The Arts House’s 10th anniversary disappearing act

SINGAPORE — Somewhere inside The Arts House is a mirror ball.

Which is rather apt as the arts centre celebrates its 10th anniversary. And there will be a whole bunch of events happening until the following weekend, including a series face-offs between writers, a debate on Singapore as a “City of Literature”, an ongoing exhibition of poetry and lots more, especially during the Open House on both weekends.

Its anchor event, which we got to see last night, has got a pretty interesting premise. What if The Arts House didn’t survive in the long run? What if it turned into something else? The site-specific show The Next Page presents a tongue-in-cheek alternate future for the Old Parliament House. (Because the immediate future will be something else! Stay tuned.)

The Finger Players’ Chong Tze Chien ropes in theatre and literary folks for a series of performances and installations to track this particular history of The Arts House. Here, it closed shop in 2007 due to lack of finances and gives way to a boutique hotel, a dance club and, finally, a huge bookstore called The Next Page.

The Arts House has become synonymous with the literary scene particularly in the last few years and it’s fitting that writers, books and literature take centre stage.

The show kicks off outdoors with Quotes by Cake Theatrical Productions. Written by fresh-from-the-Made In Singapore-double-bill-show playwright Michelle Tan, it’s a mash-up of, well, quotes from everywhere shaped into a conversation between two writers who go by the names of Sylvia and Virginia (ahem).

A heartfelt piece about persevering as writers in light of all the changes around them, Quotes tips its hat to Cake’s Illogic (where we first saw this meeting of talented, suicidal minds) and a host of other writers from Kuo Pao Kun to Alfian Sa’at to Haresh Sharma.

And then off you go as Darius Tan and his assistants take you on a tour of a place rich in history (imagined and otherwise). Lucas Ho writes this section and inside the black box-turned-mini-museum you also encounter Siti Khalijah’s character, a cleaner who offers such wise, wise words about how, if you keep things clean, there won’t be any stories left. Plus, a cool joke about David Bowie being Muslim. (“He married an Iman!” Sic! Cymbal crash!)

Erm, is he?

Elsewhere you’ve got a literary maze by Wong Chee Wai, and a sound and light installation by Darren Ng, Lim Woan Wen and playwright Ellison Tan.

The latter piece is a nod to the premises’ “dance club” history and a few steps away is a performance that revives its boutique hotel past (it was called The Ponce!).

Joel Tan’s The Couple In The Hotel Room gets three different versions. Yes, that’s right, three. And you can watch all of them if your schedule permits. We missed Peter Sau’s take, but we caught the remaining two. In Engie Ho’s hands, it’s a pretty straightforward and intense rendition of a couple’s romantic overnight stay-turned-racially-tinged nightmare. In Rizman Putra’s, the scenario is jumping off the walls with literally larger than life props and some gender switching. It’s interesting to see the different ways of approaching a script in such a short period of time, highlighting not only the directorial hand and the actors’ take but, more importantly, the possibilities of the written word.

At the centre of everything is, of course, The Next Page bookstore. Amidst all the bittersweet comments about how we seem to erase everything and have no regard for the past, there’s something optimistic in imagining a future where a bookstore is king. And it’s no spoof of Borders or Kinokuniya or Page One because The Next Page started from the ground up — as BooksActually. Yes, the story goes, BA’s Kenny Leck makes it to the big time and becomes CEO.

The presence of The Next Page (which is, of course, a BA pop-up store) becomes more than a fun excuse to sell books — even if they are selling some cool stuff like Math Paper Press titles such as, ahem, Occupational Hazards. (My monthly shameless plug quota is done.) That it’s actually, physically there is an encouragement that such a farfetched scenario *can* become reality. If you want it to be.

The Next Page (show) runs from March 27 to 30, 8pm, at The Arts House. Tickets at S$10 from http://www.bytes.sg. For more information on all the anniversary events, which runs all the way until April 6, visit http://www.theartshouse.com.sg.