Four Horse Road
The Theatre Practice
12 April 2018
42, 48, and 54 Waterloo Street
4–28 April 2018
Ghosts in school hallways; a showdown at a Chinese restaurant; a drunk man believing himself to be Jesus; mutinous sepoys—these are some of the 11 stories regaled by The Theatre Practice about Waterloo Street and its immediate vicinity.
Performed in various nooks and crannies of Centre 42, Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore, and The Theatre Practice (situated at 42, 48, and 54 Waterloo Street respectively), Four Horse Road is playwright Jonathan Lim’s love letter to the area where he grew up, studied, and occasionally worked.
In these stories, Lim employs some artistic license in creating vignettes that are inspired by true stories and historical facts about the surrounding area.
With several groups of people walking around three relative small compounds, it is nothing short of a logistical marvel that I did not encounter human traffic problems or delays in the various performances.
The novelty of some of the lesser known stories is complemented by generally excellent performances of the cast (full cast list). Two standout performers are Andrew James Mowatt and Johnny Ng.
Mowatt plays Dr Van der Hoot, a teacher of Dutch descent who is staying at the Nantina Home for the Aged and Destitute, and Major Wortmann, an SS officer.
For the former, the audience enters the scene on the pretext of a monthly tea session and we are supposed to spend time with the residents. We are allowed to choose which resident to converse with based on how comfortable we are in the language the resident converses in. As Dr Van der Hoot, Mowatt exudes a friendly but slightly shifty demeanour, as we later find out that he had to leave Singapore due to a scandal with a student. Despite facing a generally reticent group of visitors, Mowatt keeps the conversation alive, interspersing some jokes with his scripted lines.
Where one really feels Mowatt’s presence is when he is the German officer, Major Wortmann. In the May Blossom restaurant (a lovely set-up done at the courtyard of Centre 42), Major Onishi (Johnny Ng) and Major Wortmann are important guests, given that their armies currently have the upperhand in the war. Wortmann is stony-faced and occasionally accepts the drink offered to him by a Japanese girl. Suddenly, his eyes flickers and he catches sight of me sitting at the opposite table. This compels me to immediately look away, not wanting to draw unnecessarily attention to myself, much less a Nazi officer.
Onishi soon enters, but the festivities do not last long. We soon learn that the restaurant has been infiltrated by the anti-Japanese resistance, and they soon ambush Onishi, pressuring him to release their leader, Lai Teck. Despite being surrounded, Johnny Ng as the Japanese officer exudes a certain knowing calmness that unsettles everyone. He plays with the intonation of his text, turning it into a veiled threat, thus ratcheting up the tension. This is an excellent display of an actor milking the text for all its worth.
On the whole, this scene tempo of this scene is taut and we soon find ourselves at the heart of the conflict. As an indication, I started flinching and preparing to cover my ears when the guns are pulled, thinking that the actors would fire blanks. It is only after leaving the scene that my scant military knowledge reminds me that authorities would never approve of actors firing blanks at such close range because there is still a high risk of severe injury. Such is the general immersive nature of the show.
Alas, there are some weakness. Rather than enumerate them, I will respond to Corrie Tan’s criticisms of the show as a starting point. After all, when the usually even-tempