“ITSY的如梦之梦“

Reviewer: Liu Chang | 刘畅
Performance: 2 April 2017

<ITSY>讲述了一个新加坡华人公公（Grandpa）的“爱丽丝梦游奇境记”（Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland）。他偶然地坠进了童谣的世界，惊觉自己成为了那些虚构人物（Jack & Jill，Three Blind Mice，Humpty Dumpty, Twinkle Little Star等）推崇的英雄。在他的带领下，大家齐心协力击破了Itsy Bitsy Spider（简称Itsy）意欲颠覆纯真世界的阴谋，解救了公公的小孙子Xavier和童谣世界中的好朋友们。

这是一部集天真童趣和成人暗黑于一体的音乐剧。舞台效果梦幻迷离，演员表演精彩到位，唱词对白符合人物身份亦很好地展现其内心世界的发展变化。特别的是，观众可深切感受到该剧在叙事上诚意十足，节奏紧凑，没有冗余且华而不实的形式和噱头，观罢思索，发现该剧多层次且彼此交织的叙事层面是推动情节发展、塑造人物和吸引观众的主要原因之一。

第一层面位于现实物质世界。Xavier在医院承受着身心双重伤痛（病重昏迷，单亲家庭），爱孙心切的公公日夜守护，心力交瘁。这个层面涉及了家庭、亲情和医患关系。

第二层面位于精神世界。体弱多病的Xavier经常听公公唱童谣，因此幻想着自己是童谣世界的国王。这个层面映射出儿童对现实世界独特的感知和逃避，例如“喜”（热爱童谣），“哀”与“痛”（How can pain deals with pain?），“孤独”（幻想自己是国王），及“生与死”（想象着Jill是母亲）等。

第三层面亦属精神世界，但更为抽象地模拟现实物质世界：当童谣中的人物在Xavier的精神世界里获得了意志，就发展出独立行动，并出现了善恶势力的较量——颠覆者Itsy，立场摇摆者Humpty Dumpty，及正义者Jack & Jill，Three Blind Mice和Twinkle Little Star等。该层面对人生的思考也更为复杂和具启发性，例如Xavier和朋友们挣扎于中Itsy之蛊和试图恢复对童谣的记忆，暗喻了童真和衰老间的矛盾；Jack & Jill对“水”的寻找隐喻着Xavier的生命之源。

第四个层面与梦相关，依然属于精神世界范畴，最为有趣，也是<Itsy>令人着迷、为之思考的原因。如果在第三层面中Itsy等童谣人物果然获得了意志和行动，整个故事就可以看成是“蜘蛛精的南柯一梦”（舞台效果对梦境营造功不可没）。但童谣人物毕竟和Xavier身处不同的层面世界，那么，究竟是蜘蛛梦人，还是人梦蜘蛛？这是Xavier的一场噩梦（昏迷引起对水的渴望，由水又联想到Itsy，Itsy化身成噩梦主角），还是Itsy的黄粱美梦（由一只人人对其泼水的小蜘蛛变成童谣世界的掌权者）？

与此同时，站在公公的叙事角度来看<ITSY>，就发现故事其实是出现了至少两个起初平行、最终交叉的梦境。公公坠入一场童话世界的阴谋，却发现孙子也身在其中。观众又不禁要问，是公公梦见去拯救孙子还是孙子梦见公公来拯救呢？或者是公公和孙子心有灵犀，他们在各自的头脑里做着一场共同的梦？甚至对于Jack & Jill，Three Blind Mice和Twinkle Little Star等而言，是否每个人都有自己的梦，而这些梦境是彼此汇合、共同演绎一个事件？特别是当Jill惊觉自己原来是Xavier母亲的形象投射，突然从这场梦中抽离，Jack大梦初醒后孑然一身，意识到自己对Jill的爱恋，童谣世界便发生了很奇妙的改变。

最终公公和他的朋友们以“呸呸呸”的口水粉碎了Itsy的颠覆，祖孙噩梦醒来，童谣世界回归欢乐和与天真趣味，物质世界和精神世界相汇合，幽默之余，也隐喻了该剧以四两拨千斤之巧劲呈现了一场层次丰富的如梦之梦——故事进行在几个层面间穿梭往复，虚虚实实，使得剧情梦幻、富于变化又完整；不同的叙事层面又彼此交织融会，共同打造立体人物，映射出复杂且真实的人性。

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

Reviewer: Christian W. Huber
Performance: 31 March 2017

After three years of workshopping, the ‘wunderkinds’ of The Finger Players (TFP) – company director/playwright Chong Tze Chien and associate sound artist/composer Darren Ng – venture into virgin territory with Itsy The Musical. Their 2017 season opener is their first ever musical.

It has a strong and intelligent story; dark, discordant, yet, lyrical music (the song “Once Upon A Time” is especially catchy and memorable); visually impressive sets; and stylistic choreography. With all these elements combined, Itsy succeeds in weaving the story of the bond between a grandparent who’s suffering from dementia and his sick grandchild.

The versatile TFP resident director Oliver Chong is utterly convincing in his role as Xavier – a young, sick boy who revels in the world of fairy tales to escape the pain, but gets manipulated by Itsy the spider. Chong’s physicality and moving performance complements well with Lim Kay Siu, who delivers a moving and sensitive portrayal of Gong Gong – the grandfather – who tries to bring his grandson back into the light before his dementia gets the better of him.

These two get strong support from the Three Blind Mice (Audrey Luo, Ann Lek, and Zee Wong) – reminiscent at times of the three witches of Shakespeare’s Scottish play – as well as Humpty Dumpty (Ebi Shankara), and an ensemble of puppeteers who handle various parts. They commit great effort and discipline into their roles, and make the experience all the more magical.

Sebastian Tan as Itsy-the-not-so-bitsy spider is good. His physicality and movements seem far less disciplined then the others, relying more on his props and costume, but his Broadway-style voice more than makes up for it.

Improvements could still be made – its length could have been trimmed by at least 15 minutes, and brighter sequences within the dark world may have refreshed. But for a group that’s known for staging evocative works with simpler aesthetics and puppets outnumbering actors, they have created a triumph of sorts in their boldness to forge creative works outside of their comfort zone.

TFP have come a long way since their Furthest North and Deepest South days in the early part of the millennium, and they have raised the bar. One looks forward to their continued future, delivered with the same confidence, humility, and right dose of aplomb!