Not just for laughs

Now renamed the Singapore International Festival of Arts, the Singapore Arts Festival has moved from its habitual May-June slot to August-September. However, the Esplanade—Theatres on the Bay’s “Flipside”, which aims to present fringe-style performing arts – “the lighter sides of the arts”, as it calls them – as a complement to the festival has decided to remain in its late May-early June time slot so as to coincide with the school break.
    Thailand’s pantomime trio Babymime made their second trip to “Flipside” two weekends ago, performing three shows daily of their 30-minute skit “Thai boxing” at the outdoor theatre. With the bustling Marina Bay as the backdrop, getting the full attention of the audience wasn’t simple, and the three silent comedians evidently put in more energy than usual. It was only when they invited a young woman onstage and taught her a few Thai boxing moves that they managed to hook the audience. An indoors venue with less of an ambience would have suited them better, and considering their large repertory of works, any future trips to the Durian should be for a ticketed event.
    At the theatre studio, the junior company of Spain’s world famous 36-year-old comedic trio Tricicle, whose latest show “Clownic” was reviewed here last month, proved that they are more than the “second company” and deserving successors. Their 70-minute show “Ticket” showed not only what happened in the lobby and the auditorium of a cinema but also re-enacted scenes from a silent film, in which the coordination between the live performance and filmed acts was remarkably ingenious.
    With the help of a number of innovative hand and set props, a wide array of unpredictable jokes, including dirty ones, and a quick pace, the three Spaniards effortlessly took the audience on a wildly imaginative ride. From the first scene when they walked into the audience stand, checked our tickets and kicked out those who didn’t have one to hand, they connected with one another as well as with the spectators.
    Perhaps their only fault in the entire show came when a performer in one scene uttered the Chinese greeting “Nihao”, which I rarely hear in the island state where English is more widely spoken.
    Watching Babymime and Clownic back-to-back in one evening, I realised that comedy is not only the best remedy for stress but that, given the similarities between the Thai and Spanish comedians, it was a shame Spanish embassy here in Thailand could not take advantage of Clownic’s presence in the region to come up with a collaboration project. That programming would be a nice change from the usual flamenco show every September at the Thailand Cultural Centre. While many jokes are culturally specific, good comedy can transcend borders and boundaries and comedians can be good ambassadors too.

SG50 celebration continues
From tonight to Sunday, the Esplanade presents “Upstage” by Toy Factory Productions who will
 explore five decades of Singapore Mandarin theatre in the studio theatre.
From tomorrow to Sunday, “Baybeats”, Singapore’s very own annual
 alternative music festival, will rock audiences with various genres of music from pop, metal, post-rock to emo and electro. Find out more at www.Esplanade.com.