“Long Weekend”

Reviewer: Andrew Yuen
Performance: 9 June 2016

It is incredibly jarring to stroll through the quaint and idyllic Dakota Crescent estate and then walk into the pre-show madness of Kenneth Chia’s Long Weekend. If Dakota Crescent is Singapore’s peaceful exterior, Long Weekend is the hidden interior, full of psychic repression.

The play takes place within the head of one Han Lin, mourning the loss of his lover, Keith. They are similar, lanky and with impish grins and bursting with shared anecdotes. Keith appears inside Han Lin’s head. They joke about being afraid of passing fishermen catching them holding hands near the beach (Han is a closeted gay man) and making up stories about neighbours in the opposite block. One makes promises to another not to let his eyes wander at urinals.

The play is terrific in certain places. In a surrealistic set piece, a receptionist in childbirth screens patients at a mental health clinic. The scene ramps up in intensity as the patients are vetted and shuffled out in order of urgency by the irate receptionist. Great stuff.

This play does not require you to be gay to understand it fully. It does help, however, to be familiar with certain references, such as when the characters lament the loss of “Play”, a gay club. While it is easy to understand Han Lin’s  grief, the intimate scenes between him and his lover tend to meander and drag. As they lie on the floor and have loose and flowy conversation, I found myself wishing for the next scene. From the outside looking into a relationship between two people, it is difficult to empathise fully.

In another scene, a group of characters are packing some boxes. The dialogue and direction here give the audience a sense of being flies on a wall, watching these people and their candid friendships between one another. Great stuff.

In short, this play is analogous to a long weekend. It is great in parts. As things wind down it begins to meander. There are sudden tonal shifts, never telegraphed. It is a fun thing now. Now, it’s a emotional thing.

Interesting but kind of uneven.

“Long Weekend”

Reviewer: Isaac Lim
Performance: 11 June 2016

Audiences are welcomed into the multi-purpose hall, rebranded as a classroom space, and prepare themselves for a (tardy) lesson about gay relationship issues and gay history of Singapore.

To this reviewer, that is what Long Weekend is about.

A “Fresh!” production that’s part of the Twenty-Something Theatre Festival, the 45- minute performance starts with an over-the-top pre-show. Recorded tracks of speeches from both camps of the LGBT movement are on repeat (the one by a certain Ms Thio’s about straws in noses stands out), and some of the actors try to catch the dick-head-cross-bred-bitch (yes, an actor with a phallic object as a head prop, barking across the stage). Those frivolous 15 minutes add nothing to the narrative.

Long Weekend details the relationship between two young men, Han Lin, the closeted, slightly love-hungry boy, and his “BFF”, Keith, the outgoing and vivacious one whose every action screams “I’m gay”. The “long weekend” refers to the weekend of Keith’s wake, as Han Lin attempts to come to terms with his friend’s death, their friendship, and his sexuality.

Poignant moments where the two leads banter about life and occasionally share sweet nothings are interjected with phantasmagorical scenes. These scenes make political statements (the nation’s 50 years of independence) or revisit Singapore’s LGBT history (a character revisiting Fort Road beach, and another reminiscing about 21 Tanjong Pagar Road).

The overall hyper-real setting of works, as the disparate elements come together quite well. The energy of the supporting ensemble do not match the heightened atmosphere in most scenes. Despite the small performance space, many of the actors’ texts are not clear, either due to the background sounds, or their own delivery.

The play, written by Kenneth Chia and directed by Mitchell Fang, can be improved with more focus. While this reviewer appreciates the avoidance of melodrama, the relationship between the leads can be developed further through performance and not exposition. Chia must be applauded for his grip on the naturalistic dialogues, as the conversations and banter between the characters flow well and are pleasing to the eyes and ears.

Long Weekend appears to be “the gay play” of the festival, attracting a packed house of mostly men on a Saturday afternoon. However, it adds little to the LGBT literature of Singapore, as there are obvious shadows from works like Alfian Sa’at’s Dreamplay and Landmarks, and perhaps Andrew Sunderland’s Ragnarok.

As the audience leave the classroom-performance space, this reviewer is ambivalent. So much is raised on stage but nothing quite happens. The themes in this play can be better explored.