Theatremakers’ swansong takes on censorship

What is the point of theatre? Is it to inspire and transport audiences or to reflect drab reality?

- Clement Yong

Or can it simply be the expression of artists possessed with something to say? Never mind the feelings of those who would read into it a hundred different criticisms, subtexts and sneaky meanings.

On the evidence of this phenomenal staging of A Mirror, British playwright Sam Holcroft’s censorship play, it can be all of the above. To watch it is to simultaneously be gripped by its invention and to feel a deep buzz in your bones, because of what it has to say about how plays are managed by those in power.

Director Tracie Pang highlighted Singapore’s continued vetting of all scripts performed here in an interview, and there is resonance in this fictionalised state that is sensitive about any form of bad representation.

The “wedding” to which the audience is invited is really an occasion for four actors to stage an illicit performance, away from the prying eyes of the authorities.