2010

Poop!

Poop chronicles the aftermath of a suicide: A GRANDMOTHER bargains with divine powers to release her SON’S soul from hell. Failing which, she brings him home; she takes over the reins of bringing up her GRANDDAUGHTER, while keeping her DAUGHTER-IN-LAW at bay, saving the GRANDDAUGHTER all for herself   She tries to instill in her GRANDDAUGHTER that death is merely a joke, that there’s nothing to cry about as she takes her on a mind trip towards the underworld and purgatory — set against an all-too-familiar urban backdrop of fast food restaurants, underground trains, verdant pastures, and SBS buses. 

These personal fantasies of the afterlife are challenged however when her GRANDDAUGHTER contracts a terminal illness. 

The GRANDMOTHER fights with her DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, converses with the spirit of her SON, goes back in time, drinks a cup of Milo and watches her GRANDDAUGHTER take her final march towards her deathbed in a kind of apocalyptic graphic novel meets Victorian-era toy theatre.

The never-ending days of mourning are brought to lurid 3-dimensional, high-definition life as the agonizing wait for the ultimate redemption is an imprisonment in the realm between living and non-living on earth.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Playwright/Director: Chong Tze Chien
Production Designer: Oliver Chong
Lighting Designer: Lim Woan Wern
Sound Effects Designer: Darren Ng
Production Stage Manager: Joanna Goh
Assistant Stage Manager: Chia Hui Chew
Technical Assistant: Huang Xiangbin
Production Administrator: Natalie Chai 
Publicity Designer: Make 
Photo credits: Tucky’s Photography

Starring: Janice Koh, Jean Ng, Julius Foo, Neo Swee Lin, Ng Hui Bin

REVIEWS

“The play achieves emotional resonance not via a gritty realism but rather, a curious concoction of garish folk culture, everyday banality, and slick contemporary theatre wizardry.” 
 The Flying Inkpot

” “Poop” was quite simply a tour de force.” 
– Buttons In The Bread