Janice Koh: A Class Act

From a lawyer to an indie film producer to a power-hungry daughter of a king, and from English theatre and film to Chinese theatre, veteran actress Janice Koh has taken on a wide spectrum of roles with aplomb. In her personal life, she’s a wife and mother of two who went on to champion the arts as a Nominated Member of Parliament. Of all the roles she’s played in life, her best line is: “There’s a first time for everything, and I think it’s better to give it your best shot, than to regret not having tried at all.”

As experienced as she is, she never stops testing herself. Casting aside apprehensions of having to sing in a performance, she recently took up the role of a cabaret mamasan in her first musical performance. The restaging of Beauty World, the iconic musical by Michael Chiang and Dick Lee, begins its run at the Victoria Theatre on November 13.

Just before the show, Janice Koh spoke to Melissa Gail Sing about playing at work, the most defining role in her life and the two big lessons yoga has taught her.

How did you come to take on the role of Mummy in Beauty World?
I was completely bowled over when I saw the very first production of Beauty World, staged by Theatreworks at the World Trade Centre Auditorium more than 25 years ago. I fell in love with the songs and the music, which have become such an iconic part of Singapore theatre repertoire.

I don’t think of myself as a musical theatre performer. I think that requires specific talent or training, and I don’t have any musical background or have any experience in music. So it never occurred to me that I could one day be in a musical or much less Beauty World. When I was approached by producer Annie Pek and playwright Michael Chiang for this role, I was really surprised but also extremely excited. My instinct was to say yes and it really helped that the role does not have any major singing solo parts. 

To be honest, I was apprehensive about having to sing in the show. But, as I grow older, I think I’ve become more open to leaving my comfort zone. I’ve become a little less fearful of failure. I tend to be more risk-taking with my work choices as I grow older. It’s no different to saying yes to my first role in Parliament or saying yes to a Mandarin theatre production even though my Mandarin might be weak. Maybe it’s my way of finally ticking off boxes on my bucket list. There’s a first time for everything, and I think it’s better to give it your best shot, than to regret not having tried at all. 

Tell me about the character you play.
I play the role of Mummy. She is the cabaret mamasan of Beauty World, this nightclub, and the lady boss who runs the show and manages the girls in the establishment. 

Mummy has a certain toughness, a certain edginess and resilience about her—which you probably need to run a business like a nightclub in the 1960s. At the same time, having been a cabaret hostess herself, she does have a bond with her girls, which reveals her nurturing and maternal side, soft side. The challenge is to reveal both sides of this woman in just one or two short scenes in the show. I think it will be interesting to portray woman whose background is so different from mine—one who is not educated, but got her street smarts and tough mindedness through experiencing the seediness and grittiness of life. 

To prepare for the role, I read more about Singapore in the 1960s—the heyday of amusement and theme parks like Gay World and Happy World—and scoured through old news articles about the nightclub scene of that time.

Are there times in your personal life when you’re like Mummy?
I don’t think the two are so easily compared but I am personally a workaholic and quite demanding on myself and on others. I think that’s the closest similarity I can find in the Mummy character.

Speaking of being a workaholic, what else is keeping you busy at the moment?
Right after Beauty World, I’ll be working on a show that’s a collaboration with a company in Japan. Training takes place in Bali for a month and the show premiere will be at the Singapore International Festival of Arts. It will then tour in Japan. I am very excited because it’s a project with TheatreWorks and Ong Keng Sen, artistic director of the Festival, is one of my favourite people to work with. 

I also volunteer on a few boards including W!ld Rice, the Singapore International Film Festival and the Musicians Guild of Singapore in addition to the Victoria Advisory Committee.

What’s the best thing about being an actress?
I get to play, be creative and give my imagination free reign as part of my job! I don’t know how many people can say that. That’s the best part. It’s also very cathartic. I enjoy the process and the rehearsals as much as the performance after the show has opened.

What brings me greatest fulfillment is doing work that has an impact on other people or makes them happy. At the end of the day, I think that’s why I perform. It is both cathartic and pleasurable for me but at the same time, I choose work that I know people will be moved by, that will change their minds about something, or that provokes them and makes them question received ideas. That drives me to do better. 

And the worst?
There are pros and cons of living an actor’s life, but it’s part of the nature of the job. For instance, there will always be some level of job instability as a freelance actor, as with any artist working freelance. However, the flipside of that is the flexibility that allows me to have time with my children, which I might not have if I worked full-time in the corporate world. 

From my observation, the main drawback of being a freelance actor and for the freelance creative sector in general is that we sometimes struggle with not having a proper union to represent us or advocate on our behalf, especially in cases of exploitation or poor working conditions. That’s one area that really needs to be improved upon. 

What’s the most defining role in your acting career?
Honestly, I hope I haven’t played it yet! I hope to have a long acting career and that the best is yet to be! I hope I do it. There’s a saying that you’re only as good as your last show. It doesn’t matter how well you did five or 10 years ago in a show; people only remember the last show you did. It’s so transient. Our work is transitory and effervescent in that way. Last night was great. Today might not be so good and only the people who saw it will remember that. We cannot rest on our laurels. There’s no defining moment. Every night and every role is important.

And in your life?
Becoming a parent has been the most transformative experience in my life. I continue to be transformed every day as my children grow up to become teenagers. That’s really one role that keeps changing and you learn on the job. I always wish I could do better and it’s never enough or good enough. So, for me I think that’s the most defining role.

