Watching
this play is like eating an entire buffalo. It's by no means easy,
and afterwards, gorged on the sheer viscerality of it all, you might
even feel a bit ill. But at the end of the meal, there's no way
you can say you've been left unsatisfied.
You see, there's a monolithic, all-encompassing intensity to Queen
Ping, looming and disturbing, frustrating to comprehend on a rational
level, yet ultimately rewarding in its story of breaking away from filial
institutions to live one's own life. I didn't know what to make of it
at first - I was simply overwhelmed by the bizarreness of the scenarios
and jarred by the apparent randomness of the disparate segments, which
included spastically slurred renditions of Don't Give Up on Us Baby
and recitals of the levels of Dante's Inferno. But in retrospect,
I'm struck by the logic behind this weirdness, and the deeper implications
in terms of dramatic language: Cake Theatre is producing a new way of
communicating a story - one that still requires some modulation, yet
is already powerful in its present incarnation.
Writer/director Natalie Hennedige hasn't primed her work to address
a specific topic, as was typical of her work during her TNS days and
of much of Singapore contemporary theatre (symptomatic of a politicised
approach to drama). Rather, she's taking theatre back to its roots in
myth, as can be seen in her dramatis personae of a deranged priest of
a stepfather named Moses, a psychotic virgin nurse of a mother named
Dewi, and a stolen baby daughter by the name of Rabbit. Superficially,
they're acting out a story about growing up and breaking free from severely
dysfunctional parents, but in fact the play operates on a level beyond
the already twisted and absurdist farce of Christopher Durang's
similarly themed Baby
with the Bathwater. The names and careers of the characters
push them into the realm of archetype, so that Dewi's tyranny of the
household becomes much more than a domestic problem: she is the family,
the state, and all establishment, and she is allied with her husband
from the church. Rabbit's rebellion and escape from her clutches, with
the help of her free-spirited artist boyfriend, Ape, is thus immediately
apparent as more than a love story cliché: it is the very embodiment
of the independent spirit who rejects institutionalisation.
Such an ambitiously mythic play could fail utterly, appearing pretentious
or juvenile, if not for the strength of the cast, ballooning the mad
characters into superhuman personalities. Noorlinah Mohamed was especially
masterful in her portrayal of the innocent Rabbit: her effective recital
of the lengthy Jamaica Kincaid text, What I Have Been Doing Lately,
while curled on the floor, required particular effort and control of
emotion. Nora Samosir's lofty rendition of the hellish Dewi was given
a delicate counterpoint by Michael Corbidge's subtle yet deeply emotionally
centred interpretation of Moses. Despite the warped nature of his character,
he was able to evoke real empathy for his situation, trapped in middle
age in a self-destructive parody of a family.
Hennedige's infinitely imaginative stage play further enhanced character
and relationship, pushing actors to communicate while playing on the
eponymous ping-pong table, or while engaging in bondage play with chains
and leather. The visually arresting design concept and video work of
Brian Gothong Tan also served to hold the pulsing segments together
- nor was the national significance of the predominantly red and white
colour scheme altogether lost on a Singaporean audience.
However, these advantages only added to an already swollen level of
intensity, which made Queen Ping almost painful to witness,
especially if one felt too distanced from the wild characters to empathise
with their situation. It was for such reasons that the hilarious monologue
by Rizman Putra as a clueless makcik maternity ward nurse was a welcome
refreshment, as was Dewi and Moses's fetish role-play re-enactment of
a scene from The Sound of Music, though the scene itself seemed
somewhat extraneous. There's clearly a need for more study into how
to balance the concentrated passion of stories like these with a lightness
than can make the whole play more palatable to a disoriented audience.
More specific quibbles of mine include the following. I question the
wisdom of including visual designer Brian Gothong Tan as a cast member
- placed beside such professional performers, his inexperience in physical
theatre inevitably showed, and even a largely silent role like his requires
weighty stage presence to match up to the rest of the players. The use
of BDSM toys effectively communicated the dysfunctional power relationships
in the family, but seemed a slap in the face to friends of mine who
are consensual practitioners of bondage play. And the opening of the
play, with Dewi desperately hammering on the doors of the church, didn't
engage me emotionally - Samosir played the part with far too much dignity
and theatricality to forge a sympathetic attachment. Fortunately, the
following scene, where Moses declaimed a heretical version of Genesis
accompanied by a video montage, gripped my attention sufficiently to
bring me into the world of the play.
Aside from this, there are few other cuts one would dare to suggest,
for while tightening another play might feel like trimming away flab,
to shorten this work might require sawing through raw muscle. And for
all its over-the-top lunacy, certain moments of real emotional intimacy
are often able to shine through. Rabbit's conversations with her parents,
especially with her concerned father as she moves from innocence to
disillusionment, are especially moving.
I'm going to pose a challenge to Cake Theatre. Can they stage a work
like this, a feast for the eyes and the mind and the imagination, that
consistently engages with the audience on a personal, heartfelt level,
without veering too far off into abstraction and strangeness? Right
now the work is so imaginatively overpowering that it becomes alienating
to many a viewer - not everyone can ride the raw emotional wave that
fuses together the expressionistic jigsaw of this piece. Yet it's important
that the company stays true to the style that's made it unique among
the multiplying theatre businesses of the city.
I'm impressed by Queen Ping as a work of excess - ambitious
in its legendary scope, its stylisation, its stars and its heightened
emotions. But the danger is, as I try to digest the many organs of the
buffalo, the heart is almost lost.
Yi-Sheng discovered on opening night that he not only was friends
with the director but also the designer and half the cast, so his view
of the show is unavoidably biased. |
"I'm impressed by Queen Ping as a work of excess - ambitious
in its legendary scope, its stylisation, its stars and its heightened
emotions"
Credits
Playwright and Director: Natalie Hennedige
Multimedia and Set Designer: Brian Gothong Tan
Lighting Designer: Suven Chan
Producer: Sharon Tang
Production Consultant: Joanna Goh
Technical Consultant: Patrick Wong
Stage Manager: Koo Ching Long
Assistant Stage Manager: Koo Ching Har
Cast: Michael Corbidge, Nora Samosir, Noorlinah Mohamed,
Rizman Putra and Brian Gothong Tan
Previous Productions by Cake Theatre
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