“楼上的Uncle Ismail”

Reviewer: Liu Chang | 刘畅
Performance: 19 March 2017

直到剧终，Uncle Ismail也没有走下他虚拟的楼梯。甚至连他本人也几乎成了抽象的存在。

但他又是那样强大，阴影一样覆盖了剧中男女二人20年之久。

他的楼梯通向的不是《简·爱》的阁楼，尽管他的楼上可能也囚禁着一个隐形的疯子。这个楼上不代表绝望和幽闭，相反，那里是家庭权力的核心，他在那里操控了楼下的悲喜。而楼下是客厅、餐厅和厨房，是这个家庭非权力中心（女主角Habiba）和外来者（男主角Eric）的活动范围——后者甜蜜的不伦之恋都是在客厅和厨房发生的，不得登堂入室。

《简·爱》中似乎烧死了疯女人才有幸福的结局可言，而此剧里Uncle Ismail要如何走下他的楼梯才能带给男女主角快乐——本质上的快乐？在Ismail的社会外表（成功的地毯商，热爱孩子的父亲，和圣徒有着相同的名字）映衬下，Habiba和Eric更显得是这个社会的边缘人：由于婚姻而改信真主的华人女性（九年剧场在新加坡英语剧作家Haresh Sharma原著上对女主角身份做出的改编）和有同性之爱倾向、幼年受性虐的男性，是否有人真正关心他们的快乐呢？他们的快乐是否就系在Ismail身上？

男主角Eric（剧场新秀温文伟）人物舞台塑造是成功的，但剧本所限，人物的爱与恨并没有超越同类作品。他所享有过的快乐是邪恶的，他要追求的快乐是较难实现的。Uncle Ismail对他的感情中想必是感官刺激多于真情，即使Uncle Ismail放下社会身份与之在一起，也难“有情人终成眷属”。恨与复仇恐怕永远是他们之间快乐下隐藏的火山口。即使复仇成功，Ismail走下楼梯受到法律的制裁，Eric也依然是受伤者，无法真正快乐起来。所以Eric最好的也最无奈的结局就是得到对方的道歉后离开。

相对之下，女主角Habiba（资深演员骆明珠）的人物塑造戏剧张力同时收放自如，结合剧本，Habiba的形象是立体的，成功的，充满了人性矛盾的。

Habiba享有和追求的快乐是更简单也更复杂的，它夹在世俗和精神世界之间。说它简单，她有法律对婚姻的保障，她助Ismail完成了生育子嗣的俗世任务；她有信仰做精神家园，她口中漂亮的好人Ismail几乎就等同于伊斯兰圣经中那个虔诚伟大的信徒。说它复杂，她比谁都明白自己尴尬的身份和地位，Ismail身心俱难属于她。但她是一个婚内长期陷入矛盾却能自得其乐其所的女性，集善良、洞察与智慧、恬退隐忍、自欺、对丈夫的爱与（愚）忠、甚至些许自私等心态与品质为一身。也许就是这种简单与复杂，Habiba一直都勤于思考什么是快乐，并愿意与人分享和讨论，她在寻找心灵上的支持和麻痹，因为她明白Ismail无法给她真正的快乐，她所得只是一种他人眼中的表面意义上的快乐。

20年前，Ismail也曾走下过他的楼梯，以快乐之名无情而邪恶地玩弄了他们两个。

然而，在这场邪恶之乐中，Habiba是受害者，又是Uncle  Ismail的同谋，可能默许他对Eric的性行为要比看丈夫玩弄洛丽塔们更快乐些。Eric是她的情敌，是她表明上稳固的家庭的威胁者与复仇者；而她又要与Eric并肩而战，为着他们共同热爱的Uncle Ismail的背叛。同时她坚定地相信，Eric不应该既享受了邪恶之乐，又以伦理之名寻仇，那不符合她对快乐的理解。

剧终时刻，她断然蜕下代表了伊斯兰宗教的围巾和头套，以一个她最本原的华人身份和Eric拥抱告别。这拥抱有着太多的含义，它有忏悔（忏悔她没有能力或者意志去保护一个10岁的孩子，忏悔她出于自私等目的阻止了30岁的青年讨回公道），它是发自内心感情上的和解，带着祝福，它安慰那个受伤的孩子、也暗示着从此不欢迎他再来打扰。

一曲《一生何求》唱毕，在我们的想象中，Habiba大抵会继续做一名虔诚的伊斯兰信徒和好妻子，跟着丈夫去朝拜，化解这场磨难，去询问真主所谓快乐。她会将此行关于快乐的所悟教给学校的孩子们，并继续热爱楼上那心猿意马的Uncle Ismail。

“Fundamentally Happy“

Reviewer: Selina Chong
Performance: 18 March 2017

As you walk into the Esplanade Theatre Studio for Nine Years Theatre’s production of Fundamentally Happy, you’re immediately drawn into a familiar living room. The set is at once cosy and quaint, yet there’s also a sense of devastation. You feel as if you’re looking straight into someone’s home, their inner sanctum, because a wrecking ball has opened a massive peephole for you.

This is the first time that Haresh Sharma’s English play has been translated and staged in Mandarin. Director and translator Nelson Chia adapted the character of Habiba into a Chinese woman who married a Malay-Muslim man, converted to Islam and now participates fully in the community as a teacher in a madrasah. This adaptation works really well for me, in part because I’m more convinced of Habiba’s fervour for her adopted socio-religious culture and consequent denial of what may be unsettling and ugly about that culture. I assume that she converted because the Islamic teachings resonated with her. I can therefore empathise with her struggle through the five stages of grief, as she attemps to reconcile her husband’s criminal behaviour with their shared religious belief.

I am, however, a little disappointed by Lok Meng Chue’s performance as Habiba. She is clearly uncomfortable speaking in Mandarin, and it makes her victim blaming come across as comical and wholly inappropriate at one point. In contrast, Timothy Wan is much more confident as Eric – Habiba’s old neighbour – as he vacillates between being empowered and powerless, survivor and victim. Clearly, Wan’s Eric struggles with control, and Wan conveys that successfully through a highly nuanced performance.

Fundamentally Happy is a hard-hitting piece that throws the spotlight on abuse in the Malay-Muslim community in Singapore. Beyond the cultural and linguistic tensions arising from staging a Haresh Sharma play in Mandarin, the audience must also question what multiculturalism and multiracialism – purported pillars of Singapore society – really mean. As a Chinese Singaporean, I feel like sexual abuse is not in my mind space and perhaps that speaks of my privilege. I wonder how much of Nine Years Theatre’s audience feels the same way. We often rely on theatre to highlight and bridge social gaps, but much of the work really happens in the conversations we engage in after we see shows that question our values, beliefs and assumptions.

The dialogue must carry on after Fundamentally Happy, and we must be able to talk openly, safely, and honestly.