How did the collaboration between Victorian Opera and Singapore’s Wild Rice theatre on The Butterfly Lovers come about?

I first encountered Ivan Heng, the founding Artistic Director of Wild Rice, when he acted in a show called Emily of Emerald Hill, which Robyn Archer brought to the 2002 Melbourne Festival. I thought it was one of the most astonishing nights I’d ever spent in the theatre. Sometime later, Geoff Street, who was working in Singapore, got in touch with me and we arranged to have dinner while I was in Singapore on the way to Europe. I said, “I’d love to meet Ivan Heng when I’m there”. I’ve been in touch with Ivan ever since. He is deeply literate in the Asian theatre tradition – one of Asia’s really great theatre-makers. In many ways, Wild Rice is very similar to Victorian Opera. It’s very edgy and it speaks truth to power, which is maybe not always popular in Singapore, but when something major comes along, they turn to Ivan...