Angel-ism

Four friends sip coffee and exchange tales. One of them brushes her arched, feathered wings, while another steadily contemplates the instrument in his hands. The other two debate incessantly about human rights and wrongs and the appraisal system they try so hard to uphold.

Suddenly, the winged musician rises and declares he is taking the initiative to blow his horn, which will usher in the Day of Judgment. While the pair of moral auditors bicker, their client sinks deeper into a coma.

They share more tales and drink more coffee…the perfect recipe for a good get-together, or even Armageddon.

(Synopsis stolen from here.)

Angel-ism is a refreshing multilingual play that I think can only be found in Singapore. The play involves many different local languages – English, Malay, Mandarin, and Teochew. I’d dare suppose that one has to be born and bred in Singapore to truly understand the play. While watching the play, I felt immensely proud that Singapore theatre is able to produce something really Uniquely Singapore, something that belongs to us. Like the demographics of Singapore, the play is a mix of different cultures and languages.

This play explores the different manifestations of angels, or rather, what angels are to different people. It may be the beings that sit atop your shoulders and influence your decisions, it may be that altruistic individual you met at the bus stop, it may be the one who provides solace and comfort at the end of the day. In exploring these different concepts of angels, this play invokes many recognizable Singaporean elements, from the “Stop at 2″ policy, to the hunt for Mas Selamat, from familiar childhood games to cheesy TV commercial.

The play also attempts to reinvent the idea of angels in a way that it is no longer restricted to a Judeo-Christian tradition. Angels need not be blond Caucasians dressed in white shifts strumming the harp. Angels can be carnal, gossipy, and flawed. Reinventing and rewriting tradition is a large part of intercultural theatre, and I thought this was executed very well.

I particularly liked the opening scene, whereby the actors traversed the fourth wall to address the audience directly. They moved among the audience, looking at some of them straight in the face and delivering their lines. Those lines were mainly generic, talking about work-related stress, and overcoming our fears, which can be applied to a many people. The earnest manner the actors spoke reminds us all of what we expect Heaven, and the Supreme Being to be like.

All in all I enjoyed the play very much, and I hope to see more of such intercultural plays.