Own Time Own Target

Own Time Own Target

Served up in 3 segments, Own Time Own Target attempts to follow up on Army Daze with an update of National Service jokes that will have many reminisce their own NS days.

The theatre piece kicked off with Full Tank, in which a tank and its crew break off from the unit and goes on a joyride into town. The outrageous process brought about the characterisation of stereotyped soldiers of our 4 main ethnicities: a jaded Eurasian career soldier, a boot-licking Indian, a Hokkien spewing Chinese and an uncommon Malay in the military service. Gags galore as the crew interacted with the public while they drove their tank through town, realising the cost of refueling a tank, that they have NSF discounts for visits to a nightclub and even having that mandatory encounter with a ladyboy. Meanwhile, the play also takes a dig at the top brass of the military whose expertise lie in delegation of responsibilities and “carrying balls”. Neither is a certain Minister in charge of Home Affairs let off in light of a recent escaped detainee, especially since it is almost a common practice in local theatre to poke fun politics wherever possible.

Next, Radio Silence attempts to challenge our military process of grooming leaders. Lieutenant Boon and Driver Charlie were on an exercise which they have little idea of their mission objectives when they got lost. The incompetence of the military leadership systematically surfaces through flashbacks of training sessions where stereotyped instructors provide much comic relief through liberal and ceaseless swearing or hilarious presentations of the topics covered. These snippets seem to suggest the failings in the process of passing on necessary knowledge. The exchanges between the officer and driver effectively brings to light what it takes to be a leader as well as how one needs to earn his subordinate’s respect, especially under our military’s ethos of training “Thinking Soldiers”.

Finally, Botak Boys brings the audience into Pulau Tekong for a musical of every boy’s first steps in his initiation into manhood as it charters the happenings from enlistment day to the end of the confinement period. Daily, expletives fill the air as the recruits go about their song and dance retelling their training experiences. Yet, one can’t help but to realise the actual focus in this segment is on the discovery of a homosexual among 5 bunkmates and the riproaring song and dance sequences surrounding the issue. It even puts the character in question as a protoganist, almost to convince the audience to accept such occurrences in our military establishment.

Unfortunately, all the scripts hinted heavily of Army Daze with plenty of borrowed jokes and little else to offer. Perhaps the root of the problem lies in the scriptwriters’ NS background (or probably the lack of) as some scenarios are beyond realistic. Portrayals of military personnel were also unfair as there is seemingly only humour derived from incompetence. Why can’t NS jokes come from the pretext of competency and excellence? Still, much credit goes to the cast for their confident, energetic and over-the-top performances that carried the stories through this 3-and-a-half hour triplebill.

Shanghai Blues The Musical （上海之夜）

Toy Factory is well-known (but not necessarily in a good way) for shamelessly riding on the stars of the moment when it comes to marketing their productions. This time is no different. Shanghai Blues – The Musical was well-marketed with all the hype surrounding Hong Kong’s anti-drug ambassador and singer, William So (苏永康), 881 star, Mindee Ong (王欣) and Dim Sum Dolly, Emma Yong along with Jeffery Tan, Resident Choreographer of Singapore Dance Theatre choreographing the dances in the performance.

Set during World War II in China, the story started with the Japanese invasion all over the land. In the chaos, Lim Wen Chong (William So) and Du Yun (Mindee Ong) take shelter under a bridge on a dark moon-less night. So dark that both were conveniently unrecognizable. The two protagonists broke into a William So song with extremely cheesy rewritten lyrics. They talked briefly about where they were going and what they wanted to do. Wen Chong was a musician who was about to join the army against the Japanese. Du Yun was just fighting for survive. The superficial dialogue conveniently has both of them falling in love in the darkness and breaking in and out of the cheesily rewritten song and conveniently making a pact to return after the war was over. And just before they had to part ways in the darkness, Du Yun had to give Wen Chong the conveniently shameless slut kiss, which conveniently leaves Wen Chong surprised, so that a second shameless slut kiss can be planted. Oh yes, there was also the convenient token love momento, half a mantou (bun). Plus, the best part: they conveniently did not exchange their names for identification.

If you have noticed the frequently used conveniences, Yes, the script was written so conveniently that it made a trip to 7-eleven seem like an expedition. The characters were so superficially written and the rewritten song was downright crass and had a backfiring effect which was painfully comical. Unfortunately, there would be more of such horrendous and thoughtless scriptwriting.

So as conveniently as the war started, the war ended. And conveniently, 8 years passed. Wen Chong returns unscathed physically and emotionally by the ravages of war. And in his hand was a mantou, even more sickeningly convenient and cheesy was that a joke about a stale 8-year old mantou had to be weaved into the script. He appears like a little boy stepping into Disneyland for the first time. He conveniently reunites with his auntie who gives him a job in her nightclub.

At the nightclub, he bumps into the star singer who was conveniently Du Yun. They do not recognize each other because it was conveniently written previously that they didn’t get visual confirmation and the names of each other. They broke into to same cheesy rewritten song because it was convenient that they feel a strange connection. But she isn’t the same anymore. Previously a simple girl, now she is a seasoned and jaded songstress. I thought there would have been a bit of recap of the things she went through in the 8 years, but other than the regurgitated story of that night under the bridge from a convenient diary that was even more conveniently read out loud by Dan Lei (Emma Yong), she suddenly became a seasoned and jaded performer! So how the did that even happen? Oh yes, that part was conveniently left out.

