Theatre review: Four Horse Road’s immersive stories of today’s Waterloo Street
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Four Horse Road by The Theatre Practice is an epic feat of walking theatre that spans two heritage buildings.
PHOTO: THE THEATRE PRACTICE
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Four Horse Road
The Theatre Practice
Friday, 8pm
Most people, when considering history, think of time, often forgetting that it is also about space.
Beyond grand narratives, what qualifies as history is also the embodied stories of particular localities.
These drive Four Horse Road, a walking play reoffered by multilingual theatre company The Theatre Practice, taking its title from the colloquial name (in Hokkien, si beh lor) of what is today Waterloo Street.
It is an apt choice of play name, for director Kuo Jian Hong is not concerned with the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, but local stories, for which this two-hour immersive experience serves as a bridgehead.
With a little imagination, audiences can feel the swell of history under their feet as they are presented with eight mini-plays that transport them back 100, sometimes 150, years.
Each is drawn from real occurrences in the Bras Basah area, in sites now occupied by Bugis Junction, Chijmes and Singapore Management University (SMU), among other landmarks.
Led through narrow alleyways from one story to the next between The Theatre Practice’s home at 54 Waterloo Street and theatre development space Centre 42 at 42 Waterloo Street, one has the impression of dipping in and out of these embellished happenings in the streets in which they once inhabited.
The illusion of a journey is itself a remarkable feat. With more than 150 audience members split into six groups that take different routes, Four Horse Road deserves applause simply for its intricate logistics.
But that is, of course, not all it has to offer, for the stories uncovered by playwright Jonathan Lim delight in their obscurity.
Unless a big historical nerd, one is unlikely to know that a 15-year-old boy once hijacked a bus for a joyride in 1978 close to where SMU now stands – a scene recreated with 14 actual bus seats.
Gripping crime drama is also made of the mysterious death of Singapore Labour Party founder Victor J. Mendis’ horse groom.
Found dead in the front seat of Mr Mendis’ car at the junction of Bras Basah Road and Bencoolen Street in 1948, the Malay syce’s demise was ruled a natural death, yet Kuo and Lim have not shied away from giving the tragedy a salacious undertone.
The post-mortem is creatively played out in two interrogation rooms occupied by separate groups of audience members, who are able to only glean vaguely what is happening out of view from the ruckus they hear.
There is also, understandably for a history play, quite a lot of Japanese content, the period of World War II having been a rich mining ground for theatremakers keen to delve into the moral greyness that war presents.
A set piece involving a Japanese major and a Nazi officer culminates in one of the most immersive and exciting scenes, as the audience is invited to join a banquet.
A set piece involving a Japanese major and a Nazi officer culminates in one of the most immersive and exciting scenes, as the audience is invited to join a banquet.
PHOTO: THE THEATRE PRACTICE
The same can be said for another standout piece of horror chamber theatre involving two CHIJ girls who stay late in the school’s art room, an homage to the literal ghosts of the past.
A fair warning here, though, that this is a multilingual play without surtitles – as befits the historical milieu – and those not fluent in Mandarin and Hokkien might find some scenes hard to follow.
With so many scenes and so little time, it is a whirlwind of a tour through history and one might find certain stories too shallow, creating drama without necessarily having enough to say.
Audiences can feel the swell of history under their feet as they are presented with eight mini-plays that transport them back 100, sometimes 150, years.
PHOTO: THE THEATRE PRACTICE
Yet, for those without patience for a five-hour history play like Wild Rice’s recent Hotel, this is bound to be a quick and mostly intriguing exercise in theatrical archaeology and placemaking.
The fire on its premises that caused a crisis for The Theatre Practice
Waterloo Street is all the richer for Four Horse Road’s successful staging.
Book It/Four Horse Road
Where: The Theatre Practice, 54 Waterloo Street
When: Till Sept 3, Tuesdays to Sundays, 8pm
Admission: $75 (Tuesdays to Thursdays; Sundays) or $85 (Fridays and Saturdays), excluding booking fees
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