The cast of The Noose gives us the scoop on one another

SINGAPORE – After eight seasons on television, the cast of The Noose will be bringing their madcap antics and irreverent humour to 
the stage.

Called The Noose & Kakis ... 11 Months Of Fresh Air! this production will not only feature the television series’ regular stars Chua Enlai, Alaric Tay, Suhaimi Yusof and Judee Tan (who is also directing this show), but also stand-up comedians from Singapore and Malaysia, including the Lion City’s funnymen Fakkah Fuzz, Rishi Budhrani and Kumar; along with Kavin Jay, Rizal van Geyzal and Harith Iskandar who will be making a trip across 
the Causeway.

The show will address hot button issues that affected Singaporeans this past year, so you can expect their humourous takes on issues surrounding SMRT, Uber and, of course, the haze.

This is not the first time that The Noose has taken to the stage. In 2012, the cast members collaborated with popular DJ duo, The Muttons, to come up with a stage show at music bar TAB at Orchard Hotel. All three nights of the show were sold out.

Meanwhile, rehearsals are currently underway for the stage production, but the cast managed to take time off from all that to talk about getting the show together. According to the cast, the best part about the experience was that they were all comfortable pitching ideas and trying out new jokes with each other, after working on The Noose together for so 
many years.

“At the end of the day, the chemistry that we have on screen makes it easier for us to be a bit crazier,” said Suhaimi Yusof, who plays, among other characters, the newscaster Jojo Joget.

“Judee is directing and is also part of the cast, so she can go along with the crazy stuff that we suggest. “It’s always a two-way traffic,” Suhaimi added. “We are glad it is not someone from Hollywood coming in to direct, because the whole feel is already there.”

Fellow cast member Alaric Tay, who plays Andre Chicak on the TV series, agreed: “Even when we go home — because we have a group chat — I will throw in a joke that we did that day, and everyone latches on, and it goes on for the next couple of scenes.”

He added: “There are a couple of those throughout the play.”

Since the actors portray reporters of the worst sort on The Noose, and since they are currently forced to meet six days a week for rehearsals, we asked them to uncover their biggest scoops — about each other. Just what deep dark discretions do these have to hide?

Here is what we found out:

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT 
CHUA ENLAI

Judee Tan: “Enlai carries banana hand cream. Period.”

Alaric Tay: “Enlai is actually one of the most serious people around. In fact, he is very philosophical and quite fierce, too. And if you are not on time, he will scold you.”

Suhaimi Yusof: “Enlai surprises me when he is the first to arrive at a meeting. I wouldn’t say he is always late, but he is always temporarily held up. It is always a competition between me and Enlai, because Alaric is always the first to arrive.”

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT 
ALARIC TAY

Judee Tan: “He is the good student, always the first to arrive. He is also quite serious.”

Suhaimi Yusof: “I am a Malay guy, but when I see Alaric imitating Malay accents, I think to myself, this guy is Malay. When my Chinese friends try to pick up the accent, you can tell that there are some flaws. But Alaric does it quite well. This is why I suspect he is actually Malay.”

Chua Enlai: “Who tells the worst jokes? Alaric Tay. He needs a scriptwriter every day to follow him around in life.”

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT 
JUDEE TAN

Alaric Tay: “She has got a big butt. Have you noticed? She’s got a Beyonce a**. Everyone was talking about her butt at one point. We have actually had conversations about her butt. I told her, your a** sticks out quite a bit when your walk. I even demonstrated for her just in case she didn’t know. I don’t remember how she responded, she probably punched me — that’s why I cannot remember.”

Chua Enlai: “Who’s the most irritating? Of course, it’s the director. So she is always telling me what to do. (But) I know what to do!”

Suhaimi Yusof: “Sometimes, she comes in with some bruises on her legs and thighs. She might be part of a gang or something ... maybe she beats people up. I have never had the guts to ask her what has happened, because it might get me into trouble.”

(Judee Tan’s explains her bruise: “I got the bruises while cycling. It was 
raining a couple nights ago, it was 
very slippery.”)

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT SUHAIMI YUSOF

Judee Tan: “Among all of us, he is the goofiest. None of us are as goofy as he is. He is of a different generation, I think his sense of humour is still (from the era of) Charlie Chaplin.”

Alaric Tay: “Suhaimi is Yoda. If there was Yoda in real life he would look like Suhaimi. He has got pearls of wisdom in that mind of his. Suhaimi’s pearls of wisdom are about anything and everything. Anything to do with current affairs, he has got a lot of conspiracy theories that he unravels in front of my eyes.”

Chua Enlai: “Suhaimi has got a lot of stories. If you want to not do anymore work, like, say it is approaching 6pm or lunch time and you don’t want to do any more work, ask Suhaimi to start with a story. He will carry on until it is 6pm and you can go, ‘Oh it’s 6pm! No need to rehearse anymore!’ He is a real storyteller.”

The Noose & Kakis...11 Months Of Fresh Air will be held from Thursday, March 31 to Saturday, April 2 at The Theatre @ Mediacorp. Tickets from S$65 available on SISTIC.