“Never/Land” – The SMU Law Musical 2012
Event: “Never/Land” by SMU School of Law
Venue: Faith Centre for Performing Arts (ACJC)
Run: 28th & 29th Sept 2012
Come Away With Me
After a one-year hiatus, the SMU Law Musical makes a return with a brand new original musical entitled “Never/Land”, which as you might guess is based on the well-loved Peter Pan fable.
Many thanks to composer-lyricist-librettist-director extraordinaire Samuel Ng for so kindly alerting us to this year’s production, if not for which we wouldn’t even have known about it.
It’s amazing how it’s been more than two years since I attended the previous SMU Law Musical “The Little Mermaid”, and although I only managed to catch the first act of that one, I still remember bits of it quite clearly.
“Never/Land” is held in celebration of the 5th anniversary of the SMU School of Law, and although it is staged at the same venue as the previous musical in 2010, I was thankful to be able to get stall seats this time round.
New original musicals are extremely hard to come by, and I always relish the opportunity to witness the performance of such shows in Singapore, whatever the scale or context.
“Never/Land” may seem like just your varsity production held at an “off-Broadway” type venue in the form the ACJC Faith CPA, but, as with the last show in 2010, it scores mightily in terms of the quality of information provided in its programme booklet.
I praised the production team the last time round for this, and I’d have to commend them once again for taking the time and effort to attach an appendix booklet containing the lyrics to every single song in the musical.
“Never/Land” is pretty much your Peter Pan story, although the writers took great pains to adapt it to a local context (much like your typical Wild Rice panto), with the introduction of distinctly local elements such as the MRT, local colloquialism, and even a Chinese wayang bit at the close of the first act.
Attempts were also clearly made to delight the largely law-trained audience with the inclusion of little lawyer in-jokes and references throughout the libretto.
The general tone of the musical was somewhat reminiscent of the 2010 one, in the sense that it took a fairy-tale plot and gave it a whimsical local twist, while peppering the script with plenty of local current affairs references and digs, such as foldable bikes, rapid urbanisation, the Marina Bay Sands IR, Gardens by the Bay, Sticker Lady, MRT train breakdowns and so on.
At times you could almost sense that a point was being made, but most of the time it felt like the reference was more gimmicky than functional, thrown in merely for the sake of entertainment.
Standout performers for me include Yap Shikaye as “Tinkerbell”, who, despite her slight build carried herself remarkably well and had a wonderful singing voice to boot, and Mark Alphonsus Lee as “Hook”, who played the villain role with as much conviction and nuance as one could ask for.
The musical was a full-length one which lasted around two hours and forty-five minutes, although book-wise, I found it hard to establish the emotional core of the show.
Who exactly was the protagonist here?
It seemed at first to be Wendy, but as the story progressed it seemed like the other main characters Tinkerbell, Hook and Peter Pan also came heavily into play as the audience starts to lose its focus on Wendy’s emotional journey.
SMU School of Law and the SMU Law Revue have to be lauded for their efforts in putting up their third musical production in four years, after “Assault & Flattery” in 2009 and “The Little Mermaid” two years ago.
It’s never easy staging an original musical, and they are blessed with some serious talent on their hands in many respects.
Part of me does wish, however, that in their future musical productions they may consider subject matter which is less fairy-tale, less whimsical, and less “panto” if you will, and perhaps write musicals of a slightly more realistic nature.
I have never had any doubts about the wit and literary writing abilities of law students, but if they’d consider writing about more realistic or real-world characters I reckon it might make the musical even more impactful.
Nonetheless, “Never/Land” remains a remarkable effort and I am eagerly anticipating the next installment of what might end up becoming my annual pilgrimage to the ACJC Faith CPA.
Coming Soon: “Pantang: A Docu-Play”
Event: “Pantang: A Docu-Play” by Theatre Lab Productions
Venue: Goodman Arts Centre Black Box
Run: 25th – 28th Oct 2012
Halloween Fright Night!
Do you go home early during the seventh month to avoid bumping into…things?
Have you ever heard a voice in your ear and turned around to find there’s no one there?
Do you believe in the unseen?
Are you pantang?
This Halloween, Theatre Lab Productions brings you “Pantang” – a journey into the realm of spirits and other unseen things, based on first-hand accounts and interviews.
“Pantang” presents a collection of strange and spooky stories using narratives, shadow play, multimedia projections, puppetry and re-enactments.
But most of all, “Pantang” is about good old-fashioned storytelling.
