Went to watch Titoudao yesterday at the National Library Drama Center. It is a good show! Titoudao was first staged in Singapore in 1994, and its last local staging in 2000 garnered five awards at the Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, including Play of the Year.
Titoudao depicts the real-life experiences of a Hokkien wayang actress Madam Oon Ah Chiam, and is set mainly in the mid-20th century era of Singapore. It chronicles the struggles Madam Oon faced in her ambition to become a wayang performer, amidst the various changes in societal landscape throughout the decades. The play is written and directed by Goh Boon Teck, who is the son of Madam Oon herself.
One of the many intriguing aspects of the play was the way they started the play. Or rather, the way they built up to the start of the play. I have never seen this before and it is very refreshing. When you enter the auditorium, you will see on stage a set of what appears to be the backstage dressing room area of a typical makeshift wayang stage. Also, you will see the entire cast, dressed in basic white inner clothes (the type that actors wear beneath their costumes), hanging around and basically chilling out before the performance starts.
The play is essentially a seamless amalgamation of two stories into one. The real-life story of Madam Oon, and the wayang opera in which the character Titoudao, played by Pam Oei. The whole play is 90% hokkien, 10% english, mandarin and abit of Malay. People like me who have limited understanding of hokkien will have difficulty understanding the play. However, english transaltion is being flashed on two side panels. So it won’t cause much of a problem enjoying the play.
The casts are excellent. Pam Oei is such a versatile and enigmatic performer. Chua En Lai rocks as the ugly stepsister. The way he sashayed …. hahaha … Beatrice did multiple roles despite visibly pregnant. She rocks too! Sebastian Tan duel role of Ti Boon Long and Ah Hock is so contrasting.
Don’t miss this play. Its worth your money.
Recent Comments