Click on the player below to listen to the podcast talk or read CW's live blogging with Desmond Sim: Post Colonial Pro-Fusion: The Fusion English Language Theatres of the Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia.

Click here to save the mp3 to your computer. Audio courtesy of the Glamour Bar. Sound recording by Tom Lee Pettersen at Meta Music Media.

Part One

12:22 | You're not Who You Say You Are... With a round of applause, this session ends. I run up to show Sim and Tina K a sneak peek at what I've blogged in the last hour and Sim says with a laugh, "I look like Hitler, pointing like that!" We bid farewell and I race upstairs to the Crystal Room for more of SILF.

12:13 | Censorship Sim's talk is over, and it's time for questions. One audience member brings the conversation back to government control. "We cannot afford to insult, " replies Sim. With so many religions, cultures and languages in Singapore, it's hard to find a true overall representation. So the most important thing is balance. "Most important is the survival of Singapore. If you rock that boat, you get a smack on the wrist."

12: 10 | Government Support? Singapore is known for being tightly controlled by its government. "Nowadays, they just say, don't put our logo, we don't want to be associated, but if no one takes offense, then carry on. "

12: 08 | A "Star"? Another controversial play features the story of porn star Annabel Chong (nee Grace Quek), who, conducted a "social experiment" on being with 251 man...in a row. Yes, we mean "being with" in that sense. "Do we celebrate her or be ashamed?" Instead, they enshrined her in a play.

11: 53 | Grabbing the Mic The play "Kara-U-OK? " touches on social issues during the rise of, you got it, karaoke. "As the world keeps changing, moving, growing--what happens to those who get left behind?"

11: 46 | Girl Power Sim takes us through more visuals and explains how Singapore has taken their theater scene as a voice for all social and cultural issues. One popular topic it portrays is women in Singapore. "Yes, women do better than man do. They do better in university, and get better degrees." So, what's the problem? "They all want to marry up."

11:40 | Identity Crisis Despite there being a prominent Chinese representation in Singapore, Sim doesn't know what being Chinese really means. Still holding the 70s and 80s Chinese values close, Singaporean Chinese have, in a way, stood still as the rest of China develops in rapid speed. "So, I'm Chinese, they're Chinese...but are we the same Chinese?"

11: 36| Voice through Play When it started, Singapore theater touched on current social issues. Sim recollects a play about a recent teenage suicide trend due to pressure. Sim also worked with ACTION Theater on a collaboration of his renowned screenplay, Beautiful Boxer. Now, Singapore theater is a way to express societal concerns, explore issues that impact a younger generation, or is just a way to share with the world the many colorful aspects of the mish-mash Singaporean culture.

11: 30 | Explaining Peranakan This particular culture in Singapore is hard to explain, says Sim. "My mother is Peranakan. She wears a traditional headdress; we speak a mixture of Hokkien and Malay, but our culture is more so Chinese, though the food is more Malay." A true cultural hybrid, a true Singaporean signature.

11: 27 | Influences Sim reminisces about his childhood, when his grandmother watched Fujian Chinese opera, and also the abundance of other forms of theater, like the Malay wayang kulit and Peranakan amateur theatricals. Withs such a culture backdrop, Singapore theater, which started only 25 years ago, and taken notes from all these forms to develop its own theater scene.

11:23 | Still a Baby "Singapore," says Sim, "is a child in adult clothes, only coming to 50 years old." Happy 43rd birthday, Singapore! (August 9)

11:20 | Where?! "First of all, Where the heck is Singapore?" Many people saw Sim and asked if Singapore was in China since he looked Chinese. Um... So, Sim gives us a brief history lesson of his hometown, starting with Bencoolen, the first trading port in Singapore. He then shares a chart (we love visuals) describing the many levels of influence of different cultures and regions in SEA--Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam. From these sprung influences from the French, Dutch, Portuguese. Sovereignty over regions was a major goal, as was streamlining trading along the straits. Singapore, together with Malacca and Penang, became the Straits Settlements in 1826, under the control of British India. Singapore became the center of the British Empire in 1819 when Sir Raffles swapped the original trading port of Penang to Singapore, and ta-da!

11:16 | Other Side Singapore is a good microcosm of the fusion of East and West cultures. In addition,"There are lots of exciting things happening in Singaporean theater."

11:14 | Housekeeping Tina K welcomes the crowd with a cheery "welcome back!" and of course, the mobile phone schpiel-- "Yes, Desmond, this means you too," she jokes to her old friend.

11:03am | Sunday, Sunday And good morning. We're back, live at SILF, for the second Sunday of the Festival. This morning we're sitting in with Singaporean playwright Desmond Sim as he takes us through a "more visual" tour of fusion Southeast Asian culture. Having lived and worked in Singapore, I'm excited to hear more about this multicultural hub. Author Lynn Pan is also in attendance, but this time as an audience member (she's sitting right beside me!) The Glamour Bar has been sectioned off, giving this talk a cozier feel on this gray Shanghai morning.