Review: Becoming Graphic, A Look at Cartoonist Sonny Liew’s All-New Graphic Novel for the Stage
PUBLISHED August 18th, 2017 11:35 am | UPDATED July 25th, 2024 02:58 pm
What do we do when confronted with losing loved ones to the ravages of time? What are the ramifications of a quickly greying society such as Singapore’s? Those are the question pondered in Sonny Liew and Edith Podesta’s Becoming Graphic, a commission for the latest edition of the Singapore International Festival of Arts.
Ageing. Mortality. These are complex topics for a platform not typically known for such gravity: superhero comic books. But if someone can carry out the feat, it is the cartoonist Sonny, fresh from his trifecta win (Best Writer/Artist, Best Publication Design, and Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia) at the prestigious Eisner Awards at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.
The winning title was none other than The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, which was propelled into the international spotlight two years ago when its publishing grant was withdrawn by the National Arts Council for ‘sensitive content’.
Sonny’s newest narrative isn’t a stand-alone comic book. Instead, it is part of a larger, more unique production that combines comics and theatre, two-dimensional drawings and live performances, word balloons and spoken words. It is also his first foray into the world of theatre, spurred by a collaboration with theatre-maker Edith Podesta as she brings his art to life with the same creative sensibilities that’s led over 50 other productions (A Cage Goes In Search Of A Bird, Dark Room X8, BITCH: The Origin of the Female Species).
Like the audience at a basketball game, you sit on bleachers at one side of the large space. The stage is everything down below – a workstation at the centre where Sonny sits facing you; a mic stand on his left, where actress Koh Wan Ching serves as presenter for her podcast series, Origin Story. You see the play’s production crew doubling up as her own recording team in full view, and on the left, another motley group of characters. These are the foley artists, creating an assortment of sound effects for the production. They are also the ensemble for Becoming Graphic, playing everything from interdimensional beings to doctors and narrators.
It starts off with a Frank Sinatra groove (named Sunny, of course), as Koh’s character launches into a pre-recorded interview with Sonny – about his Eisner win, his family, and his childhood. Meanwhile, the cartoonist sets to work on his fictional comic book, titled Black Oyster, which is projected on the walls of the room. In between, you are cut off and introduced to his story’s protagonist Henry, the superhero Green Bolt by night, filial son of an ailing mother by day.
“The art of living and the art of dying are one and the same, and we are all ageing from the day we are born.”
The lines between reality and fiction are blurred, as interview recordings with Sonny’s parents and grandfather are juxtaposed with storylines from Sonny’s comics, taking turns to emerge – and sometimes all at once. As the Green Bolt struggles with the limits of his superhuman abilities and Koh examines her own struggles with her mother, who is plagued with dementia, you are drawn into the deeply-weaved narrative, fabulous acting, and intriguing storytelling methods that Edith chooses to use.
It is a dark and morbid production, but through this, one might learn to better appreciate the things they already have. Themes of Singapore’s healthcare policies and governance are also explored, albeit in a bizarre manner. Sonny himself, besides being the ‘voicer’, gets into costume towards the closing, playing a mysterious overlord of sorts that quotes glib lines that may be familiar to local audiences.
Becoming Graphic is far from your ordinary production, and it is this adaptation of comics into theatre that is so beguiling. Not quite reading a story, not quite watching a show, but the message is clear. As Sonny eloquently puts it, this is a story about the art of living and the art of dying. No one cheats death, not even superheroes.
Becoming Graphic is running from 17 to 20 August 2017 at 72-13. Tickets are priced at $50 (20% discount available for students, NSFs, and seniors), available via SISTIC. Click here to find out more about other SIFA programmes.
