All in the family

Published on July 18, 2007

Two productions of modern classic plays presented over the closing weekend of Singapore Arts Festival 2007 prove that portraying reality can be artistically refreshing.

Lee Breur, the visionary director for New York-based avant-garde theatre group Mabou Mines, put a post-modern spin on Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play "Et Dukkejem", better known as "A Doll's House".

The new title, "Mabou Mines DollHouse", may look and sound like a newly written play based on or loosely inspired by the original.

In fact, it has been translated from the original and then adapted, to better fit the contemporary actors' tongues - and the audiences' ears - by the director himself and lead actress Maude Mitchell, who's literate in Norwegian and has portrayed the protagonist Nora Helmer to critical acclaim worldwide.

Protected from responsibility, kept ignorant of worldly affairs and belittled by Torvald, her husband of eight years, Nora finally realises that she is considered nothing but a pretty, mindless toy and decides to leave him and their two children.

Breur ingeniously turned the play upside down, casting small people for the male characters and scaling down the Helmers' house and the furniture to the size of toys.

While comfortable for the men, the women have to expend considerable effort to live in such surroundings. The message is implicit: while the status of women, both in the home and in society, has changed significantly over the past century, there are still places around the globe where women are required to adjust in order to fit into the male-dominated world.

That is, of course, taking the play a step further than Ibsen intended, yet one senses he would have been happy watching this interpretation.

Also, while the original "Doll's House" led the realistic drama movement in Europe and was considered by many as a reaction to the melodramas of the era, this "DollHouse" was presented with its own touches.

The most evident and effective of these were the lighting techniques and the piano accompaniment used to accentuate the mood and to illustrate the meaning of many scenes.

Also staged at the festival was Beijing People's Art Theatre's production of Cao Yu's 1940 play "Beijing Ren" (literally "Peking Man").

The most visually dominant feature of this production was the massive off-white set depicting a traditional Chinese courtyard. Patched with layers of mummy cloth-like paper, the structure slowly tilted, going from 15 degrees at the beginning to 45 degrees at the end, symbolically and smartly depicting the deteriorating state of the feudal Zeng family during a period of social and economic change.

In fact, it served as a powerful backdrop to a highly realistic acting achievement by the skilful company, who portrayed a vast array of characters from the dying grand father to the highly educated but practically inefficient oldest son, and from the boastful son-in-law to the manipulative daughter-in-law.

With details subtly instilled in many moments of inner conflict, the pace of the play was slow yet there were very few letdown moments, thanks to director Li Luiyi's decision to neither cut nor speed it up simply to please contemporary audiences. Much as with what happens in real life, it allows us to feel, think and respond.

This was the first time that this particular production of "Beijing Ren" had been staged outside China and many audience members will agree that it won't be the last.

It should be noted that both productions considerably challenged the audience's attention span. With "DollHouse" running for nearly three hours and "Beijing Ren" for another 20 minute, some playgoers cut the evening short and left at intermission.

With the high quality in reinterpreting these classics, though, it is clear that the National Arts Council, the organiser of the Singapore Arts Festival, doesn't want to spoon-feed their audiences but rather to, slowly and firmly, expand their artistic tastes and break through their prejudices.

The influx of world-class performing arts doesn't just allow audiences to enjoy these productions near their homes but also gives local artists the opportunity to interact with these companies through workshops and master classes.

Partly owing to this unique vision in cultural management, local art continues to develop at a fine pace.

Next weekend, Singapore Repertory Theatre and Esplanade Theatres on the Bay play host to Britain's renowned Royal Shakespeare Company, who will perform "King Lear" and "The Seagull", starring Sir Ian McKellen and directed by Sir Trevor Nunn.

Next month, Fort Canning Park is the venue of Womad (World of Music, Arts, and Dance) Singapore 2007. The Nation's Weekend section will be running a preview and will also be giving away tickets courtesy of Singapore Tourism Board. Visit WomadSingapore.com.

The writer can be contacted at Pawit.M@chula.ac.th.

Pawit Mahasarinand

The Nation