Foreign Bodies (Advisory 16)

The Birds Migrant Theatre
Esplanade Annexe Studio

Sunday, 2pm

Foreign Bodies is a well-told story that dramatises the legal precarity migrant workers may face in Singapore. It does so without resorting to mere sympathy or an easy us-versus-them set-up, choosing instead to let audiences into its protagonists’ dilemmas.

A transgressive love story takes centre stage on a spare and functional set. Arif (A.K. Zilani) and Ani (Deni Apriyani) are two sweethearts until Ani’s unplanned pregnancy forces her to confront the legal obstacles she has to overcome to keep her baby or stay in Singapore.

“We’re like criminals, babe,” Arif says to Ani in a sharp line that cuts to the play’s core. 

But things get worse for Ani when Arif reveals that he is party to an arranged marriage back in Bangladesh and does not intend to disappoint his mother.

One of the most successful elements that co-directors Serena Ho and Haresh Sharma introduce is a four-person chorus which functions as a foil to voice the two protagonists’ dilemmas. The chorus consists of two of Arif’s migrant friends, Sajib (played by Fahim Murshed) and Ira (Wiwi Tri). Ani’s friend Riri (Sukempi Widya Hastuti) and Ani’s employer Joanne (Grace Kalai) make up the quartet.

Although both Sajib and Riri talk about their casual flings and sexual affairs as ways to stave off the boredom in Singapore, it is the man – Sajib – who urges his lovesick friend Arif to shirk his responsibilities by dumping Ani. The women, Riri and Ira, show more empathy for Ani.

In these moments, although both Arif and Ani are undeniably victims of the system, the script is attentive to how gender places Ani at a further disadvantage. Throughout the play, she worries about her pregnancy being found out by the Ministry of Manpower in a routine medical screening or if she chooses to have an abortion. 

The chorus – which is not a united voice but a medley of conflicting opinions – is also employed to rehearse scenarios for Arif and Ani, playing out the anxieties of the couple for the audience.

One of the most touching moments occurs when the chorus rehearses two scenarios for if Ani returns to her home town in Indonesia and has to face her mother.

Rina Hakim plays a versatile Ibu who is able to embody unconditional love for her daughter in one scenario – dismissed as an unrealistic one by Sajib – and switch deftly to another version of a mother who flies into a rage and sends Ani off to stop tongues from wagging. 

The chorus watches Ani and Arif’s love story and legal drama play out and intervenes, giving at least this Singaporean reviewer a glimpse into the limited moves for this couple.

Joanne, instead of a self-interested employer, looks out for Ani. When asked by Riri at one point about her kindness, Joanne reveals that she and her husband have been trying for children but cannot conceive. 

While this brief moment contained the potential to draw out a genuine relationship between the two, it ended up a throwaway line that did little to establish a convincing connection between one who is protected by the law and another who is not. 

Company members must also be commended for a largely smooth performance with only a few hiccups – as when an early intimate scene between the couple gave off more silence than sexy. Foreign Bodies was, after all, workshopped and rehearsed on the performers’ only day off on Sundays. 

In the local English-language-dominated theatre scene, there are few companies which can put out a multilingual performance that includes Bengali and Bahasa Indonesia.

Foreign Bodies shows that drama, too, can be a platform for working-class stories beyond the theatre’s usual middle-class concerns. The material conditions that The Birds Migrant Theatre works within might not have afforded a big budget set or faultless acting, but that is hardly the point. It brought a sincere story that had the local audience – including a young, schooling crowd – sitting up and listening.