“The Little Prince”

Reviewer: Yong Yoke Kay
Performance: 14 April 2019

The Little Prince gets off to a rocky start, with a lacklustre opening number that attempts to hype the audience with upbeat tunes and cheery movements. However, it only manages to radiate awkwardness. The choreography feels too simplistic and childish on the grown dancers’ bodies, and they are unable to fully commit to and enjoy the movements.

Luckily, the show picks up as soon as the Little Prince (played by Yang Yi Bei, who is also the music producer) appears. Yang embodies her character perfectly, delivering a nuanced performance that balances childlike innocence and worldly wisdom. She deftly captures the earnestness of the Little Prince, bringing to life his interactions with the other characters.

Ai Jia Qi’s direction and work on the script also deserve special mention. Character development has been placed at the forefront, and some of the less central characters from the book (such as the Railway Switchman and Turkish Astronomer) have been omitted for the sake of simplicity. Necessary exaggeration of the caricatures, together with well-developed dialogues, result in a show that retains the spirit of the original plot, but makes for an easily understandable storyline that communicates the essential morals to its young target audience.

It is a pity, however, that the compelling performance is marred by the play’s production values. Details such as glue marks on the set’s finishing being clearly visible under the lights, and untucked shoelaces of the performers’ dance slippers, make the performance a little rough around the edges. What is most distracting and unfortunate, though, are the microphones used – they pick up every breath, and backstage chatter on the occasions that they are not muted.

That said, the children seem to have no qualms with imperfect aesthetics. On the way out of the theatre, a little girl beside me proclaimed, “I loved the Flower! She was so pretty!” Immediately, I feel guilty for thinking that the Flower’s costume is gaudy and that her shoes are jarring.

Perhaps I, too, have some lessons to learn from the story: true beauty transcends the superficial, and the emotional effectiveness of a performance should not be judged solely on preconceived notions of what theatre should be, or what makes for a good or bad performance.

“Blipbobbing through the ocean in Tadpole Looking for Mom”

Reviewer: Teo Xiao Ting
Performance: 31 March 2019

Neon glow-in-the-dark mountains and corals fill the stage as I enter. A girl, about five years old, stands amidst glowing sea and poses for a photograph. Tadpole looking for his Mom begins with this, as bubbling music filling the theatre. This is my first time watching a performance meant for children, and I think every “adult” should allow themselves to re-enter a child’s space at least once.

I sit, amused as Doudou (Sun Mei Ling) startles the other sea creatures with her queer form – a black blob half-hidden behind painted cardboard. A little boy next to me shouts as the sea creatures try and figure out what she is. “A tadpole!” he yells “It’s a tadpole!” I laugh, and he turns to me. “It’s a tadpole!” he repeats, completely serious.

During the performance, everything is taken seriously and lightly all at once. The journey follows Beibei (a shellfish, played by Li Shu Xuan), Xiaoxiao (a sea turtle, played by Yao Jia Wei) and Doudou as they wade through the dangerous deep ocean in search of Mama Frog (Chao Yu Ting). The sea creatures befriend each other through a variation of Simon Says at the start, and we are all invited to play along.

As they play, I find myself laughing, playing along. I rise with the children around me when the sea creatures shout for us to sit down, I raise my hands when they shout to put down my hands – I play and I play and I forget inhibitions. Truth be told, I thoroughly enjoyed the production, and gladly embraced the tacky costumes that the sea creatures were donned in. The Shrimp Village Head (Gordon Choy Siew Tean) adjusts his microphone several times over the course of the performance, and I silently cheer him through the technical blip, and listen on as he gives the young sea creatures sagely advice to be “brave and united in spirit”. I rejoice when Doudou and her friends successfully outsmart the Hippo (Qu Xiang Zhi) who was trying to capture and devour them, sigh in relief when they rescue Baby Crocodile (Shen Xinrui) and befriend her, tense up again when Papa Crocodile (also played by Gordon Choy Siew Tean) sneak up and almost bite them. I am entirely enraptured by the bright colours and voices.

When Doudou finally finds her mother, I feel genuinely relieved that they are reunited. Mama Frog was captured by a curious human child, it turns out. The boy next to me yells for the child to “let her go”. The child only releases Doudou’s mum after her own mother explains how even frogs have their own families to return to, and how it is cruel to capture them for one’s own amusement. The point is well understood by the children around me, as they cheer when Mama Frog is released. We have all followed Doudou on her journey to find her mother, after all.

The ending scene sees the sea creatures returning home, to where the Village Head is waiting for them. They rejoice, I rejoice, and I leave the theatre with a lighter step.

“Ennobled Duckling”

Reviewer: Isaac Tan
Performance: 5 August 2018

If you really think about it, the ugly duckling in Hans Christian Anderson’s original tale isn’t admirable. It endured taunts about its looks initially, but everything went well when it struck the genetic lottery and became a beautiful swan.

Not so in the latest production by Chinese children’s theatre company, Arts Theatre of Singapore.

Director and writer Ai Jia Qi ennobles the duckling by expanding the storyline and requiring it to display courage and intelligence to help save his new friends – Little Dog, Little Rabbit, and Field Mouse – from a wolf.

Furthermore, the duckling doesn’t just become a swan. It works hard to be able to dance like one, too, which makes the show a theatrical bildungsroman of the ugly duckling.

On top of this being a tale with better morals for children, it also boasts catchy song and dance routines. These elements are all original creations, and that has been a standard practice for Arts Theatre of Singapore’s productions – no mean feat for a small company that puts up a show every other month.

Jane Mok Kee Ann, in the titular role, establishes the character arc of the duckling very well, transforming it from a timid duckling to a courageous and quick-witted one, while being sympathetic and kind at the same time. By the end of the show, Mok’s character has truly earned its feathers.

Meanwhile, the rest of cast (Yao Jia Wei, Sun Mei Ling, Ye Bing, Zhang Tao, Tong Ling Yun, Jin Yan, Li Jing, Liao Yan Ran, Ge Ge Ri Le) is very versatile in playing multiple roles, while handling the quick scene transitions in a rather tight space.

The only distracting thing about the show is that the various set pieces cannot be placed side by side completely, leaving gaps in between them. Hence, one can see the characters hiding behind the pieces before they are due to appear.

However, the children does not seem bothered by that which, I concede, is more important in this case.

For those who check the listings of Singapore Repertory Theatre, Paper Monkey Theatre, and The Theatre Practice when it comes to Chinese children’s theatre, do add Arts Theatre of Singapore to your list.

Sure, it may be a small company and its shows have simpler production values. But as the tale of Ugly Duckling rightly teaches us, one should never judge something by its appearance alone.