《因死而知生—— POOP! 由影而看见光的反向思考》

Reviewer: Neo Hai Bin | 梁海彬
Performance: 22 October 2017

Drip

死亡是什么？《便便》通过一个8岁小女孩的思考和想像去叩问死亡，可谓神来之笔。只有死人熟悉死亡，活着的人对死亡的理解恐怕和小孩相去不远呢。

因为祖母的一番诠释，在小女孩的世界里，生与死的界限荡然无存，观众也被带到一个充满想像的舞台世界里。黑暗的舞台上，一片叶子或一个塑胶袋子会充满生命般地飘然起舞；一张脸会和一只脚同时出现在台上的不同地方；忽然出现又忽然消失的人与物，突然拉近又突然相距甚远的几个空间……

观众很容易认同。我们何尝不是这样去想像死亡？例如死亡是另一个空间；死亡的颜色是黑暗的；死去的人似乎总是无所不在，又似乎总是在我们的空间里留下诺大的缺口。

但《便便》不停留在诠释死亡而已，而是通过空间的巧妙运用，进一步质问：我们可以任意想像死亡，但在死亡面前，我们应该如何思考活着？

由这个问题展开，就要谈到《便便》的两大重要舞台元素：灯光与黑暗。灯光负责打造不同的空间，让角色穿梭在现实与想像、记忆与梦境之间。父亲死去，他的脸庞像柴郡猫（Cheshire Cat）般自由地出现与消失在任何空间里。母亲和祖母虽然活在灯光里，却被窄小的灯区局限，往往寸步难行。

只有8岁女孩有勇气直视黑暗，因为患癌的缘故，反而能够了悟死亡是一场彻底的终结。该剧在灯光的处理上带出了剧本的主题：光与影、生与死原来是一体两面，如剧中台词“circle and circle and circle”—— 唯有死亡才能带出生的意义。

《便便》由影子深处去寻找光明的反向思考，成功带出了剧本里隐显的主题，让整部戏鲜明，让观众在黑暗的剧场里一起悄悄落泪。

“Poop!”

Reviewer: Myle Yan Tay
Performance: 22 October 2017

Jean Ng, playing a young girl, sits centre-stage upon a toilet bowl and strains through her constipation. The floating head of her father, as played by Julius Foo, looms above her. As she grunts and heaves, her father, promises to bring her on a journey unlike any other. In a different play, this would be absurdly comedic. But Chong Tze Chien and his team make it one of the most emotionally charged and moving moments of theatre this reviewer has seen this year.

Though grief is an oft-explored topic in theatre, The Finger Players’ re-staging of Chong Tze Chien’s Poop! manages to feel novel in its exploration and honest in its story. Each element of the production is focused and purposeful, exploring themes of mortality and mourning.

Lim Woan Wen, the lighting designer, deliberately obscures the stage throughout the play, giving the production an overall feeling of melancholy. And by revealing so little with each lighting plot, Lim guides the audience’s eye, propelling the production forward. Darren Ng, the sound designer, backs the production with haunting tracks, reminiscent of children’s music-boxes, and delicate piano melodies. His sound design brings emotional weight to each scene, without ever being overbearing or seeming like a cheap crutch. And as is the Finger Players’ trademark, the puppetry (performed by Ang Hui Bin, Darren Guo & Zee Wong) is top-notch, elegant and evocative, flowing in and out of scenes without ever distracting.

After Julius Foo tumbles to his death, he haunts the stage. His head is suspended several meters above the actors, while puppeteers control his disembodied limbs. In one scene, Julius Foo’s detached head tries to soothe his daughter, while his “arm” peeks out of the darkness, caressing her face. It is an incredible picture, and only one example of how Chong maintains the surreal visuals of this production.

It is one thing to that each individual production element is this effective. It is on a different level when each of them combine to become more than the sum of its parts. Thanks to Chong’s direction, each component melds together masterfully, creating a cohesive and resonant piece of theatre.

It must be noted that characters in Poop! do not sound like normal people. Chong’s language is distinct, sentences always feeling slightly off. But it is thanks to this unique sound that Chong is able to cut to the heart of the piece. Though it may initially be off-putting, the consistency of its sound eventually makes the dialogue rhythmic, direct without being overtly blunt.

Jean Ng’s character promises at the beginning of Poop! that it only gets happier after her father’s suicide. As the production progresses, this feels less and less true. But her promise is eventually fulfilled, as even after its tragic ending, this reviewer finds the play uplifting and inspirational, not just through its theme but in its artistic ambition.