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By Marsita Omar written on 2007-10-03
National Library Board Singapore

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Achievements
Yeo is a self-confessed accidental playwright. His two-year education stint abroad in London in the late 1960s left him with a deep impression. His experiences stirred him but he found that as a form, poetry was insufficient and limiting to what he had wanted to say. That resulted in the writing of his first play, Are You There, Singapore?  It was drafted in three weeks in 1968 upon his return from London, where he was conferred a Masters in Comparative Education. It was performed only in 1974. The play centered on Singaporean students studying and living abroad and their views on post-Independent Singapore at the time. In writing about returning students, he was following in the footsteps of an earlier playwright, Lim Chor Pee, who wrote A White Rose at Midnight and Mimi Fan in the early part of the 1960s’ and staged them.

Yeo not only spent time in London but also worked in Bangkok, Thailand, and travelled to South-east Asian countries after his graduation. His travels increased his political awareness. Although he harboured no political ambitions, Yeo believed that artists had a role to play in the social and political life of a country. He never lost touch with the political developments in Singapore. 

Yeo's plays are realistic depictions of Singapore "as it is now" and have both been performed and published. His trilogy of plays, Are you there, Singapore?, One Year Back Home and Changi, was meant to provide not only intellectual stimulus but also to increase social and political awareness in Singaporeans. These were the first plays that dealt with the controversial subject of political detention in Singapore.

His maiden play, Are you there, Singapore?, generated considerable publicity ― as much for its “Singaporean-made dialogue” and adept handling of  “ideas, moods and nuances”  which Singaporeans could readily identify with as for its novelty as the first play to be produced by a local playwright in years ― ahead of its sell-out run at the Cultural Centre in July 1974. Yeo’s subsequent play, One Year Back Home, also drew much attention due to its controversial political content. For the first time, Singapore politics was openly mentioned and a dissident Opposition Party politician was presented on stage in 1980. The play was also given a staged reading at the famous, off-Broadway experimental theatre La Mama, New York, in May 1985.

Taking a stab at the Great Marriage Debate where national concerns filter down to the level of individual experience, the still current themes of Singapore-styled love, marriage and procreation in Yeo’s 1988 play, Second Chance, resonated with local and foreign audiences. It was first performed in the fringe of the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 1988.

Yeo's poems are characterised by his depiction of the dilemmas that beset the human condition. His poems reflect his personal soul-searching, his search for an identity as a writer and as an Asian through the decades. Underlying each poem are questions of larger meaning on the human condition. Introspection, questions of human responsibility and morality, the transitory nature and complexity of human events and ideological observations are typical of his poems. 

In keeping with his colloquial-style poems written in “popular style” and laced with contemporary folk-speak, his last collection, Leaving Home, Mother was a tribute to his Peranakan mother, with whom he wished he could have communicated more fully in the language of his art.

Yeo believes that discipline is important for a writer. He does not believe in the traditional notion of inspiration where a writer waits to be struck by inspiration before he can write. To Yeo, a writer must be disciplined enough to write and produce at least one book every three to four years. Inspiration means having an idea and working hard to see it published and staged as a play. 

He asserts that he does not write for money. Yeo is more concerned about getting his works published than the number of books sold. However, he does acknowledge the difficulty of getting Singaporean literature published locally, as publishers here are motivated by the local market conditions with its relatively small readership. As a writer, Yeo hopes to convey to Singaporeans to not be afraid to speak up if they had anything critical or constructive to say about Singapore. 

Yeo has also been involved in editorial work, compiling and editing several Singapore plays and short stories through the years. One of his selections of short stories, Singapore Short Stories Vol. 1 & 2, became the second Singapore book to be used as a Cambridge O-level literature text in 1991 and 1992. In addition, he was credited with getting Catherine Lim's first book, Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore (1978) to be published. It was his encouragement and recognition of her talent that led to the publishing of her first book, which subsequently became the first Singapore book used as a Cambridge O-level literature text. Yeo was also the former chairman of the Drama Advisory Committee, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Community Development as well as the Drama Review Committee, National Arts Council. He is also a member of the Centre for Research in the New Literatures in English (CRNLE), Flinders University, Australia.

A respected figure among members of Singapore’s literary community, Yeo celebrated his 70^th birthday in January 2010 at an event supported by the National Arts Council. Attended by 100 people, including long-time friends and former students from the National Institute of Education, the veteran was feted with  tributes to his life and works.

Education

Serangoon English School (1946 – 56)
St. Andrews School (1957 – 58)
University of Singapore, BA (Hons) English (1959 – 62)
Institute of Education, Singapore, Dip. Ed. (1963)
London Institute of Education, MA Ed. (1968)

Dip. Applied Linguistics (1980)

Timeline

1961 : Vice-president of the Literary Society, University of Singapore
1962 : Graduated with BA (Hons) English, University of Singapore
1966 - 1968 : Studied for Masters in Education in London
1968 : Completed Masters in Education from the London Institute of Education
1969 - 1979 : Information officer with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Secretariat in Bangkok, where he travelled to nearly every country in Southeast Asia, except Burma (Myanmar)
1973 : Began lecturing at Institute of Education, Singapore, later on known as National Institute of Education (NIE)
1977 - 1991 : Served as Chair, Drama Advisory Committee in various ministries, among them the Ministry of Culture
1992 - 1995 : Served as Chair, Drama Review Committee, National Arts Council

