“Navigating a Haphazard Dream”

Reviewer: Teo Xiao Ting
Performance: 29 November 2019

A Dream of a Dream by Thereabouts Theatre questions the idea of freedom, and proclaims to provide a space where we can “emancipate [ourselves] from the dire realities of our modern world”. But when we are given absolute freedom, how do we navigate it? How do we conduct ourselves?

The show starts at the entrance of The Substation’s SAD Bar. Ong Yi Xuan stands outside the door, interrogating each visitor about their “streetwear”, the dress code stated in the event page. When it is my turn, Ong glances at me from head to toe, scanning my “streetwear” with a vague look of disapproval. I had clean forgotten about the dress code, and came as I would normally dress. I scramble to justify my choice of clothing and accessories. And then she notices my undercut and just like that, I gain entry. I go through a small, low door. Loud dancing music blares into a neon blue lit room. A lone microphone stands in front of crates repurposed as chairs.

At the bar, Fatin Syahirah invites me to have a “drink”. I choose from a range of items: a half drunk mineral water cup, scissors, clear tape, an almost empty water bottle, a square piece of grey paper that says “rules of engagement” and the word “FINE” in block letters. I pick up the small grey piece of paper and move towards the crate-chairs. A few audience members take a seat behind me, and we wait. It is now 8.20pm, 20 minutes past the stipulated start time. The soundtrack loops distortion and heavy beats fill the air. I readjust my sitting position, try to make myself comfortable. I don’t know what to do with myself, so I look around my surroundings, try to take in as much as possible. I feel myself getting increasingly fidgety. Impatient.

After a long while, Elizabeth Kow walks towards the microphone and starts a mic check. She invites us to check the mic, and an audience member inherits the mic and starts singing his rendition of ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ by Frank Sinatra. In the next hour or so, we are led to gestures such as sweeping the floor, exploring backrooms and roaming about the SAD Bar. The entire experience left me confused, as I struggle to figure out what is expected of me, and how I can honour and participate in the piece. The “freedom” that Thereabouts Theatre tries to create left me paralysed.

A Dream of a Dream asks good questions: What comes after emancipation? How do we begin to know a place/space beyond its stipulated usage and meanings? But wandering through SAD Bar, I find myself lacking the tools to answer these questions, to navigate or understand the space, or to relish in a freedom that I have been so haphazardly given. In the post-show dialogue, Kow shares that they had wanted to imbue meaning and scaffold significance into the SAD Bar. But even as I scour for meaning in the space, I only find vague comfort in seeing how the other audience members are equally confused and that we are all figuring it out together.

Rather than emancipating ourselves “from the dire realities of our modern world”, I leave SAD Bar feeling the inescapable chains of socialised behaviour, the encoded norms that we impose upon ourselves despite no clear markers or need to do so.