Transplant
The Finger Players x Rudra
Singtel Waterfront Theatre
Feb 23, 8pm
Ending the Chinese New Year season with a darker story, local puppetry theatre company The Finger Players (TFP) watches the breakdown of a family as their demons reveal the worst of their human nature. Performed in Mandarin, the play is part of Esplanade’s Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts.
The Wang family comprises father Tai Yuan (Alvin Chiam), mother Jiang Cheng (Jo Kwek), son Yuan Feng (Neo Hai Bin) and the unnamed grandmother (voiced by Myra Loke).
Jiang Cheng, furious with her husband’s alleged infidelity three years prior, inflicts a harsh coldness towards him. Adamant that he has done nothing wrong, Tai Yuan’s pleas are nothing short of pitiful yet lacking in remorse.
Brought into the family as a maid is Ah Xiu (Ellison Tan), whose seduction of father and son begin immediately. Animosity between the grandmother and Jiang Cheng is furthered by Ah Xiu, who situates herself as a replacement wife in the family.
Tensions increase when the grandmother chastises Tai Yuan for his affair with the maid, whom she also despises and calls a demon.
Blissfully unaware is Yuan Feng, whose academic prowess leaves much to be desired by his parents. Falling in love easily with Ah Xiu, his blindness to the ongoings in his family skims the surface of the deeper philosophical question about whether he was happier when ignorant and free from the pain of learning the truth.
Demons played by Myra Loke, Angelina Chandra and Vanessa Toh are an oddly endearing trio, if one can call unnerving gazes and wide smiles adorable while they prance around the stage and cause chaos.
Playwright and director Oliver Chong, also TFP’s artistic director, was inspired by the Chinese anthology of horror parables Liaozhai. Elements from this play may also be familiar to those who watched Parting (2023), the second story in TFP’s triple bill The Puppets Are Alright.
Live music performed by home-grown Vedic metal band Rudra’s co-founder, bassist and vocalist Kathir, guitarists Vinod and Devan and drummer Shiva creates not only a haunted and tense atmosphere, but also perfectly encapsulates the family dynamics.
Featuring three languages – English, Mandarin and Sanskrit – the music is a tonal enhancement of the unsettling story as the family is further divided by their own hatred and ignorance. More impressive is that Rudra wrote and sang in Mandarin, a language learnt for the show, in order to match the Mandarin script.
Surtitles are available on screens for those who may not be as familiar with Mandarin or have a harder time catching the meanings of several flowery Chinese sayings within the script.
Drawing from the tales of The Painted Skin, Judge Lu, Xiao Cui, Ah Xiu, The Black Ghosts, Ying Ning and Jiang Cheng from within Liaozhai, Transplant is unafraid to make audiences squirm with its exploration of human desire, greed, promiscuity and hatred.
Reactions to allusions of inappropriate sexual acts towards the grandmother were audible during the performance. While leaving the theatre, a woman was heard exclaiming to her friend, “You know what shocked me the most? The scene with the Ah Ma!”
While certain themes may be uncomfortable for younger audiences, the script and acting certainly leave a lasting impression and plenty of food for thought.
