PUBLISHED January 14th, 2015 04:00 pm | UPDATED April 21st, 2016 08:27 am
After a successful 2014 run, powerhouse theatre company Pangdemonium is kicking off its 2015 season – touting it their Transformation Trilogy as there’s an overarching theme of Change, Growth and New Beginnings – with the play Circle Mirror Transformation. Tribes by Nina Raine will follow, with the season concluding with David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish.
Why Transformation?
Artistic Director Tracie Pang to enlightens us, ‘With SG50 upon us, we felt that this was absolutely relevant, but at the same time not a ‘hard-sell’ theme to incorporate in the celebrations. In the midst of all the SG50 shenanigans, we felt that there is a need to take a moment to take stock, be grateful, and also be willing and daring to accept change, and even to effect change, and be brave enough to start anew. If we’re not prepared to evolve and transform, we stagnate, and we die a slow death. So Transformation is good – embrace it!’
Amen to that!
Circle Mirror Transformation – The Story
Beautiful, disillusioned actress Theresa (Nikki Muller), shy divorcee Shultz (Adrian Pang), moody teenager Lauren (Selma Alkaff), and gregarious, gung-ho James (Daniel Jenkins) – these four imperfect strangers join an Acting Class run by ‘earth mother’ Marty (Neo Swee Lin), resulting in epic episodes of comedy, and drama of theatrical proportions.
Set in a small town in Vermont, the story unfolds like a charmingly funny indie film. Watch as the group plays Marty’s imaginative (and sometimes awkward) theatre games. But as their relationships develop over the course of the summer, the seemingly silly games generate some real-life drama and subconsciously, all of them start seeking answers to questions they don’t realize they are asking. This delightful comedy by American playwright Annie Baker landed on Top Ten lists of The New York Times and The New Yorker in 2010.
The Why, What, Where, and How
So, why has Pangdemonium chosen this play?
Tracie, who also directs the production, said, ‘We read this play a couple of years ago and immediately fell in love with it! It’s fantastically funny, it’s fabulous fun, and also surprisingly poignant and moving. It’s a sneakily voyeuristic peek behind the scenes at actors’ intimate (and often absurd) practices, and at the same time it has beautifully observed insights about human behaviour and human needs.’
The action on stage takes place in a small town in Vermont. Was there a temptation to transfer the action to a Singaporean setting?
‘No, we are staying faithful to the original setting,’ said Tracie. ‘Annie Baker’s beautifully written dialogue is very specific, and the rhythms of her prose cannot be transposed to another continent without re-writing 90% of it. Singaporeans just wouldn’t speak like that, and we didn’t want to mess with her brilliant writing!’
And what about the cast?
According to Artistic Director Adrian Pang, ‘This is the first time we (Pangdemonium) will be working with Neo Swee Lin – I’ve played her brother before, I’ve played her son before (twice) and she’s great to work with, so we’re really looking forward to this! Daniel Jenkins is a Pangdemonium veteran and we adore him, a very versatile actor, and this role will draw on both his comic and dramatic skills. Nikki Muller is a wonderful comic actress and lovely person, and this role is going to stretch her and allow audiences to see her in a whole new light. And finally the very talented 16-year-old Selma Alkaff is making her professional debut with this show, and we are so thrilled to have ‘discovered’ her!
So as Singapore launches into SG50, this is the perfect play to start 2015 – a feel-good comedy that has plenty of heart, soul and hope.
Circle Mirror Transformation opens 29 January and will run till Sunday, 15 February 2015 at the DBS Arts Centre – Home of the SRT. For tickets and more information, please visit Pangdemonium’s website or SISTIC.
By Nithia Devan