“A Dream Under The Southern Bough: Reverie”
Reviewer: Amanda Leong
Performance: 6 April 2019
A Dream Under Southern Bough: Reverie by Toy Factory is the second installment of a planned trilogy commissioned by the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), as part of an initiative to encourage more large-scale Singapore works. It is an ambitious project, as this is the first modern stage adaptation of Tang Xian Zu’s Ming Dynasty classic.
The play comprises two worlds. The first is earthly, where we meet Chun Yu Fen (Tang Shao Wei), a disgraced naval officer who spends his days drinking and womanising. The second is the dream world of the Ant Kingdom, where we are introduced to its inhabitants, including Princess Yao Fang (Jodi Chan), and the Ant Fairies who are sent to find her a suitable husband and future king.
I am amazed by how this production integrates these two vastly different worlds. In some ways, this can also serve as an analogy for modern-day life, as technology blurs the real and imagined, the public and the private.
That said, the plot becomes predictable once it is made known to us that Yao Fang wants to find a husband, as Chun Yu Fen is the obvious candidate. It does not help that the piece plods along at such a slow pace. Furthermore, the Mandarin dialogue tends to be quite metaphorical, which makes it difficult to match what’s being spoken onstage with the translated English surtitles. This causes me to become further disengaged from this world.
Another issue I have with the play is how female characters are portrayed. While the Ant Fairies are meant to be flirtatious and feminine characters, the way they flirt with each other soon becomes grating and disingenuous, while also feeding into the male gaze. Since this is supposed to be a contemporary adaptation, it begs the question of whether such out-dated depictions still deserve a place on today’s stage.
Ultimately, though, this play is an ambitious attempt to reimagine a dream world from the past in a contemporary setting.
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
A DREAM UNDER THE SOUTHERN BOUGH: REVERIE by Toy Factory
31 May – 2 Jun 2019
Drama Centre Theatre
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Amanda is a sophomore in Yale-NUS, majoring in Anthropology. She writes short stories, articles, essays and sometimes, art reviews. In her creative and academic pursuits, she explores the human condition: What makes people happy? How are things the way they are? When are things enough, or what makes people break?
