Food, Fast & Starve – A Review of Ode to a Famished Existence (Phase 1)

Ode to a Famished Existence (Phase 1), an arts-in-development by Sourcing Within 

Viewed on 28 November 2021, 8pm (online)

                                                         (Photo: Sourcing Within)

A lady in an attire which resembles the Chinese funeral clothing is mourning. The performance/rehearsal space, though transmitted through the cyberspace, emits the layering of soft weeping and mourning sounds.

The solemn scene suddenly breaks into a comical moment in which different food dishes are mentioned with absurd and surreal movements. We have to eat no matter what we face in life, don’t we?

Despite adversities, problems or setbacks we face in life, food is there to comfort us. Familiar Asian and Western fare is narrated with animated movements from the ensemble (Ranice Tay, Eleanor Ee, Michelle Hariff, Joel Low, Voon Ee Sing), bringing the dishes to a culmination of farce.

The high note is then decelerated into an earnest act of a philosophical examination of food and hunger. The performers question the meaning of hunger in our existence and what we truly yearn for. What is "food" to keep us alive in life? What is "food" for these performers? What about "food" for the viewers who go through this journey of questioning with the performers? While questioning, the performers move in great synergy and the energy is balanced. A unified level of training is demonstrated through the synchronicity, not just in their physical actions and bodies, but in the harmonisation of voices too.

While food seems to be the centre of life and many could be obsessed with food,  as presented in the beginning of the piece, we are introduced to the notion of fasting next. The performers discuss about hunger artists who did “professional fasting” in history. They were also known as the “romantic starving artists”.  Some of these artists were awarded with monetary rewards. Is a hunger artist a symbolic representation of one who is seeking spiritual fulfilment or one who is seeking fame and attention?

Streaming from the conversation on hunger artists in history, the performers question and comment on the prevalent situation of poor artists with a satirical approach. One makes a remark, “The hunger artist was working earnestly, but the world was cheating him of his rewards”.

Throughout the performance, the soundscape is formed by objects and props such as a drum and kitchen utensils, as well as the performer’s voice. Richness of sonic layers fills up the space.

Michelle Hariff impresses with her subtle use of changes in tone and voice to deliver her well-articulated lines and songs. Together with the ensemble, the image of a thousand-armed goddess is created with her pure and gentle timbre vocals. She has also demonstrated great control of comical moments in this scene. 

(Photo: Sourcing Within)

Ranice Tay, the dramaturg and performer, delivers her actions energetically with great ease. With a set of chopsticks used as her hair accessory, she is draped in a traditional robe. She seems to be the oriental figure of the piece which represents the need for groundedness and yet animateness in the artistic journey of seeking and questioning by the ensemble.

The film was shot in a single take by the director Ang Gey Pin with the essence of show captured. It only takes a director who is an actress herself and works so closely with the ensemble to be able to capture the quintessence of the piece. Every action of each performer is visible to the viewer without any edits. Each soul is exposed and yet it is so organic to watch. 

Are you truly awake? — Dreamtalk

Dreamtalk (online) presented by NUS Centre for the Arts, 4 September 2020

“Are you truly awake, or are we all just passing-by in a dream?”

In the performance film, multiple images of the dreamer (Ranice Tay) and the guardian (Ang Gey Pin) are seen with the use of the superimpose effect. The uncanny doubling of the two characters poses a sense of duplicity and illusion, which questions: Who is dreaming? Who is the dreamer? Are we who we are? Or are we multiple versions of who we think we are?

The central images of the performance are a huge silky translucent cloth which gives the hazy and yet poetic portrayal of ethereal manifestation, and a black umbrella which is highly symbolic in the piece.

The silky cloth seems to suggest a web of dreams presented in our lives. The significance of the black umbrella speaks strongly to me. Though the performance centres around "dreams", it is about the in-between state of life and death to me. The black umbrella in a Taoist funeral ritual means "cover for the soul". It is used to transport the dead to another world. This is thus, a dream state of the spirits, ancestors, and ghosts from the present and the past.

The dreamer is holding on to a lamp and umbrella. She is like a spirit/soul being guided through the underworld of dreams haunted by her memories and subconsciousness.

The sounds of recurring heartbeats suggest that “dream” is a state between living and dying. The merging of songs, verses and sounds brings me through a surreal and intense journey in the dreamscape.

In a funeral, red packets/red strings are given to the family, relatives and friends who attend the occasion as a form of blessing to them. In the film, the use of red amid the dull colours of the costumes (black, blue, white) signifies auspiciousness, which gives hope to the dreamer.

The dreamer, covered in a huge sheet of white paper and waking from it, is hinting that the dead is moving from one realm to another realm, through the planes of existence. The way she carries the huge piece of white paper and sculpturing it with care is like paying homage to the ancestors before her…

The piece ends with predominantly blue lights with a tint of orange, which engulfs me with a transcendental and intimate experience. Perhaps, the whole human existence is about moving beyond death, and attaining deathlessness as life itself is an illusion. Wake up!

While the superimposed scenes which depict the double-images of each character work really well to provide a dream-like state, not knowing who the dreamer is, I wish to see less editing effects such as the constant shifts of edited shots and the split screen. For instance, I wish it could be a pan of camera angle from one action to the next instead of having a split screen to depict two simultaneous actions, which is closer to how a live performance is experienced in a continuous fashion. I wish that the videographer could follow through a one-shot sequence more often, even if there is a need to shift from wide angles to close-up angles.

However, ultimately, I admire the risk-taking spirit that the team has taken. It is courageous and this is definitely a theatre project much needed during this pandemic period. It is a truly powerful piece of work. I am totally immersed in the heightened experience.

