Meenah and Cheenah are back and as riotous as ever

Encore: The Straits Times' weekly review feature chronicles how Singapore's performing arts scene edges its way back to recovery in the wake of Covid-19 restrictions

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THEATRE

MEENAH AND CHEENAH 2GETHER GATHER

It has been three years since comedy duo Siti Khalijah Zainal and Judee Tan appeared onstage as their popular personas Meenah and Cheenah, and their reunion is a hoot.

The show, conceived in 2016, gained plaudits for its savvy skewering of racial stereotypes and earned Tan a Straits Times Life Theatre Awards Best Actress nomination.

Back in its third iteration, it is once more directed by Selena Tan, with fresh material from a writing team comprising Alfian Sa'at, Rishi Budhrani and Jo Tan.

It has been updated to take in the pandemic years, opening with Meenah and Cheenah having pivoted to food delivery.

The jokes are big and bold. In one of the best skits of the evening, Siti plays Singapore's first non-Chinese prime minister and delivers some audaciously hilarious quips with aplomb.

The two have retained their electric stage camaraderie, which is especially vivid in a triptych of skits that charts their characters' 70-year friendship from kindergarten to old age in a drone-filled futuristic Singapore, including a nostalgic throwback to a 1999 secondary school graduation.

Both keep the audience in stitches during their solo sketches: Tan as a mini-skirted shill of "get rich quick" webinars and Siti as a property agent who raps to Cardi B's WAP. They also show off their moves in a fun series of TikTok dance sequences.

Not all the jokes land. A skit set in a crematorium meanders and another climaxes in a groan-inducing pun.

Still, if you are looking for some comedy to ring in the relaxed Covid-19 measures, this uproarious show that celebrates cultural differences rather than tiptoeing around them is just the ticket.