Great evening out with Elieen, we had very good seats allocated to us. It was definitely worthwhile getting the season tickets again from Pangdemoniun. I have been getting very decent seatings so far for the last 2 years. Excellent view.
Here are some of my thoughts and feelings about the show Circle Mirror Transformation. In summary, it was intensely real to me. Having the privilege of being a part of drama club during my polytechnic days, the activities in Circle Mirror Transformation definitely had a ring of familiarity to it.
The show is about average people, real issues and their interaction with one another. It is about how most of us act to cover up our fears and weakness, how sometimes all it takes is the right trigger and the right opportunity for these issues to intensify and surface. When it does, majority of us will be hoping for a little help and a listening ear but yet we hold back and play down the moment, acting as if it was something else. As we grow older, we have all become very good at this. So here is a play about a bunch of people learning how to act. How apt and ironic at the same time.
I love the way how little moments of awkwardness were cleverly directed to pop up at the appropriate moments throughout the show. One such moment was when Adrian Pang had the conversation with Neo Swee Lin about night terrors. Clearly Adrian touched onto a sensitive area of Swee Lin's. She looked for a quick moment as if she was pleading for help, wanting more advice or at least to hear more from Adrian and Adrian struggled to find a right approach to offer his help and that little awkwardness surfaced. It was so real. How many times in life do we see this play out time and again? More often than we care to admit.
Although it was an immensely fun show filled with laughter, it is undeniably a well thought out production that showcases about interpersonal relationships between your average run of the mill people. That's how Pangdemonium won me over again with this production - simply because I can relate to the characters as they seemed so real.
Below are some photos of the cast with Adrian thanking the sponsors after the show. You can see how close we were to the stage.
Another wicked production from Pangdemonium that just ended its run last Sunday. And i have to say, it was very nicely adapted to woo the local audience.
Lots of jokes and puns were referenced to Singapore's very own unique scenes, winning lots of laughter from the audience. Let me describe one of the jokes and you will know what it means if you are a local.
Mr Boo (played by Rishi) thanked the sponsors in the opening act and so he goes on with the list of sponsors, "... National Arts Council ... Lee Foundation. Not that Lee, but this Lee that actually gives you money". Get it?
Mina Kaye who played the part of LV or Little Voice impressed me greatly in this performance. She was extraordinary. Her last performance in A Singaporean in Paris was admirable but did not exactly wow me.
This time, she did and i mean WOW. My friends (Megha, Cecilia) who attended the performance with me had nothing but praises for her too. This is no mean feat especially when we consider the fact that she acted alongside Adrian Pang in this production.
Far too often, Adrian Pang who has such a commanding presence on stage, tends to steal the limelight from the leads even when he is cast in a supporting role. Adrian Pang delivered as usual but Mina Kaye with her powerful performance, managed to keep the spotlight focused on her without being overshadowed.
Can't wait to see Pangdemonium's next performance starring Adrian Pang and Janice Koh. I loved their intense performance from Rabbit Hole last year and i wondered if they will top that in their next collaboration come this October.
Broadway Beng - Benging you back to Basics delivers all the entertainment and laughter that their posters suggest. Its our first "Beng" experience but no doubt about it, Mark, Tracy, Cecilia and I had a wicked good time, all 90 mins.
Ah Phew (Broadway Beng) brought us back to his childhood, his teenage years through a number of skits. One of the more memorable skits was Justice Bao. Imagine Ah Phew as Bao, my goodness, its a recipe for a devastating proportion of comics (I get will back to that later).
As all four of are born in the late 70s, the stage backdrop was awfully familiar. If you are born in the 70s, grew up in the HDB neighbourhood like us, you will know of the playgrounds that are shaped after a dragon (very nostalgic, brought back lots of fond memories). And the design was quite ingenious, the eye of the dragon is a disco light ball.
