The Book of Living and Dying

A daughter faces her transvestite father’s impending death. However, her last lap with him does not come smoothly, as she unearths his suppressed secret which wreaks emotional hell on the parent-and-child relationship.

It is not the father’s penchant to cross dress that drives a wedge between the two — that is open knowledge. It is something else.

While the horrified daughter struggles with the emotions that run riot through her, her father, trying desperately to discern the meaning of life, is greeted by divine visions that connect him to the past.

During these moments, he realises that the kinship with his daughter was wrought not when he adopted her — but at the genesis of the universe.

They had spent numerous lifetimes together, not always as father and daughter, before settling on the tumultuous one they have today.

How many more hundreds, no, thousands of years more before the ties cease to exist?

Produced by The Finger Players (Singapore), in association with Teatri Sbagliati (Italy). Co-produced by Esplanade — Theatres on the Bay

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Produced by: Antonio Ianniello (Teatri Sbagliati) and Chong Tze Chien (The Finger Players)
Director/ Co-Playwright: Chong Tze Chien 
Actors/ Co-Playwrights: Antonio Ianniello, Nambi- E. Kelley, Oliver Chong
Actors and puppeteers: Ang Hui Bin, Ong Kian Sin, Tan Wan Sze
Lighting designer: Lim Woan Wen
Music Composer/Sound Artist: Darren Ng
Vocal Artist: Goh Renhui
Puppetry designers/ maker: Ang Hui Bin, Ong Kian Sin, Tan Beng Tian

Production Stage Manager: Joanna Goh
Assistant Stage Manager: Celyna He
Puppetry contractor: Rene Ong
Technical (Puppetry Lights) consultant: Lim Wei Ling
Surtitles Operator: Celestine Wong

REVIEWS

“The production design is masterful, and there is some truly beautiful work from lighting designer Lim Woan Wen and sound designer Darren Ng”
– The Straits Times

“…to watch the show for the second time… it was beautiful. Everything fell into place in a more well-equipped space and with the benefit of lying fallow.”
– Asiaone