Hansel & Gretel: Pantomime isn’t for adults… Ohhhh yes it is!
PUBLISHED November 27th, 2012 07:33 am | UPDATED January 21st, 2016 08:12 am
Pet hate: repetition. Another thing I’m not massive on is rowdy or unruly infants – keep them close and keep them quiet. You can imagine how well pantomimes go down with me. Sitting down at the start of Hansel and Gretel, by W!ld Rice, surrounded by more adults than kids I was nothing but concerned. Within minutes I’d minimised my judgemental preconceptions and bad experiences, and was fully immersed in the colourfully animated performance. I think this outstanding little package has managed to alter my view on pantos for adults as a whole. Ivan Heng, and director Pam Oei, have done it again, haven’t they!
For those of you unfamiliar with the fairy-tale classic, Hansel and Gretel tells the tale of a love sick father, ‘Steverrrn’, (Dwayne Lau) who allows his attention to be stolen by a new woman who favours fashion over family. In an attempt to shun Steven’s two children, Hansel and Gretel, and reserve Steven entirely for herself, the step-mother to be, Cassandra, played by Vernetta Lopez tries to ditch the two youngsters in any way she can. Eventually Hansel (Dwayne Tan) and his sister Gretel (Denise Tan) wind up at an edible candy house and almost end up served on the dinner table of the crazy Chef (Sebastian Tan) and his accomplice, Meena/Nicki Minaj.
Although a traditional plot, this rendition incorporates a ton of modern twists and gags, including an Internet love story, a camp son, Angry Birds, Nicki Minaj and even a swift bout of that dreaded song we love to hate, Gangnam Style. When putting on a production for kids all actors need to be full of life and lustre, and this team were all equally outstanding. Keeping it kid friendly, children were casted, as children usually are, but I found this energic bunch to be seamlessly woven into the plot, making them more of an endearing solid feature, than a family-friendly accessory.
My little glistening jewel of the night was Nicki Minaj, played by Siti Khalijah, who also doubled up as the hilariously modern maid, Vilma. Her stance on Nicki Minaj’s Superbass gives Miss Minaj a run for her dosh! Full of different voices, agility and damn right laugh out loud delivery; Siti is an exceptionally talented young lady.
I couldn’t possibly write this without mentioning the sensational set. Kelley Cheng designed the set and actually hand painted a large proportion of it with her team. Brightly coloured like a paint explosion, complete with intricate detail and in parts physically edible, this was one of the most visually stimulating sets I have even seen! Believe it or not, this is Kelley’s first professional set design. Well, let me tell you now she’s made for this and she absolutely smashed-it-out-the-park!! The candy house set didn’t leave me dribbling for too long, as exiting at half time I was greeted by samples of all the yummy treats I had seen during the first half!! And guess what? This wasn’t just for the media night! You’ll be able to sample some sugary, Singaporean, slices at half time too.
A massive round of applause has to go out to W!ld Rice and all these guys. Yes, their cast is overly talented, yes their sets and staging are always on point, but having seen a few top drawer performances from W!ld Rice, I’ve decided what they do best is feed in current Singaporean affairs, as well as local dialogue into their performances to make them, not just concrete acting performances, but, witty and challenging to the boundaries of the Singaporean arts and appealing to a massively diverse audience. This performance in particular uses Hokkien and Filipino to flavour its Singaporean sound. What’s also fabulous is that they manage to construct comical stances on well-known songs, whilst making them funny enough to not be cheesy. The National Day song Love at First Light is edited as Death at First Light and they even craft a cooking version of Nicki Minaj’s Superbass.. just brilliant.
What I think W!ld Rice are executing fantastically, alongside many other production companies in Singapore, is making this country a little less conservative in its view towards theatrical art. In the last few years, the approach towards freedom of expression appears to have drastically evolved, making comical mockery of Singaporean culture, and a generally more light hearted attitude a lot more acceptable. This is something I’m totally behind, and if you are keen on theatrical productions and allowing theatre to progress then you should be too! For updates on what’s happening on the theatrical scene, make sure you stay tuned to City Nomads for the latest productions with some discounted tickets thrown in along the way. More on that soon!
Hansel and Gretel.. go! Get down there for a deliciously entertaining performance. Take your kids.. or maybe don’t!
Hansel and Gretel is showing until 15th December at the Drama Centre Theatre, 3rd Floor of the National Library, Bugis. Showing Tuesday – Sunday at 7.30pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2.30pm. Tickets from $44 – $69 (excluding booking fee) are available via SISTIC here.
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Written by Patpat
