A Fun Frolic at Fort Canning
May 11th, 2009What do you get when you put together an old Shakespeare comedy, stars, crispy grass, fresh Subway meals and a boyfriend?
A romantic picnic at Fort Canning! 
The Boyfriend finished work earlier than me so he went first to grab a good spot while I reached at 7pm with Subway. Show starts in 30 mins. Well there’s a crowd but everyone was comfortably seated on their picnic mats. Realised there’s a lot of young couples around us. Haha. Yup there should be more of such events happening in Singapore since the government is encouraging people to be in love. SDU take note! J
Anyway I must say that we enjoyed ourselves because of the unique performance staged by the Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) as it was our first Shakespeare play infused with Peranakan culture, Gregorian Chants and Chinese music. At first, I felt that it was rather an odd mix then The Boyfriend thought that it is quite original, adding a Singapore-style rojak flavour to the show.
Fun frolic at Fort Canning!
Oh remember in my last post that mentioned what SRT promised?
Love, Laughter, Conspiracy and Drama? It’s true! They delivered!
Love
Romance was in the air especially when the play is going on with Singapore’s beautiful city skyline behind the woods and we can only hear the characters speaking amidst the bugs light chirping at the background. I couldn’t resist admiring the amorous setting and the fact that we made time for each other to enjoy a picnic after work.
Anyway a central theme to Much Ado about Nothing is love; Romantic love between dashing young officers and noble maidens, enduring family love between cousins and brotherly love which bind friendship. Nonetheless, we were particularly amused by the love-hate relationship between long time adversaries, Benedick (Adrian Pang) and Beatrice (Wendy Kweh) and the shallow love-at-first-sight for Claudio (Jason Chan) and Hero (Julie Wee). The stark exchange of mood between these two couples is ingeniously Shakespearean.
The colonial manor setting
Laughter
Needless to say, Adrian was hilarious! His expressions never failed to bring the audience to laughter. I must say that I was most engaged when he talks to himself as it appears that he is actually addressing the audience one-on-one. That’s a plus point of theatrics as the level of engagement between the audience and actors can be of a higher level as compared to watching a movie.
Adrian stars Benedick
Conspiracy
A Shakespeare piece will never be without conspiracy and I believe that is the very element that brings the play to life. There were evil and good conspiracies which bring depth to the performance. With an illegitimate brother plotting a scandalous clandestine while plans for a secret matchmaking were going on and a friar suggesting an unplanned death, we were entertained by the twists and turns wonderfully staged by the cast.
Drama
Last but not least, the real drama begun when Claudio refused to marry Hero on their wedding day. I feel that Claudio’s character is vital in unfolding the drama element of the play as he was entrusted with essential emo roles. Jason had to portray three major dispositions; a man smitten with love, betrayed and filled with remorse which enables the audience to track the progression of the story through his mood. Overall, it was a well done live performance by Jason although I almost choked with laughter when he “swooned” in despair after knowing that Hero was innocent. It was simply too dramatic for me to take it. Haha
Here’s an interesting interview with Adrian, Wendy and Jason by Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle about “love at first sight, conspiracy theories and packing the perfect picnic basket”.
Adrian, Wendy and Jason
Verdict: It was certainly a fun-filled frolic in the park. SRT rocks!
BTW here’s a synopsis of Much Ado about Nothing if you are interested to know more. 