An original play written by Luke Kwek and directed by Gavin Low.
Starring Al-Matin Yatim, Chery Yang, Sindhura Kalidas, Sophie Khoo and Wilson Xin.
Duration: 90 minutes (no intermission)
Dates and Times of Performance: 25th – 28th Oct, 8pm; and 26th – 28th Oct, 3pm
Ticket Purchase: www.gatecrash.com.sg/?page=event_detail&actionForm=detail&eventID=979
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/Pantang2012
For more information, please contact Sophie Khoo at 9833 4721 or email khoo.sophie@gmail.com.
Swimming With Sharks
Event: Swimming With Sharks by Pangdemonium! Productions
Run: 20 Sep to 7 Oct 2012
Venue: Drama Centre Theatre
Written by: George Huang (adapted for the stage by Michael Lesslie)
Directed by: Tracie Pang
Main cast: Adrian Pang, Janice Koh, George Young
Showbiz is a mean business, and very much the context of this play, not to mention manipulative bosses and scheming moguls. A fairly pacey script and on-the-ball dialogue, the script was smart and though quite wordy, it didn’t feel like the close-to-three-hours that it ran; length seemed just ok.
A fairly realistic piece in the way it was done, I believe the actors had a big part to play. With a cast inclusive Adrian Pang (as Buddy) and Janice Koh (as Dawn), you can’t really go wrong. Also, George Young’s first attempt at stage theatre was remarkable as the eager-to-please, gullible Guy, personal assistant to Buddy. The play focuses mainly on the two male leads and their abusive relationship as Buddy constantly bullies Guy, taking advantage of him. Though part of the main cast, Janice wasn’t featured as much, though her character is kind of the provider of conflict with her love affair with Guy and the script to be produced in contention. not to mention her past crossings with Buddy.
There was a slow and steady buildup to the climax, which was when Guy became fully distraught, that he seeks to torture Buddy. You would see Guy slowly changing, from the ‘innocent’ and idealistic young man who first joins the company, to becoming more shark-like in a sense, which you can tell from the change in dressing, style, disposition and how he learns to manipulate Dawn to ‘convince’ her. It all starts with a lie and he was in constant conflict with himself.
However, Guy’s inexperience and naivety eventually makes him out more like a sucker fish to the big shark, as Buddy twists Guy round his finger, even when he was being tortured by Guy. If Guy were more wise, he would not have taken Buddy at his word for everything; he should have been more inquisitive to find out more about Buddy (he would have identified the cock and bull story about the wife then). As Buddy said, Guy misses out the details and thus gets played into his hands. I pity Guy who unwittingly gets manipulated and really, he doesn’t really have the right character and instincts to suit the shark-eat-shark world. Eventually, Buddy ends up getting an even stronger hold on Guy. Maybe as it was said, it might be best not to work in what you love, because the realities surrounding it would swallow you and turn it to just work, or worse.
I felt the torture scene was actually a nice turn of events after the earlier scenes, being somehow expected, yet unexpected (hope this makes sense!). Maybe it was because for a change, Guy took control of the situation. What was funny were the torture methods, e.g. paper cuts (seriously?). And as with most Pangdemonium! productions, the sets were again impressive, simulating a real office, but also tripling as a bar and living room with the loft and ground set. The use of multimedia screenings complemented the experience as a backdrop and review of films, suiting the themes of the moment. And there were real guns with blanks!
Personally, I found Swimming With Sharks an engaging piece driven by a relatively strong cast, even though there was quite a lot of dialogue to follow. Watchable for the peep into the dark side of showbiz, which though it creates dreams for people, is not exactly built on the most comfortable bed of ideals and goodwill.
Coming Soon: “This Placement” by Teater Ekamatra (UPDATED)
Event: “This Placement” by Teater Ekamatra
Venue: 29 Paya Lebar Road, Former Geylang Fire Station
Run: 27th – 29th Sept 2012 (8pm – 930pm)
Teater Ekamatra presents a new work called “This Placement” by their Associate Artist Irfan Kasban, who is both the writer and director of this piece.
“This Placement” is a site-specific work at a very interesting location known as 29 Paya Lebar Road, Former Geylang Fire Station.
Should be the first time there for most of us.
To quote from the media release:
“A city is never complete…
No space to run, no place to hide. No. No. No. No memories to hold, no memories to be told.
No eye to eye. No heart to heart. No fires. No one. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody really here.
Just songs of migrating birds passing by. Just symphonies of metal, concrete and glass.
