Cleansed takes place in an institution where Tinker (played by Ceria Huang), the psychopathic “doctor” in charge, challenges each character’s bonds of love and devotion. The play follows Grace (played by Catherine Chen) as she ventures to the institution searching for her brother Graham (played by Hunter Yang) after he dies of an overdose. Grace later encounters Robin (played by Steven Hsu), who forms a connection and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Tinker tortures the residents of the institution with the help of his assistants (played by Diana Chen and Alexandre Ke), tests Robin’s love for Grace as well as the commitment between two other “patients,” Rod (played by Tyler Wang) and Carl (played by Benjamin Lin) and forms a loving connection with a woman (played by Jacqueline Shu) he visits regularly. It is a play of four interweaving storylines of how love can endure violence and atrocities.
Sarah Kane’s Cleansed takes place in an institution where Tinker (played by Ceria Huang), the psychopathic “doctor” in charge, challenges each character’s bonds of love and devotion. The play follows Grace (played by Catherine Chen) as she ventures to the institution searching for her brother Graham (played by Hunter Yang) after he dies of an overdose. Grace later encounters Robin (played by Steven Hsu), who forms a connection and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Tinker tortures the residents of the institution with the help of his assistants (played by Diana Chen and Alexandre Ke), tests Robin’s love for Grace as well as the commitment between two other “patients,” Rod (played by Tyler Wang) and Carl (played by Benjamin Lin) and forms a loving connection with a woman (played by Jacqueline Shu) he visits regularly. It is a play of four interweaving storylines of how love can endure violence and atrocities.
Director Lily Wu at rehearsals, photograph by Quentin Liao and Vivi Cheng
Due to portrayals of excessive violence such as dismemberment, rape, and force-feeding in Kane’s script, many faculty members at FJU showed concern for this year’s senior play production. However, both Wu and her actors worked very hard to portray sensitive topics with symbolism, stage-makeup, dancing, and lighting. “The script is filled with impossible stage directions such as sunflowers bursting through the stage floor,” says Wu, “I already had to think of different ways to represent imagery such as the flowers, so I decided to represent the more graphic scenes in this manner as well. To be honest, the biggest challenge I faced was the nudity in the script. I was too optimistic and had this idealized vision but (in order to present this, I ) had to (overcome) a lot of technical problems ” In the end, Wu had the costume department prepare flesh-colored bodysuits. On top of that, she communicated with the actors to make sure this decision was within their comfort zones.
Regarding the controversy and backlash, the chair of the English department BC Chen commented, “One of the cornerstones of the English Department at Fu-Jen is to treasure the freedom to make choices.” Chen said, “We at the department are grateful for any input and insights to our senior play Cleansed from the viewers.” After all, “this criticism shows caring and collaboration.” To prepare her audiences, Wu and her team decided to rate the production as NC-17, talked about her creative process before all three performances, and, along with instructor Mr. Hegel Tsai, held forums with the actors to address the audience’s questions and concerns after each performance.
Wu didn’t want to follow the style of a conventional play. She had a particular vision for the story she wanted to tell: “You have to reach an agreement with every group so that they can see the vision in my head, but it can be a messy process. If everyone has a different idea about a scene, then the elements combined just won’t work. We were still making major changes in the very last stage of preparations, which wasn’t ideal. The stage manager and I were faced with a lot of pressure, but I’m glad that every group is willing to work with us.”
Regarding the controversy and backlash, the chair of the English department BC Chen commented, “One of the cornerstones of the English Department at Fu-Jen is to treasure the freedom to make choices.” Chen said, “We at the department are grateful for any input and insights to our senior play Cleansed from the viewers.” After all, “this criticism shows caring and collaboration.” To prepare her audiences, Wu and her team decided to rate the production as NC-17, talked about her creative process before all three performances, and, along with instructor Mr. Hegel Tsai, held forums with the actors to address the audience’s questions and concerns after each performance.
Wu didn’t want to follow the style of a conventional play. She had a particular vision for the story she wanted to tell: “You have to reach an agreement with every group so that they can see the vision in my head, but it can be a messy process. If everyone has a different idea about a scene, then the elements combined just won’t work. We were still making major changes in the very last stage of preparations, which wasn’t ideal. The stage manager and I were faced with a lot of pressure, but I’m glad that every group is willing to work with us.”
Ceria Huang, as Tinker and Steven Hsu as Robin, photograph by Quentin Liao and Vivi Cheng
Due to the nature of the chosen script, Wu decided that it would best suit the non-linear narrative to use as few blackouts as possible. All five settings in the play are on stage simultaneously, with different stage lights cross-fading to represent a change of location. According to Wu, this was to add fluidity to the story. She doesn’t like to leave blanks in-between scenes because it cuts out the emotions of the previous scene.
Q: What motivated you to take on the role of this year’s director for the senior play?
Wu: While I was working on the sound effects team on the Annual Play production last year, I noticed the director Natasha Lin and one of the actors having a hard time reaching an agreement. I kind of interfered and acted as a mediator between them. That’s when I realized I had many ideas about some of the scenes. Some members of the Annual Play noticed and seemed to like my suggestions, so I was encouraged by them to take on the role of director for the following Senior Play.
Q: What was your inspiration for choosing Cleansed for this year’s production?
