Coming Soon: “BOOM” by Sight Lines Productions

Event: “BOOM” by Sight Lines Productions
Venue: DBS Arts Centre
Run: 29th June – 8th July 2012

Fresh off their debut effort – the hit musical comedy revue “Trainstopping: The Year in Revue 2011” – which ran just less than two months ago at the Arts House, the tireless folks at Sight Lines Productions return yet again with their sophomore effort, this time restaging the well-known Jean Tay play “BOOM”.

“BOOM” was first staged at the SRT in 2008, and is also currently an “O” and “N” level literature text for secondary schools.

It is essentially a play about en bloc sales and grave exhumations, where two separate narratives are skillfully woven together.

One is about a housing agent and how he tries to persuade his mother to sell the flat, while the other is about a civil servant and his task of persuading a corpse to be exhumed.

In the process, “BOOM” explores very pertinent Singapore issues such as urbanisation vs preservation, urban renewal and the slow dissolution of local icons which hold vast historical and cultural significance for us.

The cast and crew even made a trip down to Bukit Brown Cemetry recently (see video below) to take it all in and get a better sense of the whole notion of cultural erosion and loss.

Derrick Chew (who also directed “Trainstopping”) directs this latest iteration of “BOOM”, while up-and-coming theatre names such as Andrew Lua (“Sing to the Dawn”, “Fried Rice Paradise”) and Erwin Shah Ismail (“Romeo & Juliet”, “Spring Awakening”) play two of the lead roles in this production.

Both Andrew and Erwin have been rather active in theatre lately, and are definitely names to watch out for in the near future.

Look out also for a cameo (if that’s the right word to use!) by Engie Ho, who also doubles up as producer for “BOOM”, and who is also one of the founding partners of Sight Lines.

In keeping with its aim of nuturing young theatre practitioners in Singapore, on top of casting Andrew and Erwin in lead roles, Sight Lines has also roped in budding talents such as Benjamin Kheng (cast) as well as the likes of Petrina Dawn Tan (lighting design) and a few others for various roles in the production.

According to director Derrick, this staging of “BOOM” remains faithful to the text, although audiences can look forward to elements of clever direction, lighting, and sound design.

“BOOM” might just be the local theatrical highlight of June, and we’re definitely looking forward to catching it.

Get your tickets (here) soon before they go the way of our disappearing national icons!

…

(Photos courtesy of Sight Lines Productions)