So conveniently, Wen Chong and Du Yun were also neighbors who conveniently hate each other because they irritate the hell out of each other. Even more conveniently, was Dan Lei who ends up knowing Wen Chong in the cheesy, carbon copy way Du Yun first known him under the bridge. Conveniently, Dan Lei starts to fall for Wen Chong.

The plot had to have Du Yun chancing upon Wen Chong at the bridge and revealing she was the girl he met under the bridge, but he brushes it away thinking she was playing a prank on him because conveniently, she was a different person from 8 years ago.

Predictably, the story unfolds to reveal a convenient love triangle where the 2 leading ladies realize each other’s love/infatuation for Wen Chong and started pushing the other to him. Conveniently, each has their own back up plan so that they could play the to-love-is-to-let-go drama. Du Yun has a cao angmoh (stinky caucasian) wanting her, along with a bitchy and nasty rival who wants the cao angmoh for herself. Dan Lei enters and wins a beauty pageant but soon realized that there would be a price to pay.

Before Du Yun leaves with the cao angmoh, Dan Lei and Wen Chong share a dinner together. Dan Lei asked Wen Chong for an unforgettable night of beautiful memories before she loses herself in her newfound fame. Wen Chong rejected that he didn’t want to have an unforgettable night of nightmares. So conveniently, both spill to each other about the night under the bridge 8 years ago. Dan Lei reveals that Du Yun is the one Wen Chong had been waiting for all these while.

Wen Chong rushes off to the find Du Yun at the departure. With a little bit of cajoling, Wen Chong manages to make Du Yun sing along in that awfully rewritten song and therefore returning into each other’s arms.

On closing, Wen Chong’s song conveniently hit the airwave and made famous thanks to the connections of the cao angmoh because he would do anything for Du Yun.

And so the story ends. The script was unbearably cheesy and awfully corny. It failed spectacularly with an unconvincing story which didn’t even attempt to tug at the heartstrings. It took war so lightly like a flip of a page that it was appalling and unacceptable.

Thankfully, the show was kept alive with the wonderful performers. Every one was convincing in his/her role even with the lousy script. Being a musical, the singing was in general pretty good and enjoyable. While Mindee isn’t as seasoned in singing, she put up a good effort even when her voice was easily over-shadowed by William’s and Emma’s.

The dance choreography by Jeffery Tan flowed very well in the scenes in the nightclub, but those outside seemed a little too gay for themes of revolution and war in those tumultous times.

As for the set, it was as awkward as it was ingenious with the orchestra sitting right in the middle of the stage the whole time. Just about every set item had multiple uses when positioned differently, quickly changing to different scenes. However, this versatility seemed to have left the entire stage looking rather tattered and unmaintained with loose lines and ropes dangling all around, which I believe shouldn’t be the case for the nightclub scenes.

So yes, the show overall left a really bad flavor, not to mention a continued bad impression of Toy Factory. Well, at least the performers did not disappoint.

不知岛的名字 by Dramabox

At first, people had to go to the arts.
Then, they brought the arts to the people.
Now, the arts bring the people to places.

不 知岛的名字 literally has the audience hop on a tour bus along with a ‘tour guides’ explaining the snippets of the locations we pass by and the destinations we will arrive at. Pretty quirky that a local is being brought around Singapore like a tour. But Dramabox did a great job presenting their research findings through an outdoor play that brought us to Labrador Park and the original NTU gate, the minimal set up felt really like last time the ah gong tell story.

First Stop: Labrador Park

Dramabox traced the history of Singapore’s name with a light-hearted theatre that questions if Sang Nila Utama really did see a lion. Because according to historical records, lions never existed in the region.
So how in the world did Temasek become Singapura?
Did Sang Nila Utama see wrongly?
Or was he mis-educated to identify a tiger for lion?
Can you imagine country being named Harimaupura?

Also discussed was Dragon Teeth Gate a.k.a. Batu Berlayer a.k.a. Lot’s Wife. This rock formation was a guiding landmark for incoming boats but also posed a threat as it was a perfect hiding place for pirates to ambush. Eventually, it was blown up for the safety of sea-farers.

The multiple names came about from different perspectives. Particularly, Lot’s Wife was aptly named after the character in the bible who did not take heed and looked back to Sodom was turned to stone. The parallel of Sodom? It was Pulau Belakang Mati where the inhabitants were wiped out by Malaria. In order not to bring up the sorrows of the deaths, the island was renamed to Sentosa.

Since we were on the topic of Sentosa (and the Integrated Resort), Lot’s Wife and Sodom (where all the vices congregated), how about putting Lot’s Wife in the gambling den? Keep that to your imagination as we moved on to our second stop.

Second Stop: The Original NTU Gate

I think this is one of the most historically significant of establishments from the time under British colonial rule. Chinese immigrants set up Nanyang University to as a beacon of hope. The university embodied the belief that a better education would bring about a better life.

Our ancestors always thought about their descendants’ future. So when the idea of a local University was brought up, the piece of land was given and everybody did what they could to contribute to the building fund. Many professions dedicated a day’s earnings to the fund, even the prostitutes were no exception (historically true).

But it wasn’t smooth sailing for university. The students were persecuted on many occasions and no recognition was given to their certificate. While NTU is well-recognized today, the alumni from long ago still contest for the name of their university to be restored even till this day.

Afterthought

It was definitely an enjoyable experience and an eye-opener to many unseen facets of our local history which were never taught in the classroom during my time. Kudos to Dramabox for their diligent research on the topic, their innovation to bring their audience out to places for theatre, and the quality performance that teaches and entertains at the same time.