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By Rome Jorge Lifestyle Editor
It’s postmodern, absurdist and
provocative. But its creator says it isn’t. A play about
stupidity, it might be smart-alecky as well. It gets the last laugh
at its audiences. But even this its director denies.
For All the Wrong Reasons, the
acclaimed play by Belgian director Lies Pauwels, held its Asian
premier at the Esplanade on May 30 as part of the 2008 Singapore
Arts Festival.
Various forms of stupidity were
illustrated by the actors: from people speaking slowly and loudly in
the vain hopes a non-English speaking person will understand them
any better, to the indecisiveness of the impulse buyer at
convenience store, to the condescending questions people ask a dwarf
(Are you a child? Do you fall in love?), to people who forget to
speak into the microphone they are holding, to violence against
women, to drug overdose, to war, to pedophilia.
However, audiences who failed to
fully grasp what the actors portrayed on stage or, worse,
unthinkingly delighted themselves as the thespians portrayed man at
his most hateful may have unwittingly illustrated yet another form
of stupidity.
A dwarf twirls in a tutu; to
giggle at this is to prove one’s bias. A man dressed in another
tutu dances pathetically until he is shot; to find this funny is to
show one’s own callousness. A couple in erotic embrace begin a
brutal choreograph where the woman is manhandled; to find this
arousing is to betray one’s bestiality.
Is the audience the final thesis
of this play? Are theatergoers as stupid as the play they bear to
watch? Is the Bee Gees song played at the play’s crescendo—the
one that goes, “I started a joke, which started the whole world
crying. But I didn’t see that the joke was on me”—the anthem
of the play’s characters or a jab at the viewers? Is the joke on
them?
“It’s not really a joke on
anyone, unless that’s how you view life. There are bits in the
play I can relate to if I were in the audience. It doesn’t
necessarily appeal intellectually. It could be just at the
surface,” says Australian actress Kiruna Stamell. As a person of
small stature, the 26-year-old auditioned for a part that did not
call for a dwarf such as her. Obviously, the play has benefited not
only from her splendid acting but also from her life experiences and
has since been adapted to her.
Pauwels refuses to categorize her
play, be it postmodern—where the creative process is part of the
art; or Brechtian—where audiences are purposefully detached
emotionally to prompt critical thinking; or absurdist—where the
irrationality and meaninglessness of life is expounded. Instead, she
says, “To me, when I’m creating, there’s not a concept of what
kind of theater I’m making. What I can say is that there is no
message I want to say to the public. Read what you want. I try to
understand humanity and the cruelty, how people function. These are
the questions I want to ask and the play has no answers.”
Nonetheless, the non-narrative
play (hence the label “experimental”) delivers to audiences a
very postmodern, Brechtian and absurdist experience. That is to be
expected from a director who hails from Belgium—the hotbed for
cutting-edge theater. As one who explores “the uncensored inside
of human beings,” Pauwels sincerely reflects our absurd postmodern
world.
We are in on this joke. Or maybe
not. This play has a way of making one feel stupid for watching it.
Which means it must be very clever. I think.
The audacity to stage a play such
as this speaks well for the Singapore Arts Festival. Besides proving
the ability to marshal a truly international collection of artists
from various fields, from Latvian dancers to Sardinian musicians,
they have also pushed the boundaries of art in a state that still
practices censorship.
Exploiting improvisation, an
actor took a jab at Singapore’s alleged authoritarianism and
social conditioning, mentioning the “Nanny State,” which in turn
drew hoots and hoorays from the audience. However, despite these
citizens’ outbursts behind closed doors, the joke may still be on
them. After all, this is a government-sponsored festival. The Nanny
State has thus far anticipated their every need, from prosperity to
the party life. Now it may even be providing catharsis as a
substitute for real change. Regardless, kudos to 2008 Singapore Arts
Festival, because audiences aren’t that stupid.
The 2008 Singapore Arts
Festival is ongoing and runs until June 22. For details, visit
www.singaporeartsfest.com.
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