DRUMS by Shigeki Nakano & Chong Tze Chien

“Drumming in the future”

Reviewer: Dawn Teo
Performance: 14 May 2016

Drums is a performance that showcases the traditional and the contemporary interacting to bring about new perspectives. It challenges the audience to keep an open mind while engaging their imagination.

Performed as part of the Super Japan Japanese Festival of Arts, it is held at the Esplanade Recital Studio. The two-hour performance is essentially a double-bill – two directors, Chong Tze Chien and Shigeki Nakano, each work on the same modern noh classic, The Damask Drum by Yukio Mishima.

Chong’s interpretation eases the audience into the dark atmosphere with its straightforwardness. Though abstract in presentation, Chong chooses to stick closer to the storyline and that allows the audience to follow the story. In doing so, Chong takes liberties in other theatricalities, such as the stylised physicality of the actors. He successfully unsettles the minds and hearts of audience members while merging the old with the new.

Nakano’s piece is satirical in treatment and form: he plays more on humour and sarcasm. Together with the use of props and two languages, he creates multiple layers of meaning. I am unfamiliar with the Japanese language and culture and so I feel like I am missing out on some aspects of this approach (e.g. the mannerisms and choices of reference in text). However, I am able to grasp the sentiment and message of his work.

Even though both works are presented in very different ways, I enjoy how both directors worked in the small pool of water that sits in the middle of the stage. It is significant as the stage is left bare most times, besides a wooden panel that works as a backstage area for the actors.

Drums provides a glimpse into two sides of the same coin, and leaves plenty for the audience to ponder over. It is an interesting and beautiful way of exploring perspectives and the various crossings between two worlds.