Just echoes of silent discontent.
This content, displaced.
This Placement is a site-specific work that examines and explores the architecture of home.
Inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities and Kuo Pao Kun’s Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral, the work discovers that for a city to remain a home, one has to travel away, to reinforce its ideals, making the idea of home even more vivid.
With the charismatic Former Geylang Fire Station as the point of confluence, artists and audience are invited to create a micro-city to explore their displacement.
A central component of This Placement is its collaborative nature.
An open call was made to anyone who has felt frustration with calling their home a home; anyone with a passion to give, take and share; and anyone who wanted to try for change.
Respondents included actors, musicians, artists, designers, singers, dancers etc – anyone from all walks of life were welcomed to audition.
The work was then built around the unique contributions made from the gifts of these individuals, threaded together by Irfan Kasban.
It was also an opportunity for Irfan to share with the community the rich experience gained from La MaMa.
These included approaching site-specific work, musicality, vocal work, Meyerhold Techniques and Noh theatre traditions.”
This production also marks Irfan’s first presentation since attending the month-long “International Symposium for Directors” at La Mama in July this year.
Cast includes Daphne Ong, Izzaty Ishak, Moses Tan, Nabilah Said, Sharon Frese, Rachel Poh, Ellison Tan, Alexandre Thio, Safia Hanifah, Ruzaini Rashid, Eleanor Tan, Isabella Chiam, Yanni Sumarno, Ng Yuhui, Farah Ong, and others.
Tickets are priced at S$20 and can be purchased by calling +65 6323 5443 or +65 9004 3803, or emailing marketing@ekamatra.org.sg.
Audience capacity is limited at the Former Geylang Fire Station so audiences are encouraged to purchase their tickets prior to the performances as limited tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
Swimming With Sharks
(picture courtesy of Pangdemonium! Productions)
Event: “Swimming With Sharks” by Pangdemonium! Productions
Venue: Drama Centre Theatre
Run: 20th Sept – 7th Oct 2012
Reality Bites
It might just be a coincidence, but Pangdemonium seems to have a penchant for putting up plays of which there is also a well-known big screen equivalent.
There was “The Full Monty” (2010), “Closer” (2011), and, of course, this month’s “Swimming With Sharks”, based on the 1994 film starring Kevin Spacey.
Not to also mention their next play “Rabbit Hole” in April next year, which was made into a film two years back starring Nicole Kidman.
Apart from perhaps being known as an on-stage “The Pupil” reunion of sorts because of the three identical leading cast members, one should also note that this production of “Swimming With Sharks” marks the stage debut of George Young, whom you might have seen as host on “Million Dollar Money Drop”, or as Benjamin Wong on “The Pupil”.
“Swimming With Sharks” tells of the vicious dog-eat-dog world of Hollywood show business, and Adrian Pang plays Buddy Ackerman, an utterly ruthless senior executive of major Hollywood studio Keystone Pictures, while George Young plays his overly-eager, wide-eyed new assistant fresh out of film school, whose impressions of the real world are built entirely on his love affair with the silver screen.
Comparisons with the hit TV series “Entourage” are not only inevitable in this instance, but mandatory.
At times it almost seemed like one was watching a stage version of a season of “Entourage”.
One could not help but see Adrian Pang playing Ari Gold to George Young’s Lloyd, and although the tyranny and ruthlessness are all there, the Buddy Ackerman character is perhaps written with far less redeeming qualities than the Ari Gold one.
Adrian Pang dutifully delivers the goods once again with a believable portrayal of the high-flying, power-obsessed philanderer of a movie exec, but the true revelation here is George Young – rookie in more ways than one – who carries the show remarkably with an incredibly inspired performance, showing the gradual maturity and transformation of Guy as he gets sucked into the whole Hollywood machinery, leading to the thrilling climax.
Janice Koh plays independent producer Dawn Lockard, who finds herself inextricably linked into the plot by virtue of wanting to produce a film called “The Afghani Incident” with Keystone Pictures, and also having fallen in love and being in a relationship with Guy, which complicates matters even further.
Unfortunately, Janice’s American accent was largely found wanting, which inevitably made the portrayal seem far less authentic, and while there was little else one could find fault with, it did seem like there was a strange lack of chemistry in the love affair between Dawn and Guy.
The entire play clocks in at around 3 full hours (including intermission), which makes it one of the longest plays I’ve attended, and while there were drawn out scenes which could definitely have used a bit of tightening up, the actors easily compensated for it with their strength of delivery.
