Ever puzzled how Singaporeans are introducing Singapore to the world? Introducing our new digital sequence, Going World, which takes you into the lives of Singaporeans who’re making waves overseas within the worlds of arts & tradition. First up: singer, actress and musical theatre star Nathania Ong, who not too long ago turned the primary Singaporean ever to deal with the esteemed function of Eponine in Les Miserables.
About 5 seconds into my dialog with Nathania Ong, I realise this feels somewhat bit extra like an opportunity encounter somewhat than a Zoom interview. “That is so beautiful,” she tells me excitedly, bare-faced and smiling brighter than a ray of sunshine, after weeks of coordinating a name bridging a seven-hour time distinction between Singapore and London. We chat for at the least 5 minutes in regards to the climate, in an enthusiastic, real manner and never a faux, small-talk sort of manner – a British heatwave, Ong jokes, may really feel virtually as sizzling as I do whereas sitting in my closely air-conditioned Toa Payoh workplace.
From there we transfer on to a unique subject with out lacking a beat – Ong’s accent, I observe, is as crisp and clear as these I heard whereas learning overseas within the UK – earlier than segueing right into a facet dialog about why all Brits go shirts off as quickly because the temp hits 20 levels. Then and there, I immediately bear in mind why I’m right here within the first place – to higher get to know the first-ever Singaporean actress to play the famed function of Eponine in Les Miserables, on none apart from London’s esteemed West Finish.
That is how the dialog goes, although, if you lastly get the possibility to take a seat down with somebody as humbly proficient as Nathania. Fortunate doesn’t appear to chop it – blessed, even. The sensation I get, as I hear her discuss how she climbed her technique to the top of economic theatre, is the sensation I get once I discuss to my greatest pal (who, serendipitously, additionally occurs to reside in London). Blessings, serendipity, luck – no matter you name it, she would be the first to inform you her journey to the highest has had a wholesome dose of all three, after which some. “I began on the singing route,” Ong says of her early beginnings. How she ended up making use of for drama faculty – and finally changing into an actor in one among musical theatre’s most coveted roles – ended up being extra of a contented accident.
“I utilized for five totally different improper colleges, all in straight performing,” she laughs. “Not realising that so as to get into an performing faculty, you had to have the ability to act.”
For sure, Ong was rejected from each single one. She began from scratch, coming again to Singapore to attend an performing program at Lasalle earlier than a brand new lease on life got here knocking within the type of Mountview Academy, the celebrated London-based drama academy which was holding auditions proper right here at dwelling. However discouraged by her failed (and costly) first try at auditioning, Ong didn’t bounce at a second probability immediately. “I had sort of given up on that dream, and my greatest pal knew it,” she says. “She was the one who truly satisfied me to be like, ‘Hey. You want to go and audition, such as you needed to review within the UK for ages. And that is your probability, prefer it’s proper in entrance of you.’ I used to be barely like, not traumatised,” Ong muses. “However I believe I used to be barely afraid.”
Quick ahead a number of years later, Ong stays grateful for the roundabout manner she took to attaining her dream. “I believe it sort of preps you for the performing life,” she says, “which is rejection after rejection after rejection, till immediately you land an element.” Every thing she is aware of now about residing in the actual world stems from that second. “I believe one of the best factor which you could realise is that it’s okay if individuals say no. Lots of instances after we do one thing, we affiliate our worth with what we’re providing…nevertheless it’s truly not that deep.”
“Dissociating your worth from what you’re providing – is a very large step of how I’ve tried to take care of rejection,” Ong continues, “as a result of, being an actor, you might be your product. And so each time you step into that audition room, if you pull all of that out, you be taught all that materials, you make investments all that point, after which to have that ‘no’ could be fairly heartbreaking.” I ask her how that act of getting knocked down solely to should get again up once more, the fixed emotional whiplash, has formed her as an actor and extra importantly, as an individual. Ong counters that it’s all simply part of life; somewhat than the concept that rejection has formed her, she considers how her mentality has discovered to embrace rejection as a matter of circumstance somewhat than a life-changing expertise, simply one other inevitable bump within the highway or a blip within the universe – c’est la vie. “Simply realising that they’re not saying no to you and your expertise, and also you as an individual,” she says. “They’re saying ‘no’ as a result of they really feel like, probably, they only discovered somebody higher for the half, and it may be like a number of inches [of] peak distinction or one thing.”
Now, with even larger sneakers to fill on the West Finish, the stakes are increased, the auditions more durable, the rejections maybe even tougher to bear. Particularly as an Asian face in a nonetheless predominantly-white business, Ong is well-aware of what’s at stake. “I really feel like visibility is a very, actually essential factor,” she says. “But in addition I really feel like in one other sense, I really feel that extra work must be written…as an East Asian, I can say that it’s so irritating to see our tales being written by individuals who haven’t lived our experiences.” She asserts that extra Asian tales on the massive stage will additional pave the way in which for Asian actors hoping to observe in her footsteps. Will she be switching over to writing herself anytime quickly, although? “One step at a time,” she says with a smile.
