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Singapore: MEOW!
- S Thenmoli (Ms), President, Agni Kootthu (Theatre of
Fire), Singapore -
 Meow!
is another controversial play by bilingual poet-playwright-director Elangovan
which explores the silent oppressions heaped on the Malay minority by the
powers-that-be in Singapore, the plastic nation ruled by greed and
materialism. Presented by Agni Kootthu (Theatre of Fire) Written & directed by
Elangovan Performed by Dew M Chaiyanara, Faizal Abdullah & Hemang Yadav Sat
28 & Sun 29 Nov 2009 8 pm The Substation Theatre $20 (Tickets available at The
Substation box-office 63377800)) MDA Advisory: R18 (Coarse Language and Mature
Themes) Performance in English
If you are not greedy, you are not Chinese. If you are not backstabbing, you
are not Indian. If you are not lazy, sorry, contented, you are not Malay. If
you are not made of all these three, then you are not a Singaporean.
.........................................................................
[Female: You mean I lie?
Male: Yes! Remember? The Ustad caught you eating at Geylang Serai market
during Puasa (fasting) month.
Female: I lied to him. So what? He sat in front of me when I was having my
breakfast. He started to scold me for not fasting. I kept eating and finished
my food. He continued preaching about the importance of fasting. He then asked
me whether I am a Muslim? I said no. He scolded me for wasting his time and
not telling the truth about my religion. I told him, you never asked me what?
Look at my face. I am from Bollywood. Not Malay. I sang one Hindi song and he
shook his head from right to left like the stupid Kelings (derogatory term for
Tamils) from India and ran away. Truth? Nobody is interested in truth in
Singapore you know.
Male: But you must speak truth. Otherwise you go to hell.
Female: You want to speak truth they will put you under ISA. Internal Stupid
Act in Singapore. Must learn to pretend as if nothing happened
like the Chinese pigs you know? Must learn to carry balls and backstab others
like the Indian dogs you know? ]
.........................................................................
What would you do when you win a million in the Singapore Big Sweep? The
choices are endless, but for some, winning a fortune is as debasing and
disorientating as a horrific ordeal in a car on a rainy night. The
millionaires, a subaltern Malay couple: mechanic at a petrol station and a
salesgirl, re-enact their childless marriage baiting each other on a
never-ending car journey to take food home to their cat. She berates him about
his impotency and other inadequacies; he about her besotted behaviour over
their cat for whom he had just bought 32 tins of canned food in a cat-food
sale. He loves his job. She loves her cat. But the condominium-bound tabby
cannot speak and acts as a silent confidante rather than a high counsel for
their marital dilemmas.
He suffers from Ailurophobia and intermittently, an obese human-like cat
appears in his surrealistic dreams to philosophize and entreat him. The cat
proselytizes and conducts a psychiatric test to gauge his sanity. The bizarre
ending bursts the septic boil of corrosive morality to leave a raw, ugly,
warning wound. With instant wealth comes subtle change and revelations of
desires laid dormant by social circumstances and convenient relationships.
Impregnated with strange animal instincts, it is the suppression of savagery
that makes us human but occasionally when pushed over the emotive precipice,
the beasts emerge snapping and snarling like feral cats.
The play particularly addresses the cultural and sexual values of the working
class couple and brittle hegemony of multi-culturalism and racial tolerance in
Singapore. It addresses issues of class, violence and urban alienation. It
gets its teeth into universal themes of cultural alienation and the
manifestation of the societys bankrupted social values in fetishism, racism
and impotency. In MEOW, verbal abuse, physical violence, racism, sexism, and
classism are very ugly but demand serious attention. Desperation and
loneliness cry out in
the midst of communication. MEOW is a marriage from noveau riche hell for a
no-class Malay couple.
kamasoma@pacific.net.sg |
Pathivugal ISSN 1481-2991