This zany musical revue will have you in stitches
By Mellissa Ang, photos courtesy of Sight Lines Productions
Set in the former Parliamentary Debating Chamber Trainstopping: The Year in Revue 2011 brings tongue-in-cheek skits, songs and dances to a venue previously used for national policy-making.
Promising to shed new light on the highlights of 2011 in Singapore, Trainstopping pulled out all the stops with a musical revue featuring experienced performers Darius Tan, Celine Rosa Tan and Siti Khalijah.
As the light dimmed in The Art House’s Chamber venue, the all-too-familiar SMRT announcements in Singapore’s four main languages, were comically read out, which immediately tickled the audience.
Throughout the production, the three-strong cast of Trainstopping, comprising Darius Tan, Celine Rosa Tan and Siti Khalijah, played multiple personas including SMRT personnel.
The trio re-enacted the train breakdown incidents from the perspective of this neglected and largely misunderstood group of employees.
From being literally thrown into the dark to deal with irritated commuters during train blackouts to learning proper pronunciation for words like Kembangan (apparently pronounced Kemb-bang-gang) from workshops like ‘Ways to Service 101’, Trainstopping sympathises with the SMRT employees through good-natured humour.
Besides the SMRT breakdowns, Trainstopping prodded other hot-button issues like the flash floods along Orchard Road.
When reconstructing scenes before the flash floods, the cast adopted uniquely Singaporean traits to portray the reactions of Starbucks, Wendy’s and Espirit shop owners as well as their consumers.
Fashion retailer Abercrombie and Fitch also got their share of limelight, parodied in the opening of Apple Crumble & Fish (go figure!)
As the audience of Trainstopping was ushered out of The Art House’s Chamber in a manner so orderly it looked fit to be an exemplar for future train blackouts, one can’t help but wonder if the Universal Studios Singapore ride ‘Mass Rapid Transit: The Ultimate Escape’ the cast brought up earlier was a realistic possibility..
Trainstopping: The Year In Revue 2011 runs from 26th April – 3rd May at Chamber @ The Arts House. Tickets at $48 from www.bytes.sg. For more information, visit Sight Lines Productions on Facebook.
