Hearing Things: The Ghosts of The Substation by Tania De Rozario

“Part Mystery, Part History, Fully Disclosed.“

Reviewer: Gabriel Lim
Performance: 6 September 2015, 3pm

Be warned, this review is filled with necessary spoilers.

Imagine being alone, a headphone over your head with the narrator’s voice, a faulty torch light in one hand that activates your paranoia. The twisting of the door knob with the other hand opens to a lesser-known tunnel-like storage space in the basement of The Substation.

Do not hesitate, just venture into the unknown. No cheap sudden screams, I promise.

Hearing Things: The Ghosts of The Substation is part of Septfest, The Substation’s annual anniversary celebration. As they turn 25 this year, this production investigates the past through its iconic building.

A spectre haunts. A little girl. This figure is mentioned umpteen times. She may leave traces of a tiny pair of slippers; she may be running on the catwalk platform above the blackbox; or luring the technician in the middle of the night by activating the burglar alarm. And all this while, it is as though she is waiting for the right person.

This place has so many traces of the past: one sealed door is said to be a tunnel leading to Fort Canning. In another instance, a director tells an actor to conduct a cleansing ritual by carrying a fruit basket around the theatre. Never have I been on a tour so trippy and surreal. You will definitely not regret going on this trip to explore the space. My only gripe is that this tour is a little tedious: the audience/participants must pay close attention to the speaker and the deliberate footstep sounds to judge when to move. Often, I find myself chasing after the narrative, ignoring the space and the atmosphere as a result.

Nevertheless, the next time you visit The Substation, suspend your disbelief. You may just come across something that makes you eerily aware of your presence and the presences of the unseen past.