“What is on television should be kept on television”
Reviewer: Isaac Lim
Performance: 31 March 2016
Stars Avenue, the street where the new MediaCorp campus is on, is nowhere like the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong. It is akin to some forbidden land; deep within the new industrial area of one-north. Getting to The Theatre @ MediaCorp took this reviewer almost 20 minutes to walk from one-north MRT station.
Of course, the cast of hit television satire programme, The Noose, knows this too well not to make a joke out of it.
The Noose, a pun on the American pronunciation of “news”, is a parody show on MediaCorp Channel 5. It has garnered a following with its slapstick humour and satirical skits in the form of fictional news reports which lampoon the foibles of Singapore society. First started in 2007, the show has created many memorable characters—such as newscasters, field reporters or interviewees—which are performed by a talented cast consisting of Alaric Tay, Suhaimi Yusof, Judee Tan, and Chua En Lai.
As the programme is an acknowledged cash-cow for the station, it is no surprise that the powers that be will milk it for all its worth and conceive of “The Noose stage show.”
Yes, it is a stage show, but why such a literal name?
This “live” production integrated multimedia presentation with live skits, and also incorporated segments of stand-up comedy performances by six comedians from Singapore (Kumar, Fakkah Fuzz and Rishi Budrani) and across the causeway (Harith Iskander, Kavin Jay and Rizal Van Geyzel).
The entire three-hour long production is certainly filled with much laughter, but it offers nothing else. The skits are poorly put together, and the links between segments are abrupt. The Noose segment itself presents stories that are funny, but predictable. It plays on major newsworthy events of the past year such as MRT train breakdowns, the haze situation, and diplomatic ties between Singapore and Indonesia.
The performers are weak on stage as they are unable play their characters out the television screen and onto the stage in front of a live audience. There are a few segments that have audience interaction, but even those fall flat (especially for the majority of the audience members in the circles). The rhythm of the performance is also excruciatingly slow at times.
The stand-up comedy acts are clearly what the audiences are there for. However, given the large theatre setting, some of them could not hold court, especially those from Malaysia. Kavin Jay and Harith Iskandar both lapse into manipulating stereotypes for their jokes and. While this strategy garners laughs, their acts are forgettable. Perhaps these stand-up gigs would perform better in a more intimate space.
Kumar, the last of the stand-up performers, is clearly an audience favourite as he delivers a no-holds-barred, politically incorrect monologue. Chua En Lai, as Thai gogo-boy reporter Pornsak Sukhumvit, does not pale in comparison with his below-the-belt jokes which send the audience rollicking with laughter.
The Noose and Kakis on stage is poorly put together and it doesn’t do any more than to present gag after gag. It comes as a shock (to this reviewer at least) that the show is directed by Judee Tan, a seasoned cast member, and it also involves a creative team that is known for its keen sense of theatrical aesthetics. Set designers Wong Chee Wai and Chan Silei are surprisingly off the mark with a set that is haphazardly put together.
Television, alas, is quite a different ball game from theatre. The Noose should continue to entertain viewers, but only through the goggle box.
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
THE NOOSE AND KAKIS: 11 MONTHS OF FRESH AIR by MediaCorp VisPro and Channel 5
31 March – 1 April 2016
The Theatre @ MediaCorp
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Isaac Lim is a third-year Theatre Studies major at the National University of Singapore who enjoys bustling in all-things-arty, gets crafty, and indulges in being a foodie.
