UPSTAGE by Toy Factory Productions

“Where is the Mandarin theatre scene in Singapore headed?”

Reviewer: Isaac Lim
Performance: 28 June 2015

Fifty years of Mandarin theatre condensed into a 110 minutes show?

NO.

Instead, Upstage investigates the position of Mandarin theatre in Singapore. Unfortunately, the performance throws up too many questions, and this reviewer can’t help but feel defeated by the uncertainties at the end of it.

As with all things in the year of SG50, while we celebrate fifty representative works from the Singapore English Language Theatre cannon, Mandarin theatre arts surely deserves an airing.

Nine landmark works, dating from 1966, are presented in parts, bringing the audience through the rise and fall of the theatre in Mandarin.

Here is the conceit: A “director”, played by Lim Ngian Tiong, attempts to cast three actors in a piece that is representational of the cannon. The “actors”, experienced thespian Jalyn Han, together with Jodi Chan and Yeo Kok Siew, navigate through the various roles and genres, in a bid to outshine each other.

With scenes played out from the different plays, paired with confusing reactions to the audition, as well as video recordings of interviews with theatre practitioners and associates, the play is a terribly heavy homage.

At some points, the actors were mimicking well-known theatre personalities, while at other times they were being “actors off-stage”. With the many plays-within-a-play moments seem haphazardly put together, one wonders why these plays were chosen in the first place.

That said, this reviewer is very touched (on more than one occasion) and intrigued by the questions raised and the issues posed. As an avid supporter of Mandarin theatre, I cannot help but feel for Han when she questions towards the end, “Where is the Mandarin theatre scene in Singapore headed?”

So why is the Mandarin theatre only worthy of one show to summarize fifty years of work? Is it really the poorer cousin of the English language theatre scene? If anything, the fatalism in this production seems to show that the sun is setting on Mandarin theatre in Singapore.