Buttons In The Bread

Event: “People” written by Joel Tan, presented by Creative Edge
Venue: Drama Centre Black Box
Run: 24th – 26th Jan 2014

I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet

I can’t remember the last time I attended so many inaugural productions of new theatre groups in rapid succession, but if anything, it’s an extremely encouraging sign that theatre-making in Singapore is alive and well.

“People” is the first production by new theatre group Creative Edge, which is a new division of I Theatre, and is a play depicting the lives of seemingly disparate Singaporeans and how they end up being somewhat linked to the effects of the 2011 Japan earthquake.

We are introduced to a myriad of characters – from a KTV hostess, to a nurse who ruminates about her line of work, to a handphone seller who reflects over a past love, to the relationship between a young man and his estranged taxi-driver father, to a couple visiting a modern art exhibition in New York.

Some of the characters’ exposures to the Japan earthquake are more apparent than others, and as the play progresses, we start to see how some of the individual lives are inextricably linked with one another.

The play utilises a fairly sizeable cast of nine, and overall the acting surpassed expectations, with actors like Darren Guo, Chery Yang, and Venytha Yoshiantini putting in particularly outstanding performances.

“People” attempts to bring out themes of love, loneliness, fear, need for companionship, and unity in adversity, and many of these were well articulated in the various scenes.

Particularly eloquent were scenes like the son’s chance encounter with his estranged father in a cab, as well as the one where the handphone seller agonises over whether to attend the wedding dinner of his ex-girlfriend (which kinda reminded you of “The Weight of Silk on Skin”, and I mean this in the best way possible).

However, it did feel like the entire play was too long drawn out, with a relative lack of urgency or structure in the script such that you couldn’t sense if the play was moving in a particular arc, or toward a particular goal.

Moreover, not every story was necessarily linked with the rest of the stories, and there were a few seemingly loose threads which could either have been further expanded upon or eliminated altogether, such as the one where the young man goes to New York in search of his old flame.

It is indeed heartening to see such a talented group of actors and theatre-makers putting together an effort like this, and “People” does have its shining moments which both tug at the heartstrings and tickle the funnybone.

2014 really does seem to be the year of emerging theatre companies thus far, and I’m really excited about how the year is going to pan out.

photo credit: Magda Bizarro

Event: Three Fingers Below the Knee by Mundo Perfeito (as part of M1 Fringe Festival 2014)
Venue: Esplanade Theatre Studio
Run: 10-11 January 2014
Direction & Text: Tiago Rodrigues
Cast: Isabel Abreu & Gonçalo Waddington

“Censorship is the mother of metaphor” – Jorge Lui Borges

*Audience enters.
We are greeted with a set of shrink-wrapped furniture…symbolic of censorship? Hmm….maybe reading too much.
Show begins.*

Three Fingers is a light take on the censorship situation in Portugal during the fascist dictatorship regime from 1926-1974. Following the opening up of the Torre do Tombo (Portugal’s national archive) recently, director Tiago discovered the many censorship reports that made up the content of the play, which was performed in Portuguese, with English surtitles.

In fact, surtitles formed a major part of the performance, instead of the static translation of the words spoken. The way it opened the play (stage directions of entrances from a variety of plays) and closed it (stage directions of exits) and how its use brought you back to the script/text in the censoring of words used, whether symbolically or literally; words were just cancelled out and/or replaced as was what was done during the censorship review. Some of the edits were ridiculous, making the meanings so much less than as it should be.

However, this showed the power (and danger) of theatre and how some of the censors believed the influence theatre would have, and how they were “afraid” of it in that sense especially of the ‘subtext’ of which they perceive. How taking a text and performing it on stage made it so “real” in society, as opposed to the imported films of the same text, which they allowed. And some of these people were in fact quite knowledgeable about theatre, with one giving his commentary on Brecht’s works and influence. There were those who were the ”brutes” though, who at the rehearsal went down to the details of how long your skirt should be, and even the colour of the lighting. There were some who gave the reason that a play would be too complex for the community or not popular, so there wasn’t a point in staging it. Really. Isn’t this a vicious cycle? How would the audience mature then? Some really just wanted to bring good theatre to the community and awareness.

