Review of Sandaime Richard by Hideki Noda & Ong Keng Sen

A game of throne: Cultural bytes, digital bits 

"Sandaime Richard, written by Hideki Noda and directed by Ong Keng Sen, is a bold encounter with works of William Shakespeare. It introduces Shakespeare (Doji Shigeyama) into the play as a character put on a trial for falsifying history of Richard the Third (Kazutaro Nakamura).  Inspired by the War of the Roses, the fight of an ikebana clan is depicted. The story is also staged in the framework of a Zen paradigm. This results in texts which suggest the non-duality of things, a minimalist set design, and repetitive patterns of multimedia images.

Each performer plays different characters. It is presented on a bare stage which is transformed into a series of digital images by Keisuke Takahashi. This creates a sense of a cyberspace, complemented with electronic music by Toru Yamanaka. The audience is thus put in a trance-like state, while the characters seem to be modified, re-edited, intertextualised and cross-referenced with the convenient use of editing technology.

In this induced digital world, the characters from Shakespeare’s texts are dressed in white surrealistic and futuristic costumes designed by Yanaihara Mitsushi. They are like avatars reprogrammed to take on changing identities or one that is faceless. In this flux, they challenge history, traditions and assumptions. Multimedia images such as the continuous feathers which endlessly fall on the characters and the circular shapes that sustained the scenes remind one of the cyclic existence of life."

Full review can be found here: http://centre42.sg/sandaime-richard-by-hideki-noda-and-ong-keng-sen/
 

Chained and Connected

My review of DARK ROOM by Edith Podesta

 "Dark Room, a docudrama written and directed by Edith Podesta, shares the true stories of former inmates of Changi Prison. They are based on recorded interviews which lasted an average of two hours each. The first incarnation of the play was entitled Dark Room x8 and staged as a work-in-progress in 2014. 

(...)

Amongst the cohesive ensemble of 11, Oliver Chong and Pavan J Singh constantly engage the audience with their adroit performances. They deliver their characters convincingly with a pertinent grasp of rhythm in their actions and speech, tinted with a sense of wretchedness and dark humour.

The other six male prisoners add diversity to the spectrum of personalities.  Nelson Chia and Noor Effendy Ibrahim play the long-term inmates who orientate and give advice to the newbies; Timothy Nga plays the gay inmate who is placed in the same cell as the other straight men; Ian Tan plays a discouraged ex-convict who struggles with issues of acceptance in the society; Mohd Fared Jainal plays the melancholic inmate; and Erwin Shah Ismail plays the inmate who sheds light on the life in prison with his composed, and occasionally perceptive account.

Shafiqhah Efandi, who plays the only female prisoner in the piece, sustains her acting with a poignant inner soul-scape. She delivers her final soliloquy compellingly, with each word piercing right into the heart of the viewers.

The script is a sincere and intelligent piece of writing, especially with its use of humour amidst the intense treatment of the subject. However, the overly-dense text of the play – which clocks at 2 hours and 15 minutes – falls flat at some moments during the second half of the show."

Full review can be found here: http://centre42.sg/dark-room-by-edith-podesta-2/
 

Discipline & Diversity- My review of Simplicity

Simplicity 
by Intercultural Theatre Institute

"If this piece is to be viewed from the perspective of the actors’ training, it gains my utmost respect and admiration for the commitment an actor devotes to one’s craft. The actor has to drop his/her ego and contribute as a small and yet essential part to this highly cohesive ensemble piece.

However, if I do not take the background of the creators and the context of the work into consideration, I may find some incoherent segments and the lack of climax disturbing. At the same time, I am not seeking for a “storyline”, but rather, a journey that could eventually bring me to a destination. For instance, I may listen to a piece of drumming without a storyline and be brought on a voyage which arrives at an anchorage.

Despite all that, this ephemeral piece could be a representation of life too. While we do wish for an apex or a closure in our life, events of life do not appear in that way all the time. Life is unexpected and the only constant in life is impermanence. Thus, this piece could be a much truer reflection of the reality of life than any other well-made plays. No matter what you may think of this performance, it is definitely one that compels endless contemplation, introspection, and discussion."

- Beverly Yuen, Review of Simplicity for Centre 42

Full review can be found here: http://centre42.sg/simplicity-by-intercultural-theatre-institute/

 

Walking into the forbidden world- My review of Grind

"Production designer Chris Chua, lighting designer Tai Zi Feng and sound designer Jing Ng adeptly integrate various stage elements to create the intimate world of the four gay men in Grind, which is directed by Goh Boon Teck.

(...)

