Photo: Poh Yu Khing / Courtesy of The Finger Players

Dream of the Red Chamber
The Finger Players
20 June 2024
Drama Centre Black Box
20–23 June 2024

Chong Tze Chien’s adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber is nothing short of back-breaking. 

Apart from retelling the 18th century Chinese classic in English, and whittling the plot down to focus on a love triangle amidst the declining fortunes of a prominent family, the actors are bent double as they enter the performance space, and emerge from a lotus pond made out of organza lily pads when their characters make an entrance throughout the two-hour performance. 

But is all the back-breaking effort worth it?

Photo: Poh Yu Khing / Courtesy of The Finger Players

Like a visually arresting dream, it is amazing how much technical mastery is packed into a small space. 

The lotus pond (conceived by Chong Tze Chien and realised by Grace Lin) lends a surrealistic flavour, and all the actors shuffle around in that tight space, manipulating rod puppets (designed and created by Daniel Sim with assistance from Ling Jia Le and Shawn Kho Yzelman) for the minor characters or doing mask work for the major ones.

Projection of motifs on white cloths suggest the interior of the family mansion, while shaking of the white cloths with Ng Jing’s sound design of waves crashing and rocks crumbling bring out the gravity of the family’s decline. 

Max Tan’s costumes add riotous dashes of colours with an extravagant collage of styles. Think Chinese opera costumes, kamishimo triangle shoulders, poofy Carmen Miranda-esque sleeves, and European lace motifs and cravats. Despite the unlikely combination, they all seem to fit in this world alongside the white masks by Loo An Ni. 

Photo: Poh Yu Khing / Courtesy of The Finger Players

But like many dreams, there are some fuzzy elements one has to contend with. 

Playwright and director Chong Tze Chien was judicious in focusing on the love triangle of Jia Baoyu (Joshua Lim) and his cousins, Xue Baochai (Ellison Tan) and Lin Daiyu (Ashie Singh), which makes the plot easy to follow. However, some context is missing. 

Baoyu only made his choice after being chastised by his maid that being equally nice to everyone, and making them (including the maid) fall for him, is unfair to all parties involved. It is also unclear why he chose Daiyu over Baochai, and why Daiyu is so devoted to him to the extent of crying endlessly when he is unwell. 

This is best expressed by a fellow audience member wondering out loud to her friend after the show as to why Baoyu would “fall for a crybaby”, when there is a significance to Daiyu’s crying. 

The lack of sympathy one has for Baoyu makes the final ruse the family pulled on his wedding night, to secure the family’s financial future, less tragic than it should have been. 

Photo: Poh Yu Khing / Courtesy of The Finger Players

In terms of performance, all the lines are pre-recorded and the actors (Ashie Singh, Ellison Tan, Jamil Schulze, Joshua Lim, Tan Guo Lian Sutton, and Tan Wan Sze) move according to the cadence of lines. The coördination and timing are impeccable so much so that I took many double-takes throughout the show. 

That said, there does not seem to be a cohesive approach in the mask work or the way the lines are delivered in the recording. The choices made by the actors do not seem to be guided by the personalities or the type of character they are playing.

The movements of the actors while wearing masks range from bobbing one’s head to every single syllable (which was quite irritating after a while) to naturalistic movements. The intonation or accent of lines range from imperious to everyday Singaporean English. 

Thus, like a beautiful fuzzy dream, one is intrigued by the sights, but more needs to be done for us to—in the words of Chong Tze Chien—“contemplate the universal themes of love, loss, and the fleeting nature of life”.

Further Reading

Programme booklet of Dream of the Red Chamber by The Finger Players

Other Reviews

“Theatre review: Dream Of The Red Chamber re-enacts Chinese classic with masks and puppetry” by Clement Yong, The Straits Times Life! (Article is behind a paywall)

“The Finger Players’ Dream of the Red Chamber: The Love of Craft and the Craft of Love” by Ang Kia Yee, Popspoken

“Xu Caifang on “Dream Of The Red Chamber” by The Finger Players” by Xu Caifang, Critics Circle Blog