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W!LD RICE Theatre Company: OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival 08
Own Time Own Target (a Triplebill Comedy by W!ld Rice)
23rd August
The main reason I went to watch this is because Baldie wrote the first 2 of the 3 items.
I wasn't very reassured by the promotional blurb, which went "Two decades after Army Daze, its time to rediscover National Service - in all its familiarity and strangeness! Two comedies and a musical all about NS - why we hate it, love it, fear it and ultimately, can’t live without it!", as it seemed to fall into the classic "Humourous grumbling about Slavery that seems subversive but ultimately reinscribes its necessity in the National Delusion" paradigm.
The first play was Full Tank, about a group of soldiers who hijack a tank, and how their adventures intersect with a second escaped terrorist. The major problem with this play was that there was a Malay in the tank, which as we all know does not happen in reality. Ironically, although the inclusion of the Malay soldier was probably a purposeful nod (it is not an accident that the Sergeant was an Eurasian; there was an Indian character 'Moti' but apart from his name I didn't notice anything Indian about him), the fact that he was portrayed as the most silly and buffoonish character can be interpreted in certain ways, if you are so inclined.
Full Tank was very much a characteristic Singaporean play: lots of corny jokes, over the top antics, subversive political digs and generous lashings of dialect thrown in (there was Cantonese, which is rare as usually you only hear Hokkien - the Teochews, Hakkas and other dialect groups must be feeling marginalised and discriminated against) as well as some Malay. With its bizarre scenes (e.g. a bar filled with transvestites and/or transsexuals [it was near Delfi Orchard, so it was probably in Orchard Towers]), overrall it felt more like general social commentary than primarily a take on Slavery.
Radio Silence, about an officer and a driver who get lost in the jungle (in some country with only one season), was a different kettle of fish, being more focused on the relationships between slaves of different ranks. Despite being more focused, I preferred Full Tank to it. One reason was that Radio Silence had no proper resolution (they just continued being lost in the jungle, with their radio's batteries having run out). The characters shooting themselves (or each other) would've been a more fitting end, given the tensions raised between them.
Another reason was that the play wasn't consistent - it alternately veered between comedy (even farce, during the OCS flashback sequences) and seriousness (the present time). Even the energy levels of the actors were different during each time period. The end result was that the play ended up rather confused, even schizophrenic.
Finally, there was Botak Boys, a musical about Obedience School (BMT). It felt just like Army Daze - firmly in the line of "we don't really like to be slaves but we must do it anyway so let's laugh at it and acknowledge it can be improved, but at the end we'll find out we're happy to be enslaved". In other words, perestroika rather than la révolution.
I really liked the 302 sequence though, as it was so outrageous and over-the-top (albeit with the convenient artifice of it being a dream sequence).
In sum, all 3, especially the last, were not ultimately challenges to the institution of Slavery. But then, if they were, the SAF would not have let them use its property (even if you use your own cash to buy it, all SAF-related material is technically 'Property of the SAF'. Also, as I understand it you need permission to use them for non-SAF purposes)
Credits: 'Temptation' Chris for bringing a few points to my attention