BODY X 2.0 THE REHEARSAL by Body X Productions

“The Guessing Game?”

Reviewer: Isaac Lim
Performance: 27 November 2016

Body X ―The Rehearsal is a Mandarin site-specific murder mystery show. Body X is a relatively new theatre collective, helmed by media veterans Danny Yeo and Li Xie. It had its first showing at Singapore Writers’ Festival two years ago, and returns with this edition, featuring a play-within-a-play which revolves around a death in a theatre company that happened half a century ago.

Before the start of the show, the audience members are required to surrender their mobile phones as they are briefed on the ‘rules of the game’: No talking during the show, no meddling with any props in the play area, and no obstructing of the characters movements around the space. “You will go back in time, but you cannot change history”, we are warned.

And so the story unfolds.

Everyone is first led to the Chamber of the Arts House, where the story begins. This is now the Grand Hall of the Lin family mansion. Seven characters in retro costumes enter the space. This is 1977, ten years after the death of Zhou Yuqin, the female lead of a play ‘Xiang Yin’ or Accent. Everyone is gathered for a supposed rehearsal for the last scene of the original production in which Zhou died after drinking a shot of spiked whisky. However, the director is absent, but has written a personalized letter to each character.

The audience is free to follow the actors around, and multiple scenes will take place across the ‘mansion’ at any one time. At the end of the show, with all the clues in hand, one will be allowed time to discuss with fellow audience members before voting for the chief ‘suspect’ who killed Zhou.

The overall concept is exciting, yet flawed at the same time. The directors have done an excellent job with drawing out exceptional performances from the mix of young and veteran actors. Li Xie herself starred as the spirit of Zhou, who, dressed in a black cheongsum with delicate embroidery, moved from space to space without making a sound.

The other actors, styled in costumes and hairdo from the 70s, seem to come from the same mould. The actors all give excellent performances, but all the roles feel flat and one-dimensional. This is due to the complex script that focused on the narrative at the expense of the characters. Every single one look like they harbour  well-kept secrets,  a heart of vengeance, and nothing more.

Kudos to sound and lighting designers Jeffrey Yue (Ctrl Fre@k) and Gabriel Chan respectively for enhancing the spooky vibe of The Arts House by adding a sense of suspicion and mystery. There are many moments throughout the work where the light and sound cues give the audience a good shock.

However, this production is no ‘escape room’ game as the audience doesn’t quite participate in breaking any codes, or solving the mystery.  Rather, they are relegated to being passive observers with the slight agency of walking around. With no one able to watch the complete play, no one quite knows how everything pans out.

The final ‘result’ is announced 2 days after the last performance of the show, through a series of videos on Facebook detailing the ‘killer’s’ motive and how the deed was done. Co-director Yeo expressed on social media that the intention is not to have the audience partake in the crime-solving, but to watch the play with some sense of agency in relation to the plot.

For this reviewer, it didn’t quite work. The performances are worth watching. The immersive-but-not-that-immersive experience? Maybe not.