ISLAND TALES by GROUNDZ-0

“Letting Lore Live Once More “

Reviewer: Cordelia Lee
Performance: 9 June 2019

It’s terribly lively when I slip into Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre’s multi-purpose hall for Ground Z-0’s Island Tales.

Inspired by the street wayang of yesteryears, director Zelda Tatiana Ng attempts to revive elements of this traditional street entertainment, leveraging on the concept of casual, interactive performance to reintroduce the forgotten folklores surrounding Singapore’s offshore islands.

In true wayang fashion, her cast of three are heard long before they are spotted on a small elevated stage. Complete with flailing arms and heightened energy, their amplified voices parkour off the walls as they compete to deliver the local legends behind the origins of Kusu Island.

On a bare stage, equipped with only their bodies and household items for props, the performers take turns at bringing their respective renditionof thislegend to life. Whenever one performer commences their storytelling, the other two assume characters in the tale. They buzz around the stage animatedly, interacting with each other and the space around them. Over the course of 30 minutes, three contrasting legends are expeditiously shared. Each actor is convinced of the legitimacy of their version, but the real work lies in convincing their audience to believe the same. At the end, weget to vote for the versionwe’re most sold on.

And boy, do they put in the effort to win us over.

Squatting down at one point, the performers transform into a couple of rokok-smoking fishermen, rowing away with great gusto in imaginary sampans. Seconds later, swaying bodies and a cry of mock horror accompanied by the crash of an opera gong indicate the beginnings of a storm. In another legend, the performers become orang laut, sea nomads of 16th century Singapura. With large, exaggerated strides, they venture into a mysterious, make-believe cave. More often than not, the realism that pervades the stage is magnified and heightened. Thankfully, it’s reeled inwhenever itbegins to borderon tacky, saving the piece from cloying melodrama.

What is perhaps most intriguing is the curious style of performance employed –one that embraces tiny lapsesin actingand openly incorporates moments of improvisation into its script. There areonstage nudges, giggles and tuts.Exchanges are brief yet witty, infused with a familiar smattering of local dialects and nostalgicpop-culture references. Responses appear scripted and rehearsed, but at timesbecome impromptu, catching even the performersthemselvesby surprise.

What then emerges is a performance that looks rudimentary and feels unpolished, butisentertaining all the same.

Devoid of mediatisation, the charm of Island Tales may very well lie in its overt liveness and ephemerality, where we get to witness blips and nicks as the performers strive to curry our favour. Either that, or that the allure of myth, storytelling, imitation and fantasy – coincidentally the very elements that modern theatre emerged from– is something we, like our ancestors, are primordially predisposed to.