I’ve often felt out of place as a person of colour dabbling in creative spaces as a participant and an audience member. Growing up in Singapore, I personally never felt that creative pursuits, like theatre, were as valued as more traditional careers, so occupying that space often felt like going against the values I grew up with and internalised. But as the house lights went down and the first scene of Slanted Theatre’s production of Boom began, I’ve never felt more at home in the theatre.
Boom, written in the 2000s by Singaporean economist-turned-playwright Jean Tay, tells audiences two intertwined stories: that of the property agent Boon (portrayed by SUDS star Josephine Lee) and his elderly mother (Tiang Lim) as their apartment block is put on sale; and that of civil servant Jeremiah (Daniel MacKenzie) who tries to convince a corpse (Gerwin Widjaja) to accept its exhumation from its grave. Both the sale of the apartment block and the movement of the corpse are to make way for new development in a property boom.
In a place like Singapore, where reaching heights never reached before is endlessly encouraged and relentlessly pursued, the impacts of these attitudes on individual’s lives and livelihoods are rarely interrogated. But this production of Boom, which still maintains thematic relevance today, dares to ask just this.
From the beginning, the production’s well-executed balance of the light-hearted and humorous with the insightful and emotional stands out in its storytelling. The opening sequence depicts a television-esque advertisement for an up-and-coming luxury property development, contextualising the work itself and offering the show’s audience insights on Singapore’s uber-competitive culture in a way that is self-deprecating, yet blithesome and funny. As we moved through the first act of Boom, the primary threads of the play were established in four different settings: the over-zealous environment of a Singapore real estate agency, where Boon works; the run-down apartment where Boon and his mother live; the cut-throat environment of the Singapore Ministry of Land, a spoof of multiple real-life government agencies; and a grave that is soon to be excavated after expiring a government-limited burial period of 15 years. A special mention should be given to Boom’s striking set, costume, lighting and sound design, headed by Aloma Barnes, Rita Naidu, and SUDS mainstays Luna Ng and Sam Cheng respectively. The distinct character of each environment shined through, allowing audiences to be fully immersed in the emotional weight of these stories.
As the show progressed, the characters’ socially-visible motivations unravelled to reveal the personal stories explaining their actions throughout. Motifs introduced in one setting often recurred again in another, which made the moment where the two main narratives converged that much sweeter. In navigating delicate themes, such as past versus future, individual desire versus collective expectation, life and death, relationships with family, and the character-shaping nature of trauma, the cast gave touching performances that stayed with me beyond the show’s conclusion.
Josephine Lee portrayed the character of Boon with hardened conviction, and their final scene with Tiang Lim, whose delivery as Mother was firm and impactful throughout, moved me to tears. Melissa Gan and Jordon Zhu carried the heart of the show with their animated portrayals of young Mother and Father respectively, and their appearances with Lee and Lim at the show’s conclusion especially contributed to the last scene’s emotional weight. Daniel MacKenzie transitioned from exuberant to soul-stirring with ease in his performance as Jeremiah, complimenting Gerwin Widjaja’s distinctively sarcastic portrayal of the Corpse. Producer-actor Natalie Low demonstrated her versatility as a member of the ensemble, serving as a fine catalyst for Boom’s most poignant moments.
Taking a work that is deeply enmeshed within the local context that it was written in, and producing it for an overseas audience, is no doubt a challenging feat. However, Director Tiffany Wong, with support from producer Natalie Low and production dramaturg Adam Yoon, was able to accomplish a seamlessly-staged adaptation of Boom that is authentic to its origins as a uniquely Singaporean play, yet still deeply connected with an Australian audience who may otherwise be removed from the work’s local context.
For a person like me, who grew up sheltered in condominium complexes not unlike those satirised in the show, Slanted Theatre’s production of Boom ultimately reminded me not only of how valuable people’s individual stories are to contextualising the spaces they occupy, but also how important it is for people’s stories to be platformed and visible in those spaces, in order to keep them alive. This production of Boom keeps the story alive.