Watch it! Two more shows today:

5 Sep 2020, 2.59pm SGT (GMT+8)
5 Sep 2020, 7.59pm SGT (GMT+8)

Get your tickets from SISTIC: https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/zldt0920

 

 (Photo credit: Sourcing Within)

 

 

Tra La, Tra La La! My experience of The Peculiar Tra La (by Intercultural Theatre Institute)

The Peculiar Tra La (14-16 March 2019)

by Intercultural Theatre Institute

Venue: the Drama Centre Black Box

The Peculiar Tra La brought me through a meaningful journey, leading me to search for the paradise within me. Is this paradise difficult to reach? Tra la!

It is already within us. But we have lost it.

My "tra la" journey:

1.    Prologue- Games & Tra La

The actors approached the audience, had conversations with the audience and started to pose riddles to them. Gradually, the riddles led to a series of games. Through the series of engagement with the audience, the term “tra la” was introduced. Tra la, the “in-between” state was made concrete through the lines of “in-between” used in the games.

The lines

The line of life and death

The line of trust and betrayal

The line of letting go and control

The line of play and competition

The in-between

2.    Birds

The audience made their way into the theatre. The birds started to fly.  The audience was told to leave all the problems and troubles outside the theatre. The birds and their flight were leading me to the solace of freedom. Rest. I told myself.

My body relaxed. My heart opened. The narrative began.

The sounds of birds chirping, snake hissing and forest trees rustling entered my heart.

3.    The Door

The door appeared. It is the door to tra la!

Every one of us has this door to tra la. It is OUR personal door.

The door opened and led us to the story of tra la.

Myths, dreams and nature were somehow suggested as the means to understand tra la.

Is tra la the path to freedom? Is tra la the transient life we live now, before we move on to the paradise? These are some questions presented to me as an audience.

The actors echoed “We are inside your body” with aliveness. Perhaps, the “paradise” is within us. We just have to reach within [instead of reaching out] to the pool of organicity and aliveness to find that paradise.

4.    Old Bird

The old bird appeared, introducing the audience to the epic love story of Rama and Sita, which further emphasized on our ancient past, which could be the door to tra la, and the life beyond.

A series of memories recorded in a diary were read to the audience, transporting the audience back in time, to our own memories of the 1990s. Was that the time of “tra la” for us? For me, that was definitely my “tra la”.

The door opened again, allowing the audience to enter into another world of imagination.

5.    Story of Mulan

Mulan, an “in-between” character was introduced. The actors used their voice to create layered soundscape with songs, texts and sounds of the flute. There was great synergy among the performers, and the choreography was alive and varied. Who is Mulan? Do we have a Mulan within us? The masculine and feminine warriors —all within one entity. 

6.    Spring is Here

Spring is here. Eagles are flying high in the sky.

A comical eagle appeared. The sounds of the eagle were so ticklish and funny [in a good way, an alive way]! I laughed. Then it was shot and dropped. And I laughed more. I laughed, not because I enjoyed the killing of birds which fell from the sky. The sounds and action were so spontaneous and alive. The eagle was one moment joyous, and another moment lying flat on the floor. Tra la. It was tragic, but knowing that it was an act performed by an actress, it was comedic.

A tree appeared. The tree of spring, the tree of life. The songs of the spring and sounds of the tree resembled that of chanting and voices from an ancient world. This segment was the climax of sounds in the piece.  The voicework created as a group provided layers and diversity to create an organic musicality for the piece.

7.    The Animals

Animals appeared (actors appeared with masks of different animals). The different animals were living together harmoniously, distributing fruits among themselves, and to the audience. That was how our universe supposed to be, before the fall of mankind. It is also the world of the future, where the wolves and sheep will live together in peace.

This image appeared to me immediately:

“Wolves and sheep will live together in peace,

and leopards will lie down with young goats.

Calves and lion cubs will feed together,

and little children will take care of them.

Cows and bears will eat together,

and their calves and cubs will lie down in peace.

Lions will eat straw as cattle do.

Even a baby will not be harmed

if it plays near a poisonous snake.” (Isaiah 11:6-9)

8.    Childhood Memories

The actors started to share a series of childhood stories. Their fear, pain and joy were narrated. The memories brought us back to the forgotten past, hinting at our deep pool of resources which is within us. Our emotions and experiences are a bridge from "tra la" to "la la" (a euphoric eternity) …

9.    Bye to the Masks

With the animal masks, the actors seemed to be much more alive. They were in the state of tra la when they wore the masks. They were human-animal; they were beings with flexibility, energy and strength. When the masks were removed, humans were unveiled. They fell into the tra la of trust and hesitation; light and darkness.

The people experienced fears and intense emotions. There were shattered homes and broken lives. Things started to deteriorate. The fallen world.

“Everyone lost their ‘home’”, the people said.

Have we lost our “home”, our “soul”, our “lala”? Is it so difficult to get in touch with the paradise within us?

10.    Home

Finding the way home. It was actually not too difficult. When did you first laugh? When did you first make a sound? When did you first cry? Have we forgotten the “child” within us? Have we forgotten how to play?

Play.

Just play.

11.    Epilogue 

In between

Love and indifference

Fear and will

Trust and hesitation

Tra la.

(Photos: Engagement with the audience before entering into the theatre)

Director: Ang Gey Pin

Dramaturg: Ranice Tay

Production Designer: Dorothy Png

Performers: Earnest Hope Tinambacan, Jalal Albaroudi, Jin Chen, Regina Toon, Ted Nudgent Fernandez Tac-an, Theresa Wee-Yenko, Tysha Khan, Vignesh Singh, Wendy Toh and Nour el Houda Essafi

Production Manager: Natalie Lim

Stage Manager: Hau Guei Sze (Zizi)

Two more shows today, tickets available at trala.peatix.com