Random Musings

Ah, the joys of local theatre!

I’m not sure what the general public’s impression of local theatre is at the moment, but the avid local arts patron of recent times should find plenty of reasons to be extremely optimistic about the current and future state of this seemingly thriving local art form.

Toy Factory’s fourth staging of Titoudao, currently playing from 1st to 31st March at the Drama Centre Theatre @ National Library, is an intelligent production that highlights all that is wonderful about local theatre.

Titoudao (a name which I can’t properly pronounce even up till now) was first staged in Singapore in 1994, and its last local staging in 2000 garnered five awards at the Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, including Play of the Year.

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Synopsis

(Here’s the part where I Google for Titoudao’s plot synopsis on the Internet to copy and paste. Just kidding!)

Titoudao depicts the real-life experiences of a Hokkien wayang (i.e. street opera) actress Madam Oon Ah Chiam, and is set mainly in the mid-20th century era of Singapore.

It chronicles the struggles Madam Oon faced in her ambition to become a wayang performer, amidst the various changes in societal landscape throughout the decades.

It also portrays vividly a very much dying (or dead) art form - wayang, which was close to the hearts of many S’poreans back in the olden days…and laments the losing of such a precious aspect of our culture to foreign, commercialised art forms.

And since every Titoudao synopsis you’ll read in the media would probably state this, I guess I’ll have to say it too: The play is written and directed by Goh Boon Teck, who is the son of Madam Oon herself.

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Cool!

One of the many intriguing aspects of the play was the way they started the play. Or rather, the way they built up to the start of the play.

This was really cool, something I’d never seen before in theatre.

What happens is that as you enter the auditorium at around 750pm (assuming you’re the punctual type, like me!), you’d see on stage a set of what appears to be the backstage dressing room area of a typical makeshift wayang stage.

And not only that, you’d see the entire cast, dressed in basic white inner clothes (the type that actors wear beneath their costumes), hanging around and basically chillin’ out before the performance starts.

So you’d see Pam Oei touching up her make-up in the mirror and doing some warmup stretches, Karen Tan doing stitching work, Chua Enlai enjoying a quiet moment with himself and just spacing out, and Beatrice Chia-Richmond walking around exchanging friendly banter with Sebastian Tan, Gordon Choy, and the rest of the cast.

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Hokkien-heavy

Titoudao is essentially a seamless amalgamation of two stories into one, i.e. the real-life story of Madam Oon, and the wayang opera in which the caricature-like character Titoudao, played by Pam Oei, stars in.

The wayang opera in the play was authentically played out, complete with traditional Hokkien theatrical lyrics and the unmistakable clanging of chinese cymbals.

If there’s one drawback to this play, it’s that those who understand very little or no Hokkien would find themselves a little bit lost, because a large portion of the play is acted out in Hokkien.

The wayang, for example, was entirely in Hokkien. And it wasn’t just normal Hokkien…it was theatrical Hokkien, complete with poetic descriptions of the moutains and the rivers!

Granted, there was English translation being flashed on the two side panels. However, the fluent Hokkien-speaker would be able to truly appreciate all the subtle nuances of the language which no amount of translation can attempt to recreate.

Don’t say you have not been warned!

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Cast

Boy, was this a stellar cast! Very talented, very tight.

It’s not so much a case of one outstanding performer clearly outshining all the other good performers (like Ivan Heng in Jack and the Bean-Sprout) as it is a case of every performer being more or less on the same high level, with no one really overshadowing anyone else…except for Pam Oei possessing that added edge in depth and quality required to carry off the role of Madam Oon/Titoudao to perfection (which she most definitely did).

Cast: 
Pam Oei
Chua Enlai
The lovely Karen Tan (notice I always use “the lovely” to describe Karen Tan)
Gordon Choy
Aidli “Alin” Mosbit
Sebastian Tan
Beatrice Chia-Richmond
Judy Tan

Each cast member plays multiple roles, and it’s a pleasure to be able to witness the performance of such an exceptional cast.

Pam Oei is probably local theatre’s most versatile and enigmatic female performer, in my humble opinion. The range of colours which she is able to emote through the modest-sized frame of hers (ok lah, who am I kidding…it’s a small-sized frame) is simply captivating to watch, a sight to behold.

She makes you laugh in an instant, via deft comical movements as Titoudao, and she makes you cry the next, via a touching soliloquy as Madam Oon on a dark empty stage.

Chua En Lai is probably, apart from Ivan Heng, the most hilarious drag performer in local theatre. If there’s a play which requires comical drag acting, you can be sure he’ll be the most sought-after actor for the job!

Sebastian Tan, who is climbing wildly up my “Favourite Local Thespians” chart, was stomach-achingly hilarious as the wooden-blocked nerd in that one particular scene with Pam Oei, the one where they were set up on a “blind date” by Karen Tan outside Haw Par Villa. (See picture on right, or above…or whichever way the picture displays itself on your browser.)

Honestly, that scene alone was worth the price of admission I tell you! (Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit here.)

Beatrice Chia-Richmond, who’s visibly pregnant by the way, excelled in certain roles in which she was cast in, most notably the one where she played the vicious and cynical mother-in-law of Madam Oon.

Judy Tan was a new face to me, but I thought she did really well. Solid performance, and very pleasing to the eye. One to watch for the future, I’m sure.

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Concluding Thoughts

Although the universal theme of striving for your dreams can be easily appreciated by one and all, Titoudao is certainly especially appealing to the Hokkien-speaking members of the older generation, especially those who lived through the wayang heyday of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.

The numerous nostalgic wayang-era Hokkien songs being played throughout the show also tugged at many a heartstring in the audience.

Kudos to Toy Factory for staging such a wonderful production!

Titoudao runs till 31 March.

I’m not sure what the ticket situation is like at this present moment, but if you’ve been mulling over whether to go for this…DON’T THINK FURTHER, JUST GO GO GO!