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SINGAPORE : Drop by Action Theatre's inaugural Makan Drama Festival and rest assured you'll drool over performances about Hokkien mee, prata, lor mee, mee sua, fishball noodles, oxtail soup ... but no chicken rice.
What? A food-themed theatre festival but no mention of Singapore's most beloved dish?
"Maybe next year," laughed Action Theatre's resident director Samantha Scott-Blackhall.
Still, there may be enough events at the festival, which starts Thursday and runs till March 28, to satiate even the most gluttonous theatre-goer.
The main ticketed performance is a double-bill featuring playwrights Desmond Sim's "Perfecting Prata" and Chong Tze Chien's "Cravings". The former is about a teenage boy who enlists the help of his father to make prata, while the latter is about a husband who imagines a romantic dinner with his wife, post-childbirth.
There will also be free outdoor performances each night, before and after the shows, including: Stand-up comedy show "I Want Nobody Nobody But Food" by Filomar Tariao; a performance poetry segment "Poetry in Action!" directed by Christina Sergeant; a devised play titled "Eat Hear or Ta Pao?"; and excerpts from a new musical based on Ovidia Yu's play "Hokkien Mee". There will also be talks and readings over the weekend.
The festival, said Scott-Blackhall, is somewhat like a "miniature version" of the past 42 Theatre Festival that Action Theatre organised in the early 2000s.
She added: "We've seen lots of plays about food but never really a sort of miniature festival. It's not about how to make or prepare food. The themes aren't food (per se). For example, "Cravings" is about marriage and "Perfecting Prata" is a metaphor of how to strike a balance in their lives."
"We hope it will be a recurring event, but perhaps as a biannual one. You can't eat lobster every day," quipped company artistic director Ekachai Uekrongtham, who reveals that future plans include a new play about "Singaporeans and Chinese New Year" and a restaging of "Manhood".
The in absentia director, who has been making films and recently directed a successful stage musical in Bangkok, also hinted that he may stage a comeback to our theatres.
"I do miss directing for theatre and am seriously looking at a piece with a view of directing it myself."
As for Makan Drama Festival, there's one more important question that food-theatre lovers need to know: Will eating inside the theatre be allowed.
"Officially cannot," came Uekrongtham's curt answer.
It seems theatre etiquette still trumps food in this festival.
- TODAY/ra
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