“Chained and Connected”

Reviewer: Beverly Yuen
Performance: 30 April 2016

Dark Room, a docudrama written and directed by Edith Podesta, shares the true stories of former inmates of Changi Prison. They are based on recorded interviews which lasted an average of two hours each. The first incarnation of the play was entitled Dark Room x8 and staged as a work-in-progress in 2014.

The set, designed by Chris Chua, is symmetrical in most of its configurations. It is unbearably sharp and geometrical with its lines, edges, pointedness and rectangularity. Coupled with the harsh lighting design by Adrian Tan – which casts lines, angular shapes, and shadows – the stage is transformed into an enclosed space of castigation, control, and confinement.

The internment experienced by the prisoners is also enhanced by Darren Ng’s sound effects of metal prison doors opening and shutting, and the metallic sounds of bars and chains. However, at some points, the sound is so abrupt that it interrupts the performers delivering their texts.

Prison life is depicted as boredom, loss and fear.  The inmates play games, share meals and singing sessions to relieve the tedium. Their lives in the prison are “chained and connected to one another.” They are visited by their parents, represented by a middle-aged couple played by Lim Kay Siu and Neo Swee Lin.

Amongst the cohesive ensemble of 11, Oliver Chong and Pavan J Singh constantly engage the audience with their adroit performances. They deliver their characters convincingly with a pertinent grasp of rhythm in their actions and speech, tinted with a sense of wretchedness and dark humour.

The other six male prisoners add diversity to the spectrum of personalities.  Nelson Chia and Noor Effendy Ibrahim play the long-term inmates who orientate and give advice to the newbies; Timothy Nga plays the gay inmate who is placed in the same cell as the other straight men; Ian Tan plays a discouraged ex-convict who struggles with issues of acceptance in the society; Mohd Fared Jainal plays the melancholic inmate; and Erwin Shah Ismail plays the inmate who sheds light on the life in prison with his composed, and occasionally perceptive account.

Shafiqhah Efandi, who plays the only female prisoner in the piece, sustains her acting with a poignant inner soul-scape. She delivers her final soliloquy compellingly, with each word piercing right into the heart of the viewers.

The script is a sincere and intelligent piece of writing, especially with its use of humour amidst the intense treatment of the subject. However, the overly-dense text of the play – which clocks at 2 hours and 15 minutes – falls flat at some moments during the second half of the show. By this time, there is hardly any display of the intention and subtext behind the lines. However, this is a well-researched, earnest, and humanity-championing piece of work that should be seen by more people.

“Struggling with the Outside from the Inside”

Reviewer: Alisa Maya Ravindran
Performance: 30 April 2016

Dark Room opens and ends with monologues that are inspired by true accounts from prisoners, immersing the audience in the experiences of the characters and their loved ones from the get-go. The play walks you through the experiences of convicts from their court date until their release date, and comprehensively addresses the ups and downs as it develops.

The star-studded cast, with the likes of Lim Kay Siu and Noor Effendy Ibrahim, does not disappoint. The actors interject comedy and grief and introspection throughout, so the lengthy run time of two hours is not difficult to sit through. What is most powerful about this performance is the diversity of characters, in terms of ethnicity socio-economic class. A Malay uncle in his forties, young, well-educated gay men, a Chinese waiter and a foreign worker all share the same cell.

The cast’s use of space is praise-worthy, as the male characters work within a mock-up of a Changi prison cell for the bulk of the show. Besides showcasing the daily routines of prison life and how the characters cope with their new circumstances, Dark Room also benefits from the perspectives of parents and loved ones, and shows how a prison sentence punishes the jailed person’s family as well. In essence, this is the central struggle all of the characters face: the idea that life in a jail cell is about figuring out one’s past, present and future while all the while being conscious of, but out of touch with the outside world.

Nelson Chia’s Chinese monologue about caning in the prisons has the audience in total silence. His character’s empathy with the prisoners who are caned is equal parts moving and disturbing. In his speech, the humanity of each prisoner is brought to the forefront, as he strips away labels of crime, shame to highlight the universal experiences of pain and humiliation. Shafiqhah Efandi is the only female inmate in the play, and single-handedly conveys women’s experiences of prison. While her performance is compelling in terms of its somberness, it is ultimately one-dimensional in that the upsides of prison life, no matter how minute, are barely discussed.

In the final analysis, the identities of the prisoners and the crimes for which they are incarcerated are never revealed. Instead the play focuses on how “normal” these archetypical prisoners are and raises a long-debated question: just how effective and ethical is the current prisons system?

“Dark Room Sheds Light on Prison Life“

Reviewer: Isaac Tan
Performance: 5 July 2014, 3pm

It seems that there is a rising trend for docu-plays where the script is based on extensively edited interview transcripts. In this case, Edith Podesta (director and writer) interviewed several former inmates of Changi prison and transformed their experiences to the stage.

For a work-in-progress, it was hugely effective. In fact, the indications that this was a work-in-progress showcase were the free admission, the actors holding scripts, and no set. Apart from that, the showcase was polished, well thought out, and deeply affecting.

I was surprised to learn that all the actors only had access to the interview transcripts and not the recordings. Despite that, all of them delivered nuanced performances: capturing the speech quirks of the interviewees very well. Additionally, they picked up on each other’s cues seamlessly despite not having memorised the script fully.

As the presentation went on, my initial reservations about whether a docu-play could match a documentary film faded away. Seeing eight men huddled together in a square lighting plot (designed by Adrian Tan) or to exchange looks in tender moments of friendship, made it a profoundly visceral experience. This is complemented by the fact that the audience is huddled together in a confined space which gave them a vicarious experience of the whole process.

The strength of this production was that it only presented the voices of the former prisoners. There was no authorial or directorial slant to portray the prison in any way apart from what was said. This resulted in a complex production that illustrated prison life in a very human way – its harsh realities, sorrows, and simple joys: the audience were left to form their own opinions.

I strongly believe that this play is a step in the right direction confronting the stigmatisation of former prisoners. I have always considered myself open-minded and accepting. At the end of the play, I realised that I was as judgemental as the next person – do their crimes and sentences really matter? Isn’t it more important that these people have served their time and have turned over a new leaf?