ARTivate // Theatre Practice & online screening // Singapore June - July 2021
A mother, a sister, and a friend go about their everyday living, but something feels off. Be it an extra ritual before a meal, or making sense of life in a virtual world, they each are trying to heal after the death of someone dear by suicide.
An unexpected relationship forms between an outsider and the mother-daughter dyad, setting them forth on a journey to confront what’s long been suppressed, learning what it means to grieve, and to face the baggage. They each have different struggles in coping with their loss, but they have to deal with the common narrative that society has prescribed them, with regards to how they should move on. While they find solace in each other’s company, some truths are bound to hurt, threatening their own beliefs about what they know about each other.
Is there really a space for them to grieve? What form does healing take? What does it ultimately take to heal?
Cast:
Mum - Loh Wan Qi
Rene - Vanessa Poh
Bernice - Teoh Jie Yu
A - Wun Yun Fang
B - Lim Ci Xuan
C- Lee Pei Qin
D - Wang Yingbei
Director - Koh Wan Ching
Assistant Director - Harini Damodaran
Playwright - Lee Pei Qin, Lim Ci Xuan, Teoh Jie Yu
Playwright Mentor - Jean Tay
Original Music and Sound Design - Vivian Wang
Sound Engineer & Operator - Joel Manual Fernandez
Lighting Designer - Huang Xiang Bin
Lighting Operator - Tan Yeow Seng
Set Maker - Han Xuemei
Video Recording Team - Eric Lee, Grace Baey
Producer - Wun Yun Fang
Assistant Producer - Loh Wan Qi, Vanessa Poh, Tay Jia Ying
Producing Mentor - Tay Jia Ying, Josephine Lee, Koh Hui Ling
Production Manager - Ng Siaw Hui
Stage Manager - Natalie Wong
Backstage Management - Artivate Team
Mercy Song
This song was written for a theatre production by Koh Wan Ching and Andrew Sutherland. 'a line could be crossed and you would slowly cease to be' is the title. In the play, a scene unfolds where Mazu the Sea Goddess, an Otter and a Baby Turtle dance an ode to the demise of Earth. I wanted to create the feeling of strength against inevitable decline, contrasting something wistful and fragile with what feels like a deep knowing and longing. As Andrew the playwright so beautifully wrote in the Prologue, "Everything between us matters. Even waiting around for the world to end matters."
It's a short song and I'm happy to have done it. Enjoy.
lyrics
I want to taste the fishes boilingWant to see the beaches drown
I want to feel the seashells breaking
Want to hear the palms come down
Show me mercy
Ocean, ocean
All is ocean
Mercy, mercy
Pastural green will be made water
Water is just shallow sky
Mountains buckle under torture
Big blue whales should learn to fly
Show me mercy
Ocean, ocean
All is ocean
Mercy, mercy
released January 20, 2021
Lyrics by Andrew Sutherland
Composed, performed and recorded by Vivian Wang
Mixed and mastered by Lasse Marhaug
Cover Photo by Rachel Lim Hue Li