But then again, censorship somehow breeds creativity in that artists would find ways to work around the “ban” such that authorities couldn’t do anything once they gave their approval. Actually, I would think this would make the production more tantalising, and imbued with the power of suggestion, like how ‘purple’ became the new ‘red’.

More importantly, I felt it was a story of finding the answers for some of these theatre companies who never knew the reasons behind the rejections, and how theatre is about perseverance like how 1 company kept applying to play Andorra by Max Frisch, but never managed to get it approved. The irony of how such censorship reports eventually became fodder for theatre and presented as something of a tribute to the power of theatre. Interestingly, the director never lived in such a regime and brought a new outlook for the state of censorship now and then.

Reflecting on the Singapore context, I’m glad we have moved forward in a way that we get to enjoy more theatre now, with just a consumer advisory and rating. At least it gives people the opportunity to make an informed decision while still taking into consideration the more conservative community.

So is censorship all bad? I don’t know. It’s really a matter of balance and as Tiago said, though he feels there shouldn’t be censorship, there should still be civility. Just as I heard someone mentioned recently, she didn’t support censorship but there were instances when she felt that she didn’t need to see played on stage and were not warranted, like someone defecating on stage.

(picture via Playground Entertainment)

Event: “Firecrackers & Bombshells” by Playground Entertainment
Venue: Play Den @ The Arts House
Run: 15th – 19th Jan 2014

Boom, Even Brighter Than The Moon

Inaugural productions are always a wonderful thing to be a part of as it signifies the birth of a fantastic new theatre venture and possibly the start of many great adventures to come.

After witnessing Tim Garner Productions’s inaugural production last week at the DBS Arts Centre, Playground Entertainment – yet another brand new local theatre company – presents a new play written by their own artistic director Jacke Chye entitled “Firecrackers & Bombshells”, directed by Jalyn Han.

“Firecrackers & Bombshells” is set during the CNY festive period, and it is a play that hits close to home as it details the various quirks and idiosyncrasies inherent in many a local family, and how the intra-familial complexities and politics all unwittingly come to a head at the annual reunion dinner.

Although the play wasn’t an outright farce, there were strong elements of farce being present at various exaggerated points in the play, especially at the reunion dinner scene in the second act, as well as the part about Da Sao being able to mask her identity from everyone so effectively.

The play was generally kept light-hearted and comical throughout, and Karen Tan (by far the most established actor among the entire cast) was the beneficiary of many of the best lines, although you often wonder if she makes the lines better than they are.

The “elders” in the cast, namely Michael Tan, Beatrice Chien and Dorothy Khoo all did a marvellous job playing Pa, Ma and Ah Yee respectively, and you have to give it to them for putting their all into their roles.

Although the aims of the play were apparent enough – to bring out the themes of acceptance, forgiveness and family values – the tone of the play was a bit confusing at times.

You weren’t exactly sure if it was trying to be an outright farce comedy or a tender, heart-warming play, and oftentimes it was a curious mixture of both.

And while credit has to be given to Jacke for working out all the various plot intricacies and adding in a fair bit of unexpected twists and turns, the play felt far too long-winded and definitely could have been trimmed from its more-than-two-hour duration.

Moreover, a lot of the lines felt far too direct and lacked a sense of subtlety which would have made the play even more effective.

Also, I felt that the was an inherent flaw in the structuring of the play as I honestly thought that the end of the first act was the end of the entire play, as everything came to a head at the end of the first act, with all the deep dark family secrets being thrown out into the open, that you felt as if you had already witnessed the absolute high point in the show dramatically and wondered why the play would need to continue any further.

Playground Entertainment has certainly chosen the most opportune time to stage a play with a distinct CNY backdrop, and I doubt there’s any other play in town like this at the moment.

There definitely are some nice moments and some great lines in this delightful romp, and Karen Tan probably elevates the performance of the entire cast by that much thanks to her sheer experience, energy and stage presence.

Congrats to Jacke Chye and the team on their bold new venture, and we look forward to greater things ahead.