KK - Dr. K K Seet
iCUBED.us Interviewer – Margaret Chen
Date: December 2010 (Interview conducted via email exchange)

iCUBED.us: What made you pick the choices you took in your life? How much of it was by conscious choice and design? Did your natural ability to write, or your ease at expressing yourself make your choice of a career easier? If you could live your life again, is there anything you'd want to change?

KK: I am a creature of paradox. I am a meticulous planner when it comes to things of little consequence like a dinner party (down to choice of ambient music and napkin rings) and events in the short term (like where to go on holiday) but when it involves grand decisions like a career or what to do in the next ten years, I rely on serendipity. Being an academic was very much the outcome of trying to put off serious work for as long as possible, as I drifted from one course or programme to another, and from one country (Canada) to the next (England) till I completed a Ph.D and there was no further to go. And that degree then becomes a liability in the sense that you are over-qualified for much else. I am by nature languid, cavalier and easily bored. Short term plans engage me but anything involving the long view demands more ambition and discipline that I can muster. Likewise, I never planned to write. In the Honors’ year of my first degree, I was approached by a publisher to write an anecdotal history of the Singapore National Library. It was purely a commission. And I took it up as a challenge. If I had been a motivated or truly driven writer, my first book would surely have been a novel, and I would have been the one knocking on the doors of agents and publishers.

The bizarre thing is I don’t ever want to live my life again, not that it hasn’t been relatively cushy and easy, but I’ve always known I am an old soul and if I can escape samsara for nirvana, why not?

iCUBED.us: Could you comment about the need for a Theatre Program in any university? (Isn't it better to have Theatre Studies taught in a theatre school, like vocational training?) Theatre is a very costly department as it comprises so many separate disciplines, each of them requiring real and visible excellence in order to stand out -- such as Stage Design, Costuming and Props, Music and Sound Effects, Acting, Directing, and last but not least ... Lighting. Isn't it better value for money to have a literature department with courses studying famous and successful plays, and then put the money saved to practical departments teaching Accounting, Economics, Engineering, etc...

KK: Theatre is the most useful course for any university. It is not only about substance but presentation. It stresses that delivery is as important as content and that team work, EQ etc are paramount in today’s world. Moreover, improvisation, a pivotal part of theatre practice, teaches one to think on one’s feet. Literature, as you pointed out, is only one aspect of theatre–the textual. The other components of the mise-en-scene marshals together skills in fashion design (costumes), carpentry (props) architecture and interior design (sets) visual arts (backdrop) music and sound design etc . Theatre is a composite art form. You are learning so many things while studying one discipline.

iCUBED.us: What are the qualities necessary for a person to be successful in theatre work, as a Theatre Set Designer, an Actor, or a Director? Is Passion enough, what about Talent? If you could only possess one not both, which is more important, and why?

KK: Success in theatre work is contingent upon the ideal mixture of talent (which gets you noticed) passion (which gets you started) and diligence (which keeps you going). I hate to admit this, because as an educationist one needs to advocate industry and application, but talent probably has the edge over passion. Passion will make the competent theatre practitioner, but talent will make the charismatic theatre practitioner, in other words, the star.

iCUBED.us: You're an academic but also very much of a dramatic, creative, and fun personality ... What's your response to people who say -- and believe -- that Asians are by nature NOT creative? Do you agree on any level, or could you come up with tried-and-tested examples of Creativity in Persons of Asian Decent?

KK: Asians are very creative but they are easily pigeonholed. They allow themselves to be circumscribed by stereotypes. If I followed the example of my Asian colleagues, I would have become the typical stick-in-the-mud holier than thou academic. I am saved in this regard by my paradoxical instincts. When I am out there in the world of media, I have great respect for my academic peers because they would research thoroughly and reflect substantially before making any claims or assertions.

But when I am burrowing in the library, I envy the world of media for being out there, not entrenched in an ivory tower, and also for its creativity, its energy and buzz. That’s when I wonder if academia is indeed infinite hairsplitting and whether one more dense, obscure academic journal is likely to add much to the hallowed halls of learning or to be read by many.

iCUBED.us: Your most recent book, A Single Tear, is a full-colored illustrated "fairytale for all ages", and is a story your mother told you as child. What is the book about? If any, what is the main message of the book?

KK: The book is about a pair of star-crossed lovers on an endless quest for each other over a number of reincarnations because one party failed to acknowledge or express love in a timely manner. The main message of the book is encapsulated in the slogan, also the advertising tagline for the book (which appears in all the publicity collaterals as well) - ”Have you told anyone today that you love them?” Carpe diem. Do so now, or you or them may be run over by a truck tomorrow and you don’t want millennia of regret and wasted opportunity.

iCUBED.us: Do you believe in reincarnation? If so, have you any idea about your own past lives? Who, or what were you in previous incarnations? Would you be considered an "old soul", and are old souls more wise than younger ones? If we were to believe in reincarnation, must we also believe that there is a purpose in every life, and that by fulfilling our life's purpose means getting to, or getting closer to, Nirvana -- which is the equivalent of Heaven.

KK: Yes, I do believe in reincarnation. I have always known I am an old soul. I get occasional flashes of deja vu. It’s hard to explain. I wander down a small alley in a remote part of Europe and can sense that I have been here before. What I would like is an opportunity for memory/life regression. But there are just too many charlatans around and I am still searching for a guru I can trust.

iCUBED.us: What types of stories do you think the world needs more of? And who should be the ones to write these stories? What qualities should our story-tellers possess?

KK: Stories about love are always uplifting. Too many twisted narratives of warped psychology these days. I just caught Zhang Yimou’s Under the Hawthorne Tree, which he describes as the cleanest love story in the world. Indeed, it is simple, lyrical and affecting. I have always believed that while the beautiful might not necessarily be simple, the simple is always beautiful.

iCUBED.us: Having been both a winner as well as a judge for numerous contests, grants, and awards -- you'd be filled with optimism if what things were to happen? What is a piece of advice that any young person would find helpful in navigating their life's journey?

KK: Open yourself to serendipity. Learn to take risks. Never mourn the closing of a door because it invariably leads to the opening of another. And most of all, cease from being judgmental. Many opportunities (including the opportunity to know people well) are lost as a result of kneejerk reactions or rash conclusions. Remember that the only difference between a flower and a weed is a judgment.



Thank you Dr. Seet for your time and words of wisdom, we look forward to your next working incarnation ... be it book, film, advertising, cocktail, recipe, design or theatre.

Meet DR. KK SEET: Author, Academic, Theatre Director, Media Personality, who helped establish NUS's Theatre Department

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Some Sources and References:
Wikipedia - Old Souls
Hinduism - Reincarnation, Samsara and Karma
Old Soul: It Takes One To Know One