Awards

1991 : Public Service Medal for “services to drama”

Works
Poetry

1971 : Coming Home Baby
1974 : Five Takes 1974 (with four other poets)
1977 : And Napalm Does Not Help
1989 : A Part of Three: Poems
1999 : Leaving Home, Mother: Selected Poems


Plays

1974 : Are You There, Singapore?
1980 : One Year Back Home
1988 : Second Chance
1992 : The Eye of History
1997 : Changi

Novel

1986 : The Adventures of Holden Heng

Editorial

1978 : Singapore Short Stories Vol. 1 & 2
1979 : Prize-winning Plays Vol. 1-4
1981 : ASEAN Short Stories
1984 : To Cipher and To Sing: Ideas and Activities for Literature Teaching. (co-author with M. P. Liu)
1986 : ACLALS Bulletin, 7^th Series, No.4, Commonwealth Fiction 2. (co-editor  with Kirpal Singh)
1987 : Magic 1 and 2: Poems for Lower Secondary Schools
1989 : Singapore Short Stories
1990 : Prize-winning Plays IV
1991 : Modern ASEAN Plays, Singapore
1992 : Ripples: Short Stories for Secondary Schools
1993 : Singular Stories: Tales from Singapore Vol. 1
1996 : Second Chance: A cross cultural casebook (co-author with Guy Sherborne)

2000 : Singapore Short Stories

Libretto
2009 : Kannagi 

Selected Short Stories
2004 : The Professor

Family

Married, with two daughters

Author
Marsita Omar


References 

Akshita Nanda (2010, 21 January). Evening to mark Yeo's 70th year. The Straits Times, Life! Retrieved March 25, 2010, from Factiva.

Akshita Nanda (2010, 28 January). Tribute for poet Yeo. The Straits Times, Life! Retrieved March 25, 2010, from Factiva.

Chia, H. (1989, July 26). All for the love of writing. The Straits Times, Section 2, p. 2. 

Lee, A. (1999, October 9). I want to talk with Mum, The Straits Times. Life!, p. 12

Nagpal, J. (1980, November 16). Here's a realistic play about today's S'pore. The Straits Times.  

Nazareth, P. (1990). Review: A Part of Three by Robert Yeo (pp. 704-705) World Literature Today Vol.64, No.4. University of Oklahoma Retrieved from JSTOR March 22, 2010, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40147089

Oon, V. (1974, July 26). [Microfilm: NL8014]. Bob’s play goes off like a shot. New Nation

Tan, E. S. (1989, June 4). Cambridge picks second S'pore book as O-level text. The Sunday Times. 

Tan, W.J. (1974, July 21). How towkay's darlings live in London. The Sunday Times. 

Tay-Chee, G. (1974, July 26). Singapore Play packed with imagination. The Straits Times.  

Wee, E. (1982, July 25). Drifting down river of time. The Straits Times, p.1.

Wong, H. C. (1980, November 23). A success as political comedy. The Straits Times. 

Getting published is a problem. (1985, April 19). The Straits Times. 

Robert's not in it for the money. (1989, September 15). Asiaweek, p. 52. 

S'pore play packed with imagination. (1974, July 26). The Straits Times. 

S'pore poet to make debut as playwright. (1974, July 10). The Straits Times.

Watt, George (2005). The Great Debate in Second Chance (pp. 129 - 151) Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature: Volume 5: Robert Yeo  Singapore: Ethos Books

(Call No.: RSING 809.895957 INT)

Watt, George (2005). Biographical Sketch (pp. 219 - 258) Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature: Volume 5: Robert Yeo  Singapore: Ethos Books

(Call No.: RSING 809.895957 INT)



Further Readings

Chua, C. J. (1989, December 6). Yeo, down the line. The Straits Times, Section 2, p. 2.

Helmi Yusof. (1999, October 6). The world's a reader. The Straits Times.

Koh, B. P. (1997, February 1). Yeo reincarnates play as a book. The Straits Times.

Koh, B. S. (1997, December 1). Famous comebacks - Sign of more open Singapore. The Straits Times.

Lee, A. (1999, October 9). I want to talk with Mum. The Straits Times.

Leong, L. G. (2001, July 14). Book-Republic visited in three works. The Straits Times.

Ong, S. F. (1997, November 24). The accidental playwright - Politics still a life and death issue for Yeo. The Straits Times.

Yeo, R. (1994, January 19). Towards new era of Peranakan plays. The Straits Times. Life, p. 7.

Yeo, R. (2003, January 11). His overt influence through the Enright Affair is still felt. The Straits Times. 

National Book Development Council of Singapore. (n.d.). Yeo Robert. Retrieved October 22, 2007, from http://www.bookcouncil.sg (then click on Writers > Yeo Robert).

Flinders University. (n.d.). Literary links with Singapore writ large. Retrieved October 22, 2007, from http://www.flinders.edu.au (then click on News and events > On campus > 2000 > Literary links with Singapore writ large).



The information in this article is valid as at 2007 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the library for further reading materials on the topic.