When musical theatre legend Lea Salonga made her debut as Eponine on Broadway in 1993, changing into the primary actress of Asian descent to take action, “Pleasure Luck Membership” was promoting out theatres throughout America, elevating hopes for better illustration in Hollywood and past. But thirty years later, whereas lots of the similar obstacles for individuals of color within the arts and leisure business nonetheless stay, Ong represents a brand new technology of up-and-coming actors who’re main the change as soon as once more. One a part of that’s acknowledging that whereas she might look Asian or Singaporean on the surface, what drives her and evokes her inner philosophy as an actor – is neither or. “I really feel prefer it’s been extra about simply my experiences as an individual,” she says. “We’re made up of the experiences that we’ve. I spent nearly all of my life in Singapore. And so once I take into consideration my childhood…I take into consideration mundane issues, like taking the bus. And I believe, like us as people, all of us have little recollections like that. And nobody’s going to have that have.”
All these experiences have definitely added up in a giant manner for Ong, whose ticket to one among musical theatre’s greatest roles appears to lend credence to the previous adage that the extra you reside, the extra you be taught. When requested about her method to creating such an iconic function her personal, she acknowledges that she has large sneakers to fill, however doesn’t look an inch too intimidated. Drawing on these lived experiences, years of working a number of facet jobs and saving up money simply to get an opportunity at auditioning for her large break, actually paid off when it got here to portraying the character’s scrappier facet – not what Ong calls the “well mannered” interpretations beforehand seen on display screen and on stage. “I used to be like, she’s ugly, she is a road rat…She’s not embarrassed. She’s nothing,” Ong says. “She’s utterly unfazed by that, as a result of that’s simply her life.”
Ong could also be removed from a road rat, I observe, however I can’t assist however suppose how worldly she is all the identical; the sort of grit solely acquired by being thrown onto the streets with nowhere else to go, as Eponine, or by selecting to reside on the streets, working laborious to search out one’s manner on the earth. “I believe it was the late Alan Rickman who was speaking about this,” she says. “Appropriate me if I’m improper, however I believe that there was a video when he was speaking about easy methods to be an excellent actor. And he says that to be an excellent actor, you’ll want to construct an publicity to issues taking place all over the world, to develop opinions primarily based on present occasions. And thru establishing these issues, you may construct your interpretations of no matter’s thrown at you…I used to be like, would my character have this opinion, or would my character be someplace somewhat bit additional? All of us have this reservoir of our data and concepts and opinions on issues, and so so as to enhance as an actor, enriching that reservoir is a very essential set.”
However for Ong, the reservoir of expertise is extra than simply about studying easy methods to develop into a greater actor or a greater individual. Residing a life exterior of character has taught her easy methods to reside life to the fullest; years of shifting throughout London and Singapore have proven her a factor or two about cultural code switching, however have additionally given her experiences far past all the things she’s achieved on stage. “I believe a entice that lots of people fall into is making performing our life,” she says. “Appearing is enjoyable and performing is absolutely attractive and troublesome and detailed and meticulous, however it’s very troublesome,” she laughs, “and it’s a job, successfully, on the finish of the day.” And whereas it’s secure to say that world citizenship has not solely broadened her skilled horizons, however her private ones as properly, her each day stays easy. When requested what she likes to do to unwind all through her each day life in London, she cites easy accessibility to walks within the park as a easy pleasure.
And regardless of the struggles of lacking dwelling notably through the pandemic, Ong says she has no intention of giving up her newfound independence in London anytime quickly. “It’s actually troublesome as a result of the business feels fairly small,” she says in regards to the arts scene in Singapore. “However we will’t increase the business till the demand will increase.” And although she acknowledges far more must be achieved to assist up-and-coming artists within the area and the burgeoning leisure business, Ong says there’s extra hope for her hometown than many different cities all over the world. She cites the benefit of going to the theatre, how the expertise is equally enriching as a viewer as it’s as an actor, as one among her favorite issues about life in London, and encourages everybody again dwelling to do the identical – to point out the assist for the humanities wanted so as to get the federal government to point out actors the cash. “I’ve met so many proficient Singaporean performers, and there’s a number of within the UK as properly, to only float round and bump right into a Singaporean performer and be like, ‘Hey, we’ve this shared lived expertise.’ However then, why are we having to go all the way in which to the opposite facet of the world so as to act? We’ve the expertise. That expertise has at all times been there.”
Ong likens her discovering her footing as an actor, and as Eponine, to filling out a colouring guide. “I do get in comparison with a whole lot of the Eponines fairly usually, and it’s troublesome to face. However I believe it sort of boils all the way down to colors and notes, and textures inside,” she says. “As a result of there’ve been so many interpretations of Eponine, it’s been so particular discovering my very own.” With Eponine, there’s little doubt that the alternatives afforded to her for skilled improvement in London are a lot better than what she might get at dwelling. And similar to discovering her personal identification in character, her new life in London as a younger unbiased has formed her in methods she has solely began to see. “After I was in Singapore, I used to be shielded by the consolation of my household, and I’m the youngest of 4 women,” she says. “There’s one thing that forces you to develop as an individual if you go and you reside independently, particularly overseas, as a result of there’s all of those unfamiliar issues round you that you just’re making an attempt to adapt to.
I’ve matured in the way in which that I method conditions, but in addition, I believe I’ve grown in persistence, when life throws loopy issues at me. As a result of typically you simply have to take a seat and breathe, put your hat on and simply attempt to get it over with.” In contrast to Eponine, who dies tragically within the streets of Paris mourning what might’ve been, Ong’s future brims with chance all the way in which out on the West Finish; regardless of being 1000’s of miles away from dwelling, she’s single-handedly constructed a brand new life surrounded by individuals and issues she loves – removed from being on her personal.
This text was initially printed in Harper’s Bazaar Singapore.
Supply: Her World