Issue 14

The audience gets involved this year at ‘The Studios’ series – whether they like it or not, says Edward Choy

'You! In the front row! Pay attention!’ 
Ever heard an actor yell that during a performance? It could happen during this year’s season of ‘The Studios’, an annual series at the Esplanade that defies the concept of sitting back and relaxing during a performance. All but one of the seven plays will be staged at the 220- seat Theatre Studio, an intimate space that puts you within reach of the actors – literally so, if you’re in the front row. The plays are meant to ‘showcase works that explore experimental writing or find new ways of presenting written text’, says Rydwan Anwar, the Esplanade’s programming officer responsible for this year’s line-up. And the shows look to live up to that promise; two in particular stand out, not just for their calibre, but how they challenge their audiences. Or, to put it more accurately and less politely, how they completely screw with your head.
 
National Language Class
This 75-minute performance by Singapore theatre company Spell#7 is based on a 1959 painting of the same name by Chua Mia Tee, which depicts a group of Singaporean Chinese students learning the national language from a Malay cikgu (teacher). Noor Effendy Ibrahim, playing the teacher, goes head to head with one of his Chinese students, Yeo Yann Yann (who played Big Papaya in 881). In fact, you may go head to head with Effendy, too, especially if you come late to the show. Even before you take your seat, you may be questioned, even interrogated in Malay; you will be expected to answer. Soon it becomes clear that you’re actually part of the class. You may even find yourself taking sides as the conflict unfolds. 

But as director Paul Rae explains, ‘This play is not about territory or winning, but about balance. They’re fighting, but not to win…the audience will interpret the performance as a struggle between races and about power, but this play is really about understanding these relationships in a more nuanced way than we’re normally encouraged to.’ The norm that Rae refers to is the Singaporean ‘Chinese/Malay/Indian/Others’ defi nition of race that he considers an oversimplification in many people’s understanding of ethnicity. ‘It’s a bureaucratic designation,’ Rae says. ‘The challenge here seems to be that many take ethnicity to be a defining feature, and we explore all the ways in which it isn’t.’ 

Yeo’s character, an earnest Chinese student, is especially interesting; as her resistance to the teacher builds, you too may rediscover your inner student – the one you thought you left behind with your school days. Look out also for Effendy’s glare when he catches you not paying attention to his lessons. If you have psychological issues about authority figures, you might wish to avert your eyes. Alternatively, just be that teacher’s pet you always were. Aww. 

an oak tree
The premise of this hour-long show by the lower-case-loving UK theatre company news from nowhere is intriguing: a father loses his daughter in a car accident. The driver responsible is a stage hypnotist who loses the power of suggestion as a result. The first time both meet after the accident? When the father volunteers for the hypnotist’s act. 

an oak tree’s cast consists of only two characters: Tim Crouch as the hypnotist, and a 56-year-old man played by a different actor for each of the 250-plus times it’s been performed around the world. Interestingly, about half of the actors playing the man have been women. Crouch wrote and developed the play, which at first glance appears to be professional suicide for the invited actor; there are no rehearsals for the show. The actor meets Crouch for the first time an hour before the performance, is briefed on some of the technical details and given a little time to become familiar with the theatre space. Then the audience comes in and the show starts. That’s when the actor sees the script for the first time. 

‘This play explores what constitutes the moment of performance,’ Crouch says. ‘Traditionally, the rehearsal process is hidden from the audience, but in an oak tree the audience is aware that the actor is making choices in the moment, and it can get frustrating for the audience because the actor is making choices that likely differ from their own.’ Without giving away the plot, suffice it to say that because the story involves the death of a child, there is ‘a hard-hitting emotional heart’ that will resonate with most audiences. 

It may sound like Crouch is just hyping up his show, but an oak tree has won several awards, including a Herald Angel at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival and an OBIE (award for smaller productions) in 2007. The actors who have appeared in the play include household names like Christopher Eccleston, Mike Myers and even Frances McDormand (who Crouch says was probably the best thesp yet for the role). In Singapore, the brave stand-ins are familiar faces: Ivan Heng, Loong Seng Oon, Jean Ng and Karen Tan. When asked what made her take on the role, Tan’s response was an honest, ‘It’s possession, lor!’ She’s read the description of the show and some reviews, and she knows she’ll be meeting Crouch just before the show. But that’s about all she knows. ‘I make it a point not to do something I’ve done before, otherwise it’s like you’re stuck in a certain mould of performing,’ she says. 

That’s something that Crouch also feels strongly about. ‘The idea that you could perform a Noël Coward piece today just as it was done 20 years ago without thought to the “liveness” of the audience and contemporary social conditions – that, to me, is theatre death.’ 

‘The Studios’ with National Language Class (3-5 Apr) and an oak tree (7 & 8, 10 & 11 May) runs from 3 Apr to 11 May.