You could say “Swimming With Sharks” gives one a glimpse into the perilous world of life in Tinseltown, and although there isn’t anything in the material that isn’t also covered in shows such as “Entourage”, it still remains a thoroughly engaging play, thanks in no small part to the calibre of the entire cast, which also includes Daniel Jenkins, Crispian Chan, James Shubert, Shane Mardjuki and Melissa Faith Yeo.
The twist right at the very end of the play is excellent too, and might be worth half the price of admission alone.
It wouldn’t be appropriate to divulge any details, but let’s just say that this was probably the starkest example of “Chekhov’s Gun” I’ve seen in a play yet.
All in all, a highly enjoyable offering from Pangdemonium! Productions.
They say there is no business like show business, and it’s hard to see how this staging of “Swimming With Sharks” should deserve anything less than stellar takings at the box office.
Event: 《暴雨将至：傻姑娘与怪老树 》’The Impending Storm: The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree’ by 实践剧场 The Theatre Practice
Run: 6-16 Sep 2012
Venue: School of the Arts (SOTA) Studio Theatre
Director 导演: 符宏征 Fu Hongzheng
Original Playwright 原著：郭宝崑 Kuo Pao Kun
Cast 演员： 洪小婷 (Gloria Ang), 詹煇朕 (Alvin Chiam), 董姿彦 (Joanna Dong), 何子详 (Zachary Ho), 梁晓端 (Melissa Leung), 刘晓义 (Liu Xiaoyi), 傅正龙 (Rei Poh)
One of the first things that I couldn’t help paying attention to was the lighting design, thanks to Gabriel Chan (陈伟文). I liked the way the space was illuminated giving you a varied perspective and feel of spaces, like when the size of the stage seemed to be expanded at the beginning (the stage didn’t look as huge when we entered the venue), and the various points of focus and zoning. Precision was also evident.
With a few jumbling of the sequence of events and repetition, the performance was kind of abstract, where I felt I only caught the gist of matters rather than a whole picture of the happenings. Maybe this was also caused by the physical theatre segment (which was kind of out of the blue and like an insertion). Was it meant to be a representation of turmoil? But it did provide a forecast of events where hint of one of the son’s suicide was depicted. It was sad really as that was the youngest and favorite son, and the one who still seemed to care for the father (Ah Gong), not as a duty, but love.
I felt the main theme here was of “silence”, where the old (Ah Gong) and the young (the granddaughter) could not talk to anyone. The old man because of his illness and probably alienation from his children and probably his son’s death? and the girl unable to talk to anyone about her grief (her father’s suicide), who eventually went mad. As the old man died, in his place was the “silly” little girl gone mad, and the silence continues, and their voices not heard anymore.
Alvin Chiam was commendable in his performance as Ah Gong, in his illness and helpless immobility, convincingly so. One thing though was that I felt there was a constant buildup of the anticipation, of I guess, an “impending storm” as the show name presents, but the storm never really seem to arrive, maybe as a sign of a continuous cycle of events.
I’ve never read the original text, but though abstract it was, it still managed to delve into issues we face in society.
Coming Soon: Sleeping Beauty
Event: “Sleeping Beauty” Presented by Singapore Dance Theatre
Venue: Esplanade Theatre
Run: 13th – 16th Dec 2012
Dance fans in for a real treat.
In celebration of the magical Christmas season – a time of love, hope and festivities – Singapore Dance Theatre will enchant audiences with “Sleeping Beauty”, a ballet often considered to be the pinnacle of the classical repertoire.
This is the second time SDT is performing “Sleeping Beauty”, following the company’s premiere of the piece in 2010.
Staged by Artistic Director Janek Schergen and featuring choreography by Marius Petipa, Singapore Dance Theatre brings this beloved fairy-tale to life at the Esplanade Theatre as a grand finale to the 2012 season, with stunning costumes, spectacular sets and principal dancers of incomparable technique.
Not to mention the glorious score by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which remains one of the most beautiful and well-loved scores in all of classical music.
“Sleeping Beauty” promises to be a treat for audiences of all ages, captivating one and all with this timeless tale of the beautiful princess who falls asleep, only to be awoken by kiss of true love a hundred years later.
Tickets can be purchased from SISTIC (here) and from the Singapore Dance Theatre office.
