“Mergers & Accusations”

Reviewer: Amanda Leong
Performance: 13 April 2019

Mergers and Accusations was written by Eleanor Wong in 1993, when it made its mark on the Singapore’s theatre scene. This play has been re-staged at least three times before (by Theatreworks in 1993, Wild Rice in 2003, and Esplanade Presents: The Studios in 2015). Considering the limited space and resources that the local theatre scene has, one must wonder what is so special about this play and whether it deserves its numerous restagings.

The title of the play alludes to both its lawyerly setting and the precarious and painful process of negotiation within intimate relationships. Lawyers Ellen Toh (Oon Shu An) and Jonathan (Shane Mardjuki) are best friends and colleagues at a big and successful law firm. Ellen is sharp-tongued, with a hard edge that she developed after years of hiding her true identity as a lesbian. Jonathan is love-sick, flawed by charming. The pair, who are semi-sexually attracted but not in love, decide to get married. Things go well for a while, until Ellen meets her soulmate – Leslie the Lesbian Lawyer from London (Nessa Anwar) – and things unravel.

The play, with its fast-paced dialogue and narrative, feels breathless and sexy. However, some elements in this production feel overdone and cringy, like the strange heavy breathing sounds that are used during scene transitions.

Nessa falters with her inconsistent and jarring British accent, and her character does not develop beyond her namesake. Furthermore, Leslie and Ellen’s relationship becomes flattened by the stereotypical butch-femme dynamic. While their attraction and connection is convincing, their relationship is not particularly compelling in and of itself. Thus, this portrayal ends up trivilialising the love story between Leslie and Ellen, reducing it to the lesbian relationship that disrupts the traditional heterosexual family unit.

By the end of the play, I am still not entirely convinced that the play truly deserves yet another restaging. The main things that made Mergers and Accusations stand out in the 1990s were its strong LGBT themes and complex portrayal of gay characters. The same can’t be said for this rendition of the play, as these portrayals fall flat.