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