Wu: I wanted to experiment with different media and kinds of styles such as devised theater, but that would have required a lot of time that we didn’t have. So, I kept the form of experimentalism and avant-garde theater and chose an existing script as a basis. I wanted to challenge my audiences by pushing the limits on what is and isn’t acceptable in theater and portray a story where people are overpowered by unknown forces. I was hoping that Cleansed could make them more or less aware of unspeakable truths. By bringing these events to my audience, they have to be in the moment and acknowledge pain and suffering that is usually ignored. It is a hopeful story despite torture, cruelty, and obscenity. The characters never gave up the capacity to love or be loved—it’s more than the shock factor people assume it is.
Q: How did that affect actors, changing of props, and the play’s set design?
Wu: To make transitions as smooth as possible, actors must be on stage way before their scenes. That takes a lot of practice and much effort from the prop team. The set design has to be minimal to reach that effect, too.
Q: What challenges were you expecting as the director?
Wu: Decision making. I’m too open-minded and my ideas fluctuate a lot. The senior play production crew is a big team. Being a director means that you’re in charge of both cast and crew, which is a lot of responsibility. I found that communication is key. When a scene doesn’t meet my expectations, I try to find a way to communicate with the cast and crew and find the best way to bring the tableau I have in my mind to the stage. It is also rewarding in a way when you’ve come a long way to work out which ways of communications and discussions suit an actor best. It’s pretty interesting.
Q: Who was your favorite character in the play? Was there any scene in particular you enjoyed?
Wu: I wouldn’t say he’s my favorite character. I’m not sure I have one. Every character in the play is charismatic in their own way, but personally, Tinker is the one I relate to the most. At first, I felt like he was doing things without a reason. Like you hurt people and do anything just because you can. That’s crazy. There has to be a reason, right? He’s so jealous of other characters that he has to torture and humiliate them to feel less imbalanced or insecure. He’s a person of contradiction, which has a lot to do with the fact that he’s not used to facing his emotions and feelings directly. In terms of the staging, I think our team had done a great job in Scene 10, during which a bunch of daffodils fell onto the stage. It worked with the line “Lovely” pretty well.
Q: Do you have advice for anyone thinking about taking on play direction next year?
Wu: Never give up for the sake of being afraid of failing. There are going to be a lot of obstacles. There are going to be a lot of people that doubt you. Don’t let them stop what you want to do in the first place. Also, communication is EVERYTHING. Everybody knows that, but I can’t stress this enough. Good communication means being open-minded, but not to the extent that it affects the overall efficiency.
The 2020 English Department Senior Play production Cleansed was performed on December 23rd, 24th, 26th at the Arens theater.
Q: What motivated you to take on the role of this year’s director for the senior play?
Wu: While I was working on the sound effects team on the Annual Play production last year, I noticed the director Natasha Lin and one of the actors having a hard time reaching an agreement. I kind of interfered and acted as a mediator between them. That’s when I realized I had many ideas about some of the scenes. Some members of the Annual Play noticed and seemed to like my suggestions, so I was encouraged by them to take on the role of director for the following Senior Play.
Q: What was your inspiration for choosing Cleansed for this year’s production?
Wu: I wanted to experiment with different media and kinds of styles such as devised theater, but that would have required a lot of time that we didn’t have. So, I kept the form of experimentalism and avant-garde theater and chose an existing script as a basis. I wanted to challenge my audiences by pushing the limits on what is and isn’t acceptable in theater and portray a story where people are overpowered by unknown forces. I was hoping that Cleansed could make them more or less aware of unspeakable truths. By bringing these events to my audience, they have to be in the moment and acknowledge pain and suffering that is usually ignored. It is a hopeful story despite torture, cruelty, and obscenity. The characters never gave up the capacity to love or be loved—it’s more than the shock factor people assume it is.
Q: How did that affect actors, changing of props, and the play’s set design?
Wu: To make transitions as smooth as possible, actors must be on stage way before their scenes. That takes a lot of practice and much effort from the prop team. The set design has to be minimal to reach that effect, too.
Q: What challenges were you expecting as the director?
Wu: Decision making. I’m too open-minded and my ideas fluctuate a lot. The senior play production crew is a big team. Being a director means that you’re in charge of both cast and crew, which is a lot of responsibility. I found that communication is key. When a scene doesn’t meet my expectations, I try to find a way to communicate with the cast and crew and find the best way to bring the tableau I have in my mind to the stage. It is also rewarding in a way when you’ve come a long way to work out which ways of communications and discussions suit an actor best. It’s pretty interesting.
Q: Who was your favorite character in the play? Was there any scene in particular you enjoyed?
Wu: I wouldn’t say he’s my favorite character. I’m not sure I have one. Every character in the play is charismatic in their own way, but personally, Tinker is the one I relate to the most. At first, I felt like he was doing things without a reason. Like you hurt people and do anything just because you can. That’s crazy. There has to be a reason, right? He’s so jealous of other characters that he has to torture and humiliate them to feel less imbalanced or insecure. He’s a person of contradiction, which has a lot to do with the fact that he’s not used to facing his emotions and feelings directly. In terms of the staging, I think our team had done a great job in Scene 10, during which a bunch of daffodils fell onto the stage. It worked with the line “Lovely” pretty well.
Q: Do you have advice for anyone thinking about taking on play direction next year?
Wu: Never give up for the sake of being afraid of failing. There are going to be a lot of obstacles. There are going to be a lot of people that doubt you. Don’t let them stop what you want to do in the first place. Also, communication is EVERYTHING. Everybody knows that, but I can’t stress this enough. Good communication means being open-minded, but not to the extent that it affects the overall efficiency.
The 2020 English Department Senior Play production Cleansed was performed on December 23rd, 24th, 26th at the Arens theater.