news | Tuesday August 25, 2026

The Toronto Star on The Tao of the World

Joshua Chong writes about Stratford Festival’s production of The Tao of the World by Jovanni Sy and its use of Singlish in The Toronto Star.

An excerpt from the article:

“Sy’s play critiques the country’s ultra-rich, following their sexual escapades and how they use marriage merely as a means toward consolidating power.

Think Crazy Rich Asians. But with more bite. And with some delicious blasphemy thrown in. (It’s hard to see how Tao could ever pass muster with Singapore’s strict media censors.)

One of the most challenging parts of staging this show, however, is nailing the local Singapore dialect. Moulded by decades of cross-cultural exchange, Singlish blends English with a variety of other linguistic influences, including Malay, Tamil and various Chinese dialects.

It’s one of the most difficult dialects to imitate, and also one of the most misunderstood aspects of Singapore culture. And yet, for some of the actors in Tao, they’ve had to learn Singlish is just a matter of weeks.”