The Weight of a tailor-made performance
Adrian Pang in Huzir Sulaiman's The Weight Of Silk On Skin. Photo: Tuckys Photography / Esplanade.
SINGAPORE — The decision to stage two consecutive monodramas — out of only five full productions — for The Esplanade’s special SG50 edition of the Studios series initially seems a curious one. But after last week’s Emily Of Emerald Hill, it becomes clear why Huzir Sulaiman’s The Weight Of Silk On Skin was next in line.
Exiting a crumbling mansion where a Peranakan matriarch regaled you with her life story fraught with drama, you enter the swanky condo of an equally privileged bachelor with his own drama-tinged tale — a kind of Emilio Of Bukit Timah, if you will, where in lieu of vivid descriptions of making buah keluak and sewing quilts, you had shoes and suits.
First performed by Ivan Heng at the Singapore Theatre Festival in 2011, it’s Adrian Pang’s turn to have a go at playing John, the eloquent, politically incorrect (sexist *and* racist) bloke who has got a 25-year-hang-up regarding Anna, the one that got away. In the inner sanctum of his swanky man cave, he contemplates his life and an opportunity to right some wrongs — he’s getting dressed for a charity event where he’s guaranteed to bump into her.
This is a role and a performance tailor-made for the brilliant Pang, who brings a kind of earthy, cocky aura that’s different from Heng’s more refined, classier interpretation. Here, John exhibits a greater degree of roughness, even as you sense the boy within. And the complexity mirrors an inner turmoil because ultimately, the possibility of reconciling with Anna stands for something bigger — a chance to finally grow up.
And it is this vulnerable transformation that proves so fascinating and moving — as he slowly puts on the very clothes that fuel his swagger, he ironically sheds his tough-guy posturing to reveal a man desperately in search of fulfillment.
I’ve already sung my praises regarding Huzir’s writing in the original staging, but hearing and watching it once more — with the composure and clarity that comes with, you know, not being blown away like the first time — it’s amazing how much still comes into sharp focus. The attention to detail, the wry humour, the precision of metaphors that sounds silly on paper. Shoes and suits as analogies of life and relationships? Sure. But love as explained via a compact disc’s “AAD” classification system? Or comparing spanking clean Singapore to clean-shaven nether regions?
As in Emily’s predicament in Emily Of Emerald Hill, John’s personal transformation takes place with a shifting milieu in the backdrop (and so highlights the piece’s layer of social allegory). In The Weight Of Silk On Skin, we are transported to the 1980s, most vividly in the messy New York of burgeoning rap and frequent muggings, where John studies and lets loose, before being sucked once more into the sterile surroundings of `90s Singapore. While this is most certainly a portrait of a comfortable bourgeois life, Pang’s performance gives it a depth and complexity that, for me, is necessary to evoke a degree of sympathy.
I can’t not end without mentioning director Tracie Pang for bringing all of this together — a team that comprises a fantastic actor, a fantastic script and a pretty outstanding group of designers (Lim Yu-Beng’s lighting in particular was moody, evocative and spot-on), into a self-contained world, whole, complete, a perfect fit for a classy, retro-SNAG black box experience.
The Weight Of Silk On Skin is sold out. For more details on The Studios’ other shows and dramatised readings at The Esplanade, visit http://www.thestudios.com.sg/
