S’pore Fringe Fest: Climb every Mountain

SINGAPORE — I haven’t read Amitav Ghosh’s The Mystic Mountain but I think he’ll be pleased with the enthusiasm and inventiveness that went into this adaptation of his short story by new homegrown collective The Art Of Strangers.

The Mountain is an interactive production spearheaded by the collective’s founders, hubby-wife Felipe Cervera and Fezhah Maznan, where 15 audience members get to join the 15 performers each night as part of the performance, ala Slung Low’s vampires show at a previous Arts Fest, TheatreStrays productions, et cetera.

Briefly, it’s a tale of a group of villagers who live at the foot of a mysterious mountain. At certain points, outsiders come in, there’s social upheaval, a nice around-the-campfire sharing session, a murder, some singing and dancing, and the end of the world.

I was reminded of Gorillaz’ spoken word piece Fire Coming Out Of A Monkey’s Head, which, had the same undertones about the hazards of progress and what it does to the environment and the social fabric. The difference being, instead of simply listening to the late Dennis Hopper’s cool, calm voice as all hell breaks loose, in The Mountain you take turns being revolutionary and slave.

I can’t recall being *inside* a story in such a manner as The Mountain’s. Because, it isn’t strictly, completely transformed into a “play” or a “performance” — you switch between listening to the story being told and moving among its characters on an empty stage. It’s an intriguing, neither here-nor-there way of presenting the narrative that lets you step back and see the whole but also gives you glimpses of the “inside”, when, for instance, you’re taken aside by a character (in my case, a 14-year-old boy named Kuda) whispering conspiratorially while pointing out the rest of his family and villagers.

It did get a bit confusing once the story — an allegory-but-actually-turns-out-quite-literal — piles on the twists and turns about whose fault is it, but because you can step back and *listen* it as a story (in my head it’s very Calvino-ish), a cohesive picture forms.

In its simplicity and honest, The Mountain proved to be a very likable show — too bad it’s only limited to 15 audience members per performance. But I guess that’s really why it worked for me, this intimate, little moment in the black box.

The Mountain runs until Jan 19 and is sold out. For more information on the Fringe Fest, visit www.singaporefringe.com.