ANOTHER COUNTRY by W!ld Rice

“Dancing with Another Country”

Reviewer: Gan Soon Rui
Performance: 3 July 2015

Another Country is like a buffet spread packed full of Singaporean and Malaysian dishes.

For the first half, you sample a comprehensive selection of Singaporean dishes cooked by Malaysian chefs. After a 15 minutes interval, you continue on to the Malaysian dishes, this time prepared by Singaporeans, in the order predetermined by a game of Tikam-Tikam [local version of drawing the lot].

And like all buffets, it can be overwhelming trying to savour ALL the dishes in three hours, especially if you are the kind of person that wants to get their bang for the buck.

The spread of texts selected carefully by the curators Alfian Sa’at and Leow Puay Tin, from the Singaporean and Malaysian texts respectively, can be used comparatively to trace the lineage of local theatre in both countries. Simply put, this production allows us to see Singapore and Malaysia as two entwining vines binding both countries. Another Country is a performance operating primarily on juxtaposition.

And I guess it is no coincidence that the Malaysian and Singaporean casts are dressed in black and white respectively, and how the plain white floor of the stage is purposefully marked with black tape into a tic-tac-toe-esque shape during the latter half of the performance. Subsequently, combined with the systematic movements of the Singaporean cast from text to text, the latter half of the performance feels clinical and less robust compared to the first half, even though the order of the texts are performed in a random shuffle.

While the collections of texts are indeed comprehensive and varied, it seems a shame that there is little attention paid to the pacing of the performance. Continuing with the analogy of a buffet, the performance feels like us gorging on richly flavoured food without being given time to appreciate the details of the dishes, savour the taste and pause for reflection. After a while, the audience is drained, which is more often than not the opportune time for them to check their phones. And mind you, this behaviour is infectious amongst a distracted audience… but I digress.

Towards the end of the performance, Another Country does leave much food for thought for the audience. Titled Dance, this piece had both the Singaporean and Malaysian casts dancing a short bout with their counterpart, and leaves a strong and poignant reminder of this brief and coordinated duet together between 1963 – 1965.

An unforgettable dance duet with another country.