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Why W!ld Rice’s Geylang production felt like a student production

SINGAPORE — If Geylang has the feel of a school production, this is because, in a sense, it is one: The play was first staged last year as a showcase by the 2014 cohort of W!ld Rice’s young & W!ld division, and this year it has been revived as part of the Singapore Theatre Festival alongside other plays exploring the history, future, languages, politics and landscapes of Singapore.

SINGAPORE — If Geylang has the feel of a school production, this is because, in a sense, it is one: The play was first staged last year as a showcase by the 2014 cohort of W!ld Rice’s young & W!ld division, and this year it has been revived as part of the Singapore Theatre Festival alongside other plays exploring the history, future, languages, politics and landscapes of Singapore.

The play opens with a steamy (and most probably totally imaginary) “origin” story for the odd divide between “Chinese” Geylang and “Malay” Geylang Serai — with the god of the Geylang river taking a dim view of the cold-hearted murder of two lovers by their disapproving parents.

The play shifts to the present day, and a group of civil servants at an unnamed (but well-acronymed) ministry find their plans for the re-development of Geylang threatened by the refusal of a mee rebus stall-owner to relocate from his shophouse. Meanwhile, a writer commissioned by the ministry to collate a book on “Geylang Memories” finds herself exploring and staging (quite literally, as the fourth wall is gradually completely broken) stories of missing children, religious cults, gang wars and murdered prostitutes. All this while a decision has to be made: Will Geylang and all of its heritage, life and colour be destroyed? Or will it, against all odds, be allowed to survive?

The production is professionally well-staged by playwright and director Rodney Olivero; however, there remains a remarkably student quality to it that manifests itself right from the opening scene as the ensemble sways suggestively around imaginary poles, stages sex acts, and two actors in drag strut their stuff across the stage. Over the course of two hours, the play explores more euphemisms and puns for and about sex than I could have thought humanly possible.

Of course, one expects any play about Geylang to touch upon its seedy and sexy side. However, the extended obsession with sex and genital wordplay began to feel tired after a while. Sex jokes are fun for about the first hour or so, but once the second hour comes along, it may be time to move on.

Yet, to dismiss this play as nothing more than a student production would be to underestimate how entertaining, funny, self-aware and richly realised it and its characters are.

The civil servants in Olivero’s script are not the usual caricatures of “gahmen” functionaries — they are fully realised characters with background stories of their own. The mee rebus stall-owners are not archetypes, but complex individuals with their own ideas and motivations.

The highest kudos must be given to the ensemble, whose infectious energy, enthusiasm and belief in the quality of their work helped rescue the script from its own worst aspects. Set and lighting designer Mac Chan and multimedia designer Andre Chong also deserve mention for doing much of the heavy lifting needed to set the production’s atmosphere. Chan’s quick and atmospheric lighting changes during the gang war story was particularly impressive, while Chong’s timelapses and videos of life in Geylang helped make the neighbourhood and a reality for those in the audience who may not be so familiar with the place. Geylang is worth defending despite the bad jokes.

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