The Singapore theatre production of Fight Club – A Chorus is inspired by the novel and movie of the same name. But if you’re looking for brutal fight scenes and schizophrenic nuances, you won’t get it here. In the book Fight Club by American author Chuck Palahniuk, the protagonist struggles with the monotony of a consumerist economy. In Fight Club – A Chorus, local choreographer Daniel Kok recruits civil servants, financial advisors and tour agents by word-of-mouth to star in the Singaporean production. Only five professional actors make up the 48- member ensemble. Much like a controlled experiment, these hardworking professionals left behind the monotony of their desk jobs to undergo a ten-session workshop involving two-hour classes twice a week. Come showtime, the piece will start with an individual on stage performing a one-minute solo. That individual will be joined one by one by the other 47 players to form a chorus – just don’t expect the Vienna Boys’ Choir (see ‘Hello, sailor boys’). 

Kok approached the National Museum of Singapore in May with an idea to celebrate the museum’s 120th anniversary with a performance piece. Post Theatre, a Berlin-based theatre company that holds lectures and workshops, seemed like the perfect partner for this collaboration; the group has staged site-specific performances in Berlin, New York and Tokyo. The theatre company provided the local producers with a manual containing certain parameters for the piece; however, these are merely guidelines and are open to interpretation by the participants. According to James Koh, production manager of Fight Club – A Chorus, the process is just as important as the end result. ‘There will be professionals on hand to guide our non-actors,’ he says. ‘There will be technical rehearsals, but there is no fixed script or specific choreographed routines. How successful the piece turns out will largely depend on how much people are willing to let loose.’ 

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