5 Questions with Merlynn Tong
Merlynn Tong is a writer and actor. Her playwriting credits include Legends (of the Golden Arches) (Performing Lines WA), which she also co-directed and will stage at Melbourne Theatre Company in 2025, Congratulations, Get Rich! (La Boite Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company/Singapore Repertory Theatre), Antigone (adaptation, Queensland Theatre/Mercury Theatre UK) and Blue Bones (Playlab Productions).
Her one-woman-show Blue Bones won six Matilda Awards, including The Lord Mayor Award for Best New Australian Work, Best Mainstage Production and Best Female Actor in a Leading Role. Golden Blood was shortlisted for a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, NSW Premier's Literary Award, and Sydney Theatre Award (Best New Australian Work).
No.1
You have mentioned the inspiration behind Golden Blood in the press material, so I thought to ask you something else. In another interview you say that your one-woman play Ma Ma Ma Mad (2013) was the first time you acted on stage. How do you think your acting and playwriting practice has evolved since then?
It’s been wonderful that for a decade now I have been able to write and perform in my own shows—ten years ago, I would never have imagined being on stage at the Melbourne Theatre Company, or walking around the city seeing posters of the gorgeous Charles Wu and me! I think both my acting and playwriting practice has evolved a great deal. Mostly because I have had the opportunity to work with many incredible artists along the way; I learn more from each person I encounter. With every work I make, and every time I step on stage, I endeavour to learn more about the craft and grow as an artist.
No.2
Mention Singapore to outsiders and most would think of its surface image, which is that of a glitzy city with skyscrapers, somewhat akin to what is shown in the movie Crazy Rich Asians. Why are you interested in subverting this impression, and what do you think you uncovered during the writing and making of Golden Blood?
I think I’m interested in this other side of Singapore simply because it exists too; I have lived amongst it, and the desire to arrive at the highest echelon of society where the skyscrapers and fast cars reside is still present, and perhaps even more potent. I am interested in what people will do to propel themselves into wealth, luxury and excess—especially if you possess none of it but believe it to be your birthright. This dichotomy is interesting to me.
In the making of Golden Blood I dove deeper into these desires, it gave me a lot of fuel to write—which is a dream as a playwright!
No.3
It’s delightful to know that the script is written in Singlish. Can you speak more to the utility of featuring different types of Englishes in art and media?
I have had audiences in Sydney tell me how they felt validated to finally hear their voice, the voice of their parents, and the cadence of their family, on stage; they felt like they truly belonged because their state theatres are featuring them on the main stage. I was deeply moved by those experiences.
I also deeply love Singlish: the sound, the rhythm, the wit, the utilisation of so many different languages in one big melting pot. I was ashamed of my own sound for a long time, so getting to speak my original accent on stage is a wonderful act of reclamation.
If you have ever been to Singapore, I also hope that listening to Singlish will take you straight to Singapore where you can feel the humidity in the air, smell the chicken rice and hear the distant hawker centre calling your name.
No.4
What was it like working with your collaborators (director Tessa Leong, fellow actor Charles Wu, etc) during the making of Golden Blood?
It was an absolute wonder, a dream, a delight. It is rare that an entire team of cast and creatives come back for a remount of the show. And for Golden Blood, every single person did. When you watch the show, you truly are witnessing the artistry and footprint of so many brilliant artists in one work.
Tessa’s directing, leadership and artistry has been astounding from start to finish—I have grown rapidly in my practice while working with her. Through making this work together, she has also become a very dear and treasured friend. Charles is a phenomenal human being who I am in awe of every single day. I have learnt a great deal working with him, and I adore him to no end.
Opening night at Melbourne Theatre Company was actually [also] my birthday and the love that the whole team enveloped me in was so beyond anything I can even imagine. They gave me a magical day and it was truly one of the best birthdays I have ever had!
No.5
You will be returning for Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2025 season with Legends (Of the Golden Arches), co-created with fellow playwright Joe Paradise Lui in June. Can you provide a little sneak peek for us in the meantime? What can we expect from this new play?
Yes! I am so excited for Legends (Of the Golden Arches)! It is a wild, fun and poignant adventure that I would love to invite everyone to come on with us. You will see incredible animations (by Wendy Yu). You will journey with us through Chinese Hell (that is a fun place, I promise!). You will meet Chinese Gods (not at all like how you imagined!). And you will rediscover the resounding power of friendship.
Joe and I are great great friends in real life, and this show is a celebration and excavation of our shared Singaporean-Chinese history, a fever dream of our combined artistry, and ultimately a love letter to our enduring friendship. I would love to share this show with you.
Charles Wu and Merlynn Tong as Boy and Girl in Golden Blood
Find out more
Left to fend for themselves, a teenage girl is taken under the wing of her older brother. Trouble is, his gangster swagger is the real deal, and thug life doesn’t come with a parenting manual.
Golden Blood takes us beneath the skyscrapers and shopping malls of Singapore into the seedy realm of violence, drugs and chaos that forms its underbelly. The aspirational world above finds its mirror below, as the orphaned siblings at this story’s core envision a future glittering with Chanel and Miu Miu bling. At the same time they’re reckoning with the ghosts of their own past and the half-remembered rituals they’ve inherited.
The Griffin Theatre Company premiere of this production was a Sydney sensation that signalled a major new talent. Merlynn Tong both wrote and stars in this intense two-hander, alongside the charismatic Charles Wu (Bernhardt/Hamlet, Torch The Place).
Unfolding with all the urgency and pace of a rollercoaster in a lightning storm, Golden Blood will set your pulse racing all the way to its inevitable, unstoppable and ultimately heart-rending climax.
Golden Blood opens on 25 Oct and will show till 30 Nov. More info and tickets here.