TS1101E Performance Critique of Grandmother Tongue

https://www.wildrice.com.sg/productions/211-grandmother-tongue-2017

Performance critique of Grandmother Tongue

Voyeurism of mimetic acting was periodically interrupted by breaking the fourth wall, involving the audience by addressing them directly, and incorporating the audience into the set, such as by speaking to them as if they were students in school, which rendered the level of separation between the audience (by extension, real life) and the stage ambiguous, making it easier to empathise with characters. The expressionist mise-en-scene was manifested in the main prop: a realist table treading the line of surrealism by having half of it in a homogenous western style and the other half in a traditional domestic Singaporean style. Whilst translation above the actors was functional in informing the audience, it reduced focus on the actors' especially for audience members who did not understand either of the 3 languages spoken. 

Lighting subtly influenced atmosphere through changes in density, warmth and colour. Darkness, and its accompanying obscurity was consistent with Jalyn Han's (JH) portrayal of confusion, to incite similar feelings in the audience. The cold white light and harsher blue light coincided with scenes of tension and misunderstanding, juxtaposing comfort at home indicated by warm yellow light. Scenes might be said to be colour coded in this way, as red lighting becomes a motif of loss, especially during the fire and the 2 deaths. Both juxtaposed joss-stick scenes emphasize this through a visual comparison of the empty space previously taken up by the grandmother .

JH's portrayal of the grandmother effectively showcased the character's fragile and endearing nature. She audibly but softly dragged her feet as she walked across the stage, realistically embodying the stiffness of her character.  However, she appeared to have a mild limp which disappeared halfway through the show, breaking the illusion slightly as her characterisation was not entirely consistent. Her transition from movement around her grandson at the beginning contrasts her later physical stasis as she is forced to sit in a wheelchair or use a walking aid, reiterating the detrimental effects of aging on the body. Vocally,  a similar transition can be seen after her fall, in which her voice falters even when angrily reprimanding her grandson, reinforcing the idea of vulnerability in the elderly. Her inability to understand English generated comedy, however the laughter from the audience in later scenes prompted introspective reflection to question the purpose of laughing, in light of layers of hypocrisy and irony. One example of this is when she tells her grandson that she "watch[es] the actors move" on TV. Later, as theatricality is broken and she requests the subtitles to be turned off, those who do not understand Teochew in the audience are forced into her position as others laugh at her jokes. They too, are forced to literally "watch the actors move", making the sense of alienation she feels visceral to the audience. 

Tan Shou Chen's (TSC) clear diction and accent permeated all 3 versions of his character, believably rooting them together as a single character over the course of decades between schooling to working age. However, as he portrayed the schoolboy, his low speech broke the illusion of his being of schooling age, thereby rendering his characterization less effective than it could have been. The juxtaposition in his portrayal of the character before and after starting to work (as indicated by the shift to more formal clothing) is markedly successful in showing the changing dynamics between TSC's character and the grandmother. This was done using changes in body language, for example in the first scene as he came into the house, he immediately sits down to talk to his grandmother, whereas in the later scene, he is shown walking on and off stage repeatedly to escape his grandmother's questioning. His tone of speech also shifted from patient and understanding (as seen by slower and longer conversations) to dismissive and annoyed (shown through passive aggressive lines such as "How would I know?", and ignoring his grandmother's question of "Are you coming back for dinner?") These contrasts are indicative of the detrimental effects and tension a busier lifestyle can have on relationships in the family, exacerbated further by language - and by extension, cultural- gaps between individuals. 

Rei Poh (RP) was largely able to maintain the image of at least 6 characters, mainly with the aid of costumes, 1 main prop to distinguish himself( for example the cane as the discipline master and the stethoscope as the doctor) and altering his idiolect, allowing him to play them as exaggerated caricatures congruent with the Singapore context and made more comical by changes in his idiolect, such as by consistently adding "lah ah" at the end of the doctors lines, and adopting a Filipino accent as the nurse. The latter example has a particularly striking effect as it parallels the scene directly prior to the grandmother's fall, emphasizing the absurdity of a foreigner trying harder to understand JH's character than even a local (the MRT worker) or TSC's character (her family). This reinforces the betrayal JH's character feels upon being told that everyone in the family but her knew about her son's divorce, as it capitalizes on the sense of alienation and isolation felt even in intimate settings; a rift in relationships created by the unwillingness to translate or articulate ideas through another language and culture. However, this Filipino accent was relatively unconvincing during the performance, thereby taking away the severity of the very real problem JH's character was facing by trivialising and even parodying the speech of a foreigner. In another scene, the same use of manipulating idiolect has a contrasting effect in that it showcases the hypocrisy of the bureaucracy in Singapore. RP plays an emcee unable to annunciate the tones of mandarin to a government-sponsored event, wearing a shirt which ironically resembles a Chinese costume. This fuels the injustice felt at the loss of the Teochew language, and dialects in general, in favour of his portrayal of garbled and supposedly "more civilised" mandarin. 

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