Pang (Chong Woon Yong) has found his life partner and has planned for a wedding, but the only thing which is incomplete is the lack of acceptance by his sister, his only family member. Tian (Juni Goh) is insecure about who he is in real life, and obsessively turns to social media to seek attention by hitting the gym compulsively and posting photos of his body online. Long (Mitchell Fang) actively strives for his rights as a gay man in a society where homosexuals are deprived of benefits meant only for the straight world. Gan (Stanley Seah) is a devoted Christian trapped between the condemnation of sin and embracing his sexuality. The actors sustain the piece with immense conviction, which is enhanced by a keen sense of rhythm and well-coordinated voice work. The actors also play different characters in the monologues of each lead character.

Written by Goh Boon Teck and Shar Pi’ee, the script is a commendable mix of humour, raw emotions, intelligent discourse, poetic revelation and analogies."

- Beverly Yuen, Review of "Grind" for Centre 42

Full review can be found here:  http://centre42.sg/grind-by-toy-factory/

Exhausting every possibility- My review of Now Then Again

Now Then Again

by NUS Theatre Ensemble

"Penny Penniston’s play, Now Then Again, explores the workings of quantum physics in a romantic relationship. It is based on a quantum hypothesis that the future and the past happen simultaneously. Thus, time is relative, all possibilities happen in time and space, and choice is just one possibility.

Feeling confused? Yes, indeed. This is a very challenging theme handled creatively with excellent execution of details by director Tan Shou Chen, the ensemble of seven actors, and the creative team.

Set in a surreal framework of constantly transposing time and space, daily life events are presented on stage with simple and effective use of multimedia images. This provides a useful shift between the real and unreal. Luke Kwek handles the role of Henry, an intelligent but socially awkward physicist, charmingly.

(...)

The multimedia design by Koo Chia Meng provides a sense of the vastness of the universe through projections of physics formulae, numbers and shapes. This invites the audience to ponder on the question of space and time— do space and time exist in their singularity or do multiple spaces beyond the definition of time exist? Set designer Hay Teow Kwang enhances the fluidity of the space by clearly dividing the various physical and psychological spaces which co-exist on stage."

- Beverly Yuen, Review of "Now Then Again" for Centre 42

Full review can be found here: http://centre42.sg/now-then-again-by-nus-theatre-ensemble-2/

Hypnotised! – My review of The Incredible Adventures of Border Crossers

The Incredible Adventures Of Border Crossers (SIFA 2015)

"The Incredible Adventures of Border Crossers tells the stories of “Singaporers”, who are defined by the director Ong Keng Sen as individuals who live in Singapore but are not citizens. Most of the performers are not professional actors and they originate from the USA, Asia and Europe. This 6-hour stylized performance installation brings us through the life passage of “Panorama”, “Feast”, “Travel”, Education”, “Work”, “Everyday Life”, “Wedding”, “Anthem”, “Theatre”, “Funeral” and “Spirituality” as experienced by the 20 real-life border crossers. Multimedia images designed by Brian Gothong Tan effectively demarcate the different segments, with repetitive patterns recurring between segments to allow space for reflection. 

(...)

Designed by Kaffe Matthews, the recurring and repetitive rhythm of the sounds which comprise screaming, cheering, laughing, machinery sounds, sounds from nature, as well as the fusion of folk and contemporary beats provide a sense of cyclic existence which hypnotises me. Repeated multimedia images and movements from performers further enhance this hypnotic effect, drawing me into a state of meditation.

Overall, it is a transcendental-like performance which brings the audience beyond the mundane realm into the subconscious and prehistoric realms in search of freedom and purification. The performance induces in me a feeling that I am going through a supra-mundane experience and embark on a journey of reflections and transformation within the hypnotic space."

- Beverly Yuen, Review of "The Incredible Adventures of Border Crossers" for Centre 42


Full review can be found here:  http://centre42.sg/the-incredible-adventures-of-border-crossers-by-ong-keng-sen-kaffe-matthews-chris-lee-of-asylum-brian-gothong-tan-reckless-ericka-and-francis-ng/

    Photo credit: Kevin Lee

The theatre is an encounter- My review of Q: Protagonists at the Edge

Q: Protagonists at the Edge

Directed by Ang Gey Pin
Devised with Intercultural Theatre Institute 2015 graduating cohort
Al-Matin Yatim, Chang Ting Wei, Yazid Jalil

"Three plays – The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree and The Eagle and the Cat by Kuo Pao Kun and Three Families Blessings by Lim Jen Erh — serve as a bridge to connect the responses of performers and audience to these works. The actors reveal that they are told 'to be themselves' and yet playing the characters at the same time. And that is the mantra that ties the three plays together. While the three are playing different characters, their cultural identities and traditions surface through their different languages (Malay, Mandarin, English, Hokkien, Singlish) and individual styles in delivering songs, music and movements."

- Beverly Yuen, Review of Q: Protagonists at the Edge for Centre 42

Full review can be found here: http://centre42.sg/q-protagonists-at-the-edge-by-intercultural-theatre-institute/