Chestnuts 6.9 – The Less Miserable White Paper – Singapore-style Parody at its best!
PUBLISHED August 8th, 2013 01:50 am | UPDATED July 25th, 2024 03:20 pm
Get ready to celebrate Singapore – the Chestnuts way!
‘Chestnuts’ Singapore’s very first and longest running parody show has spoofed movies, television programs, politics, current affairs, popular music and the theatre scene; in fact, anything and everything that takes the fancy of its creator, Jonathan Lim. Lim, a comic genius, as well as an actor and writer, along with musical wiz Bang Wenfu and a team of wildly enthusiastic and versatile actors, have created shows which have captured the imagination and tickled the funny bones of audiences in Singapore over the years (including this writer). Fans of Chestnuts are eagerly awaiting the next installment of a production that has become a must-see fixture in the Singapore arts calendar.
The first Chestnuts show hit Singapore at Christmas in 1996 (so yes, the show is now a 17-year old ‘teenager’!). The comedy sketches were excruciatingly funny, for example, a very queer 2-man version of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, songs like The Politically Correct Silent Night and I Saw Mommy #*@ing Santa Claus, and Les Mistletoe – an Xmas version of Les Miserables, which featured 2 men playing the entire cast singing One Day More. The Chestnuts were a breath of fresh air amidst the Christmas lights, non-stop piped carols and Xmas shopping madness!
Since those early days, the Chestnuts have presented many shows. The creators have sharpened their wits and pens and produced not just entertainment but also sophisticated satire and witty sketches and characters that are truly memorable. Here are a few examples:
A wayang kulit version of Titanic
The use of the movie Inception to illustrate Singaporean psychosis
A scene and dialogue from the movie Matrix set in an MRT station
A Hokkien getai version of Rihanna’s Umbrella
Ris Low, a character that went on to become a YouTube phenomenon with her 12 Days of Ris-Mas and her signature catchphrase ‘Boomz’
Ris Low’s even more unpredictable sister, Ivory Low Ai Kiu, the ‘Ambarassadress’ for the Speak Good Singlish Campaign
You begin to get the picture…
The list is endless and it’s difficult to describe the experience in words; you have to see it for yourself. And although the dialogue used in the shows is mainly in English, there are generous doses of Singlish, Hokkien, Mandarin and a smattering of Malay – which is in keeping with Singapore’s ‘rojak’ of cultures. And the non-Singaporeans out there, need not worry about being left in the dark. If you have been taking an interest in what’s going on in Singapore (and you have not been hiding under a rock) plus you hang out with Singaporean friends, you will understand the humour and be able to follow the action on stage.
An additional delight is the tongue-in-cheek titles of the shows. Names like: Chestnuts Unloaded – The Curse of the Black Pearl Bubble Tea, Forbidden Chestnuts : Portrait of a Brokeback Geisha or Chestnuts Does Christmas: Like A Hard Candy Virgin are all destined to have you giggling before the show even starts!
So what’s in store for us this August? The Chief Chestnut himself, creator, Jonathan Lim, was kind enough to share his thoughts on Chestnuts and drop big hints on what we can expect in the upcoming production:
‘Chestnuts’ has been around for 17 years, since 1996! Over the years, what have been a) your greatest challenges and b) the highlights?
Finding the perfect team is always tricky – and people come and go, so it’s always a challenge to find new partners with new things to contribute while maintaining the style. I used to be much more afraid of change – every time we had a major switch I would freak out. But over the years we’ve learnt that something at the heart of Chestnuts can withstand change pretty well – and the comedy and the honesty wins through in the end, however much the details and packaging change.
That said, having a core who know the heart of Chestnuts and have given it their blood and sweat and saliva over the years is very important – so I’m very grateful for the old guard who soldier on with me!
The whole rehearsal process is a highlight for me – all year we run around so much doing so many things – it’s nice to come home to Chestnuts. We hope the audience feels the same!
It is also a highlight whenever any of our cast gets nominated for acting, like Judee Tan, Rodney Oliveiro and myself in the Life Theatre Awards . I guess it reminds everyone that Chestnuts isn’t just fun and games, there’s a lot of solid actor craft and hard work and skill involved in presenting the nonsense!