Yes, you guessed it, there was a skit about tea dances, ever popular in the 80s. Skit was done with Ah Phew sporting the curry puff hair. It was the "in" hairstyle those days. Most guys would dream about having that perfect curry puff but just couldn't get it right despite using a whole bottle of gel. Of course, it looks absolutely ridiculous now if anyone of us tries to go out with that kind of hair.
Back to Justice Bao, i totally dig the way Ah Phew and his cast of CHIO BUs (beautiful girls in Hokkien) changed 威武 (Wei Wu - loosely translates as mighty) to Buay Who (meaning late, not in time) when they started the court session. Seamlessly, this led to a comic presentation of our current daily issues such as train breakdowns, White Paper and our children's education.
Speaking of children, this was the part Ian entered the show. Who is Ian? An adorable eight year old boy who speaks way better Hokkien than most of us do these days. For the record, he even sang in Hokkien. Beat that.
Thinking back, there is an underlying message beneath all the laughter that the brains behind this production is spreading. The vision of our past, present and future and what we truly want as a Singaporean and our hopes for the next generation.
Do we want to become a nation where trains breakdown frequently due to overcrowding or let our children's childhood be filled with an uphill task of chasing after impossible academic achievements?
Or do we want to preserve our culture and foster a better environment where we can pass down things that matters more than paper chase and material gains to the next generation?
Ah Phew already has his answer when he said nearing the close of the show that he like to pass the baton to Ian when he is old. Ian can then take over his role as Beng and do the 152th Broadway Beng. But Ian has bigger hopes, he believes the 152th Broadway Beng will be done by his grandson, not himself.
As the Chinese saying goes, 人小小志氣大. I think we all have great hopes for Ian and our next generation. J
I watched Rabbit Hole by Pangdemonium, 2 weeks ago and wanted to write a quick recap to record some of my feelings and thoughts i had. Though i did not do so after the next day or 2, the thought to put it down so was constantly at the back of my mind. Unlike some impulses which sometimes falter and disappear after couple of days, this particular one did not. So, i guess i can't really classify it as an impulse, saying it a wish is probably more appropriate at this junction.
Rabbit Hole is more than just a ordinary theatre production, it did more than just entertain and wow the audience. It felt to me more like a call reaching to all of us who attended, to look inside our deepest memories and reflect on our life journey. The drama mainly revolves around a couple (Howie and Becca), their immediate family, relationships with one other and how they dealt with their own deepest emotions and experiences. There are several emotionally charged scenes in the entire show, 2 of them made a deep impression on me.
One was just right before the intermission. Howie discovered Becca accidentally recorded over a home video of their dead son, Danny. This gave rise to an argument with devastating results as they blamed themselves and each other for the loss of their son, ending up with both breaking down in shouts and tears. The atmosphere became intense and i caught myself with tears welling up, brimming. I was not alone, several members of the audience were sniffling and softly sobbing around me. The guy beside me literally broke down, 2 loud sobs and he dashed out of the theatre. i can only surmised he couldn't hold it back any longer and was considerate enough to leave the audience seats so not to disturb others.
Why did it affect us so much? All of us lost someone dear to us before and in this particular scene, it reminded us of how we dealt with the loss especially for those who lost someone before their time. It brought back memories when we were at the bottom of that valley, we were not able to see pass our own suffering, we could not see how the other party too is grieving just as much. Because we could not empathise, we blame them for not mourning and not respecting the memories in the manner we deemed right.
The other was in the later half of the show. Becca and her mum, Nat were clearing up Danny's room and as they reminisced and talked about Danny. Becca asked if the loss, if the hurt will ever go away. Nat was silent for a moment and she said it doesnt and after some time, we just learn to live with it and it becomes part of us. So much so that we can almost believe its not there anymore. But when that happens, we reach in and we realise the hurt, the loss are still there. They never went away, it still pains but they changed into something we can live with and no longer cripple us from living and loving any longer. This really struck a chord deep in my heart because i too, believe thats how we cope with our loss, our sadness and pick up our innate capacity to live and love again.
