Titoudao – Restaging Toy Factory’s Most Famous Work
PUBLISHED February 24th, 2015 04:00 pm | UPDATED July 1st, 2020 12:33 am
Local theatre company, Toy Factory, will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. To kick off the celebrations and its 2015 season, it’s reviving its most popular production Titoudao in March. First staged in 1994, this is the fifth production of the iconic play written and directed by Toy Factory’s artistic director, Goh Boon Teck, and it holds a special place in his heart.
Mise en Abyme
Titoudao is a mise en abyme, or a play-within-a-play. The action on stage shifts between the real-life struggles of Madam Oon Ah Chiam (also Goh’s mother) in her journey to becoming one of Singapore and Malaysia’s most outstanding leading opera artistes, and her mesmerizing wayang performances as the titular Titoudao, the most famous character she has played.
Audrey Luo
Set mainly in the Singapore of the 1950s and 60s, this petite but determined woman with big dreams fights against the shackles of poverty and gender inequality while bringing up her family. She also faces the waning interest in her craft. This inspirational tale follows her from the age of 5 to 61 and also focuses on the relationship with between Madam Oon and her wayang colleagues.
The Chinese opera’s story, however, revolves around the Tee family and how the dutiful, righteous, male servant Titoudao accompanies his master, Tee Boon Long, on a voyage to take part in the imperial examinations. They have adventures along the way and overall, it is a heartwarming, jolly narrative.
The Challenges of A Languishing Art
Wayang (or Hokkien street opera) is a declining art in modern Singapore but Director Goh Boon Teck offers an insight, ‘We have seen an increase in awareness of Chinese opera with each restaging of Titoudao and we hope to continue this meaningful purpose.’
Rei Poh and Josephine Tan
The latest restaging will be done by a new cast, including Josephine Tan, Rei Poh, Daphne Quah, Benita Cheng, Trev Neo, Trey Ho, Timothy Wan and Audrey Luo, who plays the titular character. It was Director Goh’s decision to get new faces – and many hadn’t seen previous versions of ‘Titoudao’.
In preparation for the show, the cast headed to Pulau Ubin to experience the kampong vibe and attended a crash course workshop with the real Madam Oon’s opera troupe, Xin Yang Ling, at a temple in Yishun, and even performed alongside their mentors to a small crowd at a ceremony! Madam Oon, now 72 years old, rightly acts as a consultant for the production.
Another challenge was getting to grips with the Hokkien dialect as most of the cast members had to learn the language from scratch. Plus, conversational Hokkien and Hokkien as spoken and performed in opera are quite different. To make things more difficult, switching between Mandarin, Hokkien and Singlish (and English) is inevitable while playing multiple roles.
Trev Neo and Timothy Wan
Yes, this is a multi-lingual play but not to worry – Toy Factory confirms that there will be English subtitles for the entire script. I personally caught the 2007 production and enjoyed it in spite of being a non-Hokkien and non-Mandarin speaker. So don’t let the multiple languages put you off!
Toy Factory’s 2015 Season
As part of its 25th anniversary this year, Toy Factory will also be staging a show about Singapore’s Chinese theatre scene (in collaboration with the Esplanade) in June. August will see the company will also be restaging Singapore’s first Chinese musical, December Rains.
Clichéd as it sounds; it’s worth watching Titoudao this year as the country celebrates its 50th birthday. We could all do with another dose of nostalgia, especially since the storyline serves as a commentary on the societal and economic changes in a fast-progressing Singapore of the late fifties and sixties.
Titoudao runs 5 to 15 March 2015 at the Drama Centre Theatre, Level 3, National Library Building. For more information and tickets, please see SISTIC.
