“《无独有偶》：情感的Collectors”

Reviewer: Neo Hai Bin | 梁海彬
Performance: 10 April 2016

十指帮把C42转换成木偶博物馆，带领观众走入了偶的世界。但我发现自己随着他们越走越远，不仅仅走入了一个世界，更见证了一个时代。

整出戏，由6个小品拼凑而成，也有展览，任观众在戏后参观、触碰、了解木偶。

《无独有偶》最大的问题是：“为什么要传承？”而每个表演者都在尝试为这个问题寻找自己的答案。

鸣阗从个人出发：一个没有根的第二/三代新加坡人，她要如何找到自己的定位？振发回忆自己和伯芬大师与Christina Sergeant大师的邂逅和际遇，谈及他们如何影响了他的生命轨迹。戏中，他把自己变成了大师们前面的一抹影子，恭敬而谦卑。

Bani 抛出思考：传承与保留之后，如何处理、如何处置？而我们的选择，也许都会有政治、商业、经济等的影响。然后表演的木偶老师们庄丽娥，以及伯芬大师的儿子李貽新，都用自己的表演说出答案，包括如何传承、创新、发展、保留。新生代蔡铭仁用一个洋娃娃，质问传统和未来，也叩问自己对偶的认知和情感。

新生代（Bani、蔡铭仁）都要“传承”与“保留”，但也质疑：怎么进行、如何进行。其他资深的艺术工作者则在思考用什么方式去“发展”和“保留”。形成有趣对比。

我想起十指帮的另一出戏：《掌中》。若说《掌中》体现了一个（和一群）传统艺术家（们）对艺术和绝技的坚定与韧度，那么《无独有偶》也许更个人。每个表演者都在对着观众问自己：“我为什么要传承？”

观众见证这群艺术工作者的热忱、执着，更看到了时间。通过录影，我们看到了大师的风采，看到了鸣阗练偶的实录。所谓“功夫”，其实就是时间。

于是在时间和功夫里头，我们也就看到了最真挚的情。人与偶、师与徒、朋与友、同窗与同行、前人与后辈。

时间、功夫、情义—— 也许《无独有偶》要谈的，正是现代社会里越来越稀薄的情感。

当有形和无形的东西不断快速地消失，我的情感自然无所凭依—— 所以这个时候十指帮问我们：一个地方，若没有时间的沉淀、累积的功夫、情感的培养，那我们怎么去认同它呢？

《无独有偶》以小见大，让观众从“传承”问题联想到“身份认同”议题，是现在绝对必要的思考与探索。

“The Collectors”

Reviewer: Kei Franklin
Performance: 9 April 2016

The Collectors begins with Tan Beng Tian on the back of a Lorry asking us a simple question: ‘how many of you would devote all your attention to specializing in just one thing?’

I ponder the question for mere seconds, before becoming enthralled by tales of Tan’s grandparents – first generation immigrants to Singapore – who fled China in secrecy and never knew when they were born.

The Finger Players take us on a journey of memory – a guided tour through histories and experiences. Each stop is a tableau, a story, a thought, a sharing. The performers slide seamlessly between informal audience engagement and choreographed movements and words – and I am on the edge of my stool wondering what is ‘performed’ and what is ‘real,’ whether there is ever any difference and whether it matters.

A delightful mixture of string puppets, hand puppets, shadow art, film, audio recordings, and speaking and moving bodies – The Collectors problematises the divide between subject and object, animate and inanimate, puppet and puppeteer.

A string puppet version of the Moon Goddess (Chang’e) picks up a brush and writes four Chinese characters with all the grace of a real divine hand.

Tan’s Grandmother (in puppet form) laments the experience of feeling displaced from her home country and the loss of her mother tongue.

A quaint baby doll asks us, candidly, to consider the difference between a ‘traditional puppet’ and simply an ‘old doll.’

Chinese string puppeteer, Zhuang Lie manipulates a puppet with 36 strings with unbelievable fluidity. Just next door, sound artist/poet Bani Hakyal speaks of ‘the archives of our lives’ and information as a precious natural resource. The unlikely relationship between lived memory, personal experience, and big data becomes ever clearer.

As The Collectors comes to a close, and the ‘old doll’ bids us farewell, I am grateful to have been there. With thoughts of lost art forms, oral histories, and the modern age of information overload spinning in my mind, I am struck by the humility of puppet masters who are willing to try their hand at dancing, or who spend months designing creative ways to make their craft more accessible to today’s children.

In a world of non-stop stimuli, it’s good to be reminded of the art of choosing one thing, and staying with it.