THE CONSULTANT by Wag the Dog Theatre

“Caveat emptor.”

Reviewer: Christian W. Huber
Performance: 17 May 2018

Marketed as a cross between stylish American period TV series Mad Men and docu-style comedy The Office, The Consultant by Heidi Schreck is the play Wag the Dog Theatre chose as its sophomoric outing. Set shortly after the global financial crisis of 2008, it leads the audience on a rather pointless journey of office shenanigans in a pharmaceutical advertising agency.

Set in New York, the play presents the workday lives of four people trying to balance their paychecks with their personal aspirations and troubles. After a serious meltdown during an ad pitch presentation, Jun Suk (a rather sedate Mark Seow) is given the chance to make amends when the company hires a consultant, Amelia (a quirky Deborah Hoon) to help improve his presentational skills. However, she is only a graduate student, and without any substantial coaching experience, she aims to train Jun Suk with the help of a single book on negotiation that she borrowed from the local library. He agrees reluctantly, and therein the comedy ensues.

The piece lacks much in plot, and more in character development. Its only saving grace is the witty dialogue, and the way that Amelia helps Jun Suk present better has some genuine ‘ha-ha’ moments. Otherwise, Schreck’s characters amount to merely portraits that never really go anywhere – their circumstances change, but their personalities and understanding of the world do not. The television style of writing does not work well on stage, while the unnecessary interval spoiled the momentum of this 80-minute piece, and dragged out the tedium of the performance.

Apart from usual first night jitters of a preview performance – including technical issues, gaffes and mistimed punchlines – the actors’ various styles of delivery also make it a discomforting experience from the get go. Hoon and Seow use rather neutral accents, which don’t gel with the awful Americanized accents by the other characters (from Krissy Jesudason’s irritating Brooklyn accent, to Sean Worrall’s middling Mid-American, to the OTT one of Susie Penrice Tyrie in what thankfully was a small role), and makes for a very unevenly paced and disengaging performance.

Wag the Dog Theatre prides itself in being Singapore’s first theatre co-op theatre, which aims to produce “high quality performances on the leanest of budgets” according to its Facebook page. Its inaugural show last year received respectable responses from the audience, but it’s somehow deflated a bit with the ‘am-dram’ (amateur dramatics) feel of this production. This reviewer hopes for better days ahead for them, as there is much that a group of artists can offer with good material and heart, without it coming across as a vanity project that lacks soul.