Another highlight is finding a new friend that clicks perfectly into the Chestnuts nuttiness and adds their own unique twist to it! This year, it’s a thrill to introduce our first ever foreign-talent, Tim Garner, who is remarkable as Hugh Jackman in our Les Mis and Wolverine spoofs!
What made you decide to use the name ‘Chestnuts’ in the first place?
We started off as a Christmas comedy show and the full title was Hark the Jingle Red-Nosed Chestnuts! After a few years, we moved away from Xmas themes but we didn’t want to change name completely – so we picked one word and stuck to it! Lucky we didn’t choose ‘nosed’.
Chestnuts calls itself a live parody show, which is full of shameless spoofing. But there is also a lot of satire and subtle (and not so subtle) digs at the Government. Has Singapore (and Singaporeans) become more open to laughing at itself since you started 17 years ago? And are you finding it easier to push the boundaries in your shows?
More open, yes indeed. We find ourselves saying/doing things onstage lately that would have been undreamt of five years ago. We can be blunt about many things, and that broadens the range of comic tools we can use.
At the same time, the thirst for satire has also sharpened, making the audience harder to please and even harder to shock! And that’s an important part of comedy – the unexpected. So we always look for new buttons to press that will startle the audience into unexpected laughter.
But we who create Chestnuts are also Singaporeans – we ARE the audience too – and we’ve learnt to just trust our instincts.
I have been a fan since your first show in 1996! What can I look forward to in Chestnuts 6.9 – The Less Miserable White Paper?
Thank you for your support! Loyal fans love it when they see familiar things reinvented – and this year one of our central spoofs is Les Miserables, which is actually the first musical spoof we ever did, back in 1997-98! It was very exciting to revisit the spoof – we kept a few classic things that old fans might find familiar, but the style and presentation has evolved SO MUCH in the 15 years – wow.
Is it all new material or will you be revisiting some of the sketches from your previous shows?
We have a running series called the Chestnuts Ten Year Series where we bring back a few older sketches each year. This year our main blast from the past is PRC Sex Shop – the 2009 Dark Knuts sketch about a gay couple shopping in a sex shop that’s run by two PRC salesgirls. It was a hit back then, but the themes are even juicier in these post-White Paper days!
And of course, there are new instalments of our regular favorites like Theatre in Ten and PondanNewsAsia, featuring everyone’s favorite censorship lady Amy Chua and our Speak Good Singlish ‘Ambarrasadress’ – Ris Low’s sister Ivory Low Ai Kiu!
Do the theatre groups like being mentioned in Theatre In Ten? Is it almost a tribute to be mentioned?
To the open-minded and fun-loving ones, yes indeed! They are tickled to be remembered and paid tribute to! Most of them are our friends and collaborators anyway so they know we are lovingly teasing them.
But of course there are some that feel bullied or insulted and in fact, some still have not dared to watch us despite frequent invites! Cannot tell you who.
As well as Chestnuts, will you be doing more shows like ‘H is for Hantu?’ as well as ‘The Broadway4Suakus’ (guide to musicals) in the future?
We are definitely looking at another installment of Broadway4Suakus next year – possibly as a Valentine’s treat again! We had so much fun doing Broadway4Suakus: You, Me & HDB the last time. And I had an idea for a sequel to H is for Hantu but haven’t really had time to develop it yet!
So, get ready for a roller-coaster ride of shameless spoofs and razor-sharp parodies as Chestnuts pokes fun at all the juicy goings-on in Singapore. Plus spoofs and satire galore – Les MiX with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean / Wolverine, new policies for policing sex-for-grades, a poke at local theatre from foreign talent in the park (Othello) to Ah Girls to Men (The Importance of Being Earnest) and more!
You have been warned…
Chestnuts 6.9 – The Less Miserable White Paper is on at the Drama Centre, National Library, Victoria Street, from 16 to 25 August 2013. Please click here for more details and to buy tickets. The show features the combined talents of Jonathan Lim, Judy Ngo, Judee Tan, Dwayne Lau and special guest Tim Garner.
Images shown are courtesy of The Chestnuts and from previous performances but judging from how much fun everyone seems to be having, we can’t wait for The Less Miserable White Paper!