Coming Soon: “Passages” Presented by Singapore Dance Theatre
Event: “Passages” Presented by Singapore Dance Theatre
Venue: National Museum Gallery Theatre
Run: 2nd – 4th Nov 2012
This November, three upcoming local choreographers – Tan Fangxi, Timothy Coleman, and Christopher Arzaga – will showcase their new works at the annual “Passages” showcase at the National Museum Gallery Theatre.
The choreographers will undergo a 2-week workshop programme in October under the tutelage and guidance of Singapore Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director Janek Schergen.
They will then work with the professional dancers from SDT to create their very own works which will be presented at the “Passages” showing.
“Passages 2012” will also feature “Waiting” – a piece created by Christina Chan during last year’s “Passages”, and “Absence of Story” by Toru Shimazaki, which is danced to the music of Brahms.
Tickets are priced at $19 and $25, and can be purchased from SISTIC (here).
Coming Soon: “Swimming With Sharks” by Pangdemonium! Productions
Event: “Swimming With Sharks” by Pangdemonium! Productions
Venue: Drama Centre Theatre
Run: 20th Sept – 7th Oct 2012
There Will Be Blood…
It’s been awhile since Pangdemonium’s highly adventurous and memorable staging of the musical “Spring Awakening” earlier in February this year, but they’re back with “Swimming With Sharks”, which is both described as a “psycho-sexual thriller” and a “darkly comic satire”.
The play, first written as a screenplay by George Huang in 1994 (some of you might be familiar with the film starring Kevin Spacey) and adapted onto the stage by Michael Lesslie, is directed by Tracie Pang and stars the likes of Adrian Pang, George Young and Arts NMP Janice Koh.
And in case you’re wondering…no, this is has nothing to do with “The Pupil” whatsoever.
Others in the cast include Daniel Jenkins, Shane Mardjuki, James Shubert, Crispian Chan and Melissa Faith Yeo.
“Swimming With Sharks” is set in the “fantasy world” of Hollywood, and tells of the cut-throat world of office politics and the lust for power.
Adrian Pang plays the boss-from-hell movie producer, Janice Koh the sexy, hard-as-nails indie film producer, and George Young the wide-eyed wannabe screenwriter.
Be sure to look out especially for George Young as he makes his professional theatre debut!
Tickets to “Swimming With Sharks” can be purchased from SISTIC (here).
Do you dare take the plunge?
(pictures courtesy of Pangdemonium! Productions)
Dear Nobody
Event: ‘Dear Nobody’ by Buds Theatre Company
Run: 6-9 September 2012
Venue: Goodman Arts Centre Black Box
Directed by: Claire Devine
Cast: Fervyn Tan, Stanley Seah, Sahirrah Safit, Marc Valentine, Marvelina Setiawan, Aisha Shaik and Kelvin John Lim
Inspired by Berlie Doherty’s young adult novel, Dear Nobody is a play that deals with teenage pregnancy and its implications to the couple involved, those around, and what a child would likely face when born. The story tells of a pair of A-level teens, Alyssa and Dan, who unwisely sleep together on one occasion and had to bear the consequences of their actions when Alyssa gets pregnant. Alyssa keeps a blog addressing the unborn child (“Dear Nobody”) of the feelings and thoughts she has on having the child and her relationship with her family and Dan. Eventually, all ends well, but not before the teenagers start to mature in their approach to life.
With minimalistic cubic blocks as props, the stage was set for a 90-minute discourse of family bonds and growing up. Although awkward at some points (e.g. the rendezvous), the young actors made a good effort in their acting, especially those playing multiple roles. I felt the last part of the show about being pregnant portrayed by Fervyn seemed quite convincing (though I wouldn’t know of the experience in detail). Other than that, I think the immaturity of teens to handle such scenarios was adequately portrayed.
In terms of story flow, each scene was in its logical sequence. However, it felt a little disjointed, maybe because of the way and rate each scene was moving and changing. I can’t put my finger on why it was so, but maybe it was like watching a slideshow, jumping from scene to scene with a click of each shutter. Or maybe like a train as each cabin passes by. As such, I felt the character development part was slightly lacking, but then again, if otherwise, the play would be very long. Also I felt the closing party scene with its dancing and toasts was somewhat inappropriate coming straight after the birth. I understood it probably meant to do a full circle as the opening scene was also a similar party scene, but it just didn’t feel so right when it reappeared at the end. Not that there shouldn’t be a celebration, but maybe the manner it was done.
Anyway, on another thread, was wondering how close to reality is the response to such a situation nowadays? Well, I guess Dear Nobody helps in reminding youths on the consequences of their actions and also to take responsibility for them.
Buttons In The Bread 