“Public Enemy”

Reviewer: Jemima Yong
Performance: 25 April 2015

I will declare this at the onset: I am a jaded viewer. What frustrates me most about productions like Public Enemy is weak acting. Frankly I didn’t believe many of the characters; I was not moved at all. I spend much of the performance trying to look past unedited fidgets, synthetic sentiment posing as realism, and lazy performances.

Public Enemy is a commentary on socio-political opposition in Singapore through David Harrower’s rewrite of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. The new narrative feels compressed, too quick to arrive at convenient truisms. Our protagonist here is named Dr. Thomas Chee, a not-so-subtle allusion to the leader of a local opposition party. W!ld Rice cannot have known but in view of recent public spats and trials, this is all so perfectly timed. But bar a couple of soft prods, the production does not go as far as it could to facilitate fruitful discussion. And it is this half full glass that makes Public Enemy commendable in ambition but mediocre in realization.

The most intriguing and disappointing part of Public Enemy is the point when the lights come up onto the audience. Dr. Chee stands in front of the microphone and addresses us, the public; the theatre is transformed into a conference auditorium. There are a lot of interesting questions espoused into the packed hall, about politicians, the model of practiced democracy and consensus, but before we have any time to take them in, the questions are swiftly hijacked by an ensemble of actors in the audience hall boo-ing or cheering. The actual audience is literally silenced. With questions like “Does anyone have anything good to say about politicians?”, I imagine, some people might have wanted to say “yes!”. But the signs are conflicting and we never really know if the questions are addressed to us. The audience ends up being talked to as we are uncertain if we have the right to respond.

Overall, it felt like a half extended handshake or a slouched call to arms; strangely timid or perhaps just not brave enough. I can only speculate as to what has happened in the making of this work, but either way the possibilities of theatre and arguably of the chosen text are grossly stunted in its presentation. And that unexplored potential leaves Public Enemy on the safe side of provocative, which may not be enough to change anything outside of the theatre.

“Public (Image) Enemy”

Reviewer: Gloria Ho
Performance: 17 April 2015

“Truth must not be the servant to money.” To those who believe in this notion, you may be a public enemy.

Public Enemy, W!LD RICE’s first production in its imagiNATION season, is a powerful and thought-provoking play which discusses a few sociopolitical issues from herd mentality to unthinking submission to authority . It also confronts issues of legacy and the next generation and contains a strong critique of the media.

Gone are the colorful and elaborate set and costumes characteristic of W!LD RICE’s productions. Yet, the monochromic designs were not any less attention-grabbing. We are constantly reminded of the existence of the grey area between black and white.

The transitions between sets are well-orchestrated, well-timed and they effectively mark the different locations. Due to the fast-paced nature of the production, the loud and intense music during transitions did not seem wise. The music became more disruptive than ‘alienating’ in the Brechtian sense. There wasn’t sufficient space in between scenes to collect our thoughts or reflect.

By placing the ensemble or chorus members on the second floor and bringing up the house lights, Director Goei creates an immersive experience during the speech scene. This simple strategy directly implicates the Victoria Theatre audience as the “majority-is-always-right” crowd that Dr Chee berates.

I think it is unfortunate that the supporting female characters, performed by two very competent actors, are side-lined in favour of a male-led discussion. Harrower’s translation present the Chee family women as underdeveloped and lacking internal depths. Catherine Chee’s (played by Serene Chen) abrupt switch from being overly protective of her family’s material well-being to unwavering supporter of Dr. Chee remains puzzling.

Overall, Public Enemy is a bold production and is worth watching. For a start, it offers a platform for us to rethink the values of various long withstanding ideas said to uphold the ‘common good’. It would be better if the directions were less confrontational and allowed room for subtlety; room for us to exercise our imagiNATION.