At the end of the day, it is the role you measure yourself by because it’s about how your children remember you, and it’s where most of your treasured memories with the family lay. 

How has motherhood changed you?
It has taught be to try to let go of things that are beyond my control. I think there is a perfectionist streak in me. In theatre, my old friends will laugh at me or call me the prefect because I like to be in control, having things work out the way they should, and try to plan everything. However, when you have kids with a mind of their own, you can’t. It’s given me a new perspective on going with the flow and being present in this moment rather than always working towards a destination and then missing the beauty and the gift of the present. Children make that real. Our interactions with children, especially when they are younger, is all about the now. Playing now. Being with me now. That’s important to them: that you are just there. It’s pointless me being on my mobile phone when they just want me to be with them. That’s a lesson I think I would miss if I didn’t have my kids. 

Sometimes I don’t juggle work and motherhood very well. It’s really about juggling all these balls and sometimes some balls will fall, which I think is normal. There are times when I am travelling or touring for a show for a month or more and I hardly see my kids. Then there are other times when I am between projects and they can’t get me out of their hair because I am at home so much. I’d be lying if I said that my work hasn’t affected my quantity and quality time with my children. 

I believe kids are far more adaptable than we think they are. My husband Lionel sometimes tells me it’s great that I am so busy because they’ve have to fend for themselves, sort out their homework, prepare for their tests on their own and so on. I deliberately carve out, in advance, space in my schedule that is specially set-aside for family such as vacations. Over the past few years, I’ve also taken separate trips with each of my boys. That way, I get to spend one-on-one time with them.

How did your term as NMP shape your life?
It made me realise how capable we all are of rising to the occasion if the need or cause for it is strong enough. Before I took on the role, I was fearful that the job that would be too big for me to fill, that expectations would be too high, that it would take up too much time—and of course, it did—that it would be too difficult, that I was not smart enough and so on. And then you do it and realise we are capable of far more than we think we are. 

There were periods when I’d be in Parliament during the day and then in the evenings, I’d do a show before having meetings for the next day’s Parliamentary session. I don’t think I ever thought that I could have enough energy and stamina to do that but I don’t know where it came from. There is a force that drives us and I think that if we are passionate about something it just fills us and gives us the motivation to do something. The experience taught me that as long as I fill myself with causes that are close to me, anything is possible.

My term as NMP also revealed to me the importance of civil society and how each of us can find productive and proactive ways of making a positive change towards causes we feel strongly about. In Singapore, this kind of ground-up approach and participation is still nascent. Yet I think it is an important part of a maturing democracy.

Perhaps having had many decades of strong, authoritative and effective government, Singaporeans have the idea that our small, individual contributions or actions have little or no impact. What difference can one person make after all? Why not leave it to the authorities to take care of it? Apathy sets in, and resilience is dampened. Worse, it encourages complainers rather than doers. 

We can all represent causes we believe strongly about in many ways, whether it’s saving the environment, fighting for the rights of migrant workers or promoting kindness in Singapore or animal welfare. You don’t have to be in politics to do it. 

What is a beautiful life?
It’s one where it’s about contentment and gratitude. A beautiful life is one where we are surrounded by people we love and for me, one that is close to nature. 

There is beauty in life and then there are beasts. What are some of the beasts in your life?
The fear of failure. It perpetuates anxiety and stress, which at the end of the day is unnecessary but that’s one of those beasts that I fight. That’s why I make it a point to do things that are outside of my comfort zone because it’s just so easy to do things that we are familiar with or fall into familiarity and then we start getting used to not being courageous about the decisions we make or taking risks that might take us down a different path. It’s one of those muscles we have to practise, otherwise, we will just succumb to it. It shows itself in everyday scenarios. One example is having kids in the primary school education system here which is quite pressurising on the kids. If I give in to a fear of failure, I put that stress on my children and I don’t want to do that. So I literally always have to pull myself out of a situation where I don’t want to breed in them that same fear. So that’s something I work on every day.

I believe I am more open to failure when I create, or when I'm in rehearsal, but probably less so in my personal life. Essentially, I'm a practical person. I'm a planner, an organiser. I don't like too many variables in a situation. As a result, I think I tend to shy away from pathways that are uncertain or yield uncertain results. When I was 19, I was offered the chance to study drama at various reputable universities abroad. I turned them all down because the fees were unaffordable, and I was afraid of taking on a loan I could not repay. On hindsight, and if I could turn back time, I would have been more conscientious about looking for alternative sources of financial assistance overseas or even considered working on campus to support my studies. I've always wondered how different my life might have been if I had been more courageous then. 

What are your hobbies, interests or favourite indulgences outside of work?
I’ve been practicing yoga for 15 years now. It’s been a major influence in my life and a real teacher. There are two values that I’ve learnt from practicing yoga. One: success is 99 percent practice and one percent theory or talent. If you practice every day, all is coming and I believe that. It’s my work ethic, how I see life and what I inculcate in my own children. It doesn’t matter how much talent you’re given. If you don’t practice or put in the work, your potential won’t be fulfilled. Two: Really anything is possible. When I first started yoga, I’d look at people do backbends and handstands and think it’s impossible for me to do. Yet all you need to do is start, even if you can’t touch your toes. Over the years, I’ve started to do things with my body that I never imagined I could do including standing on my head and on my hands. And it’s not because I am athletic or anything; it’s because when you do a little every day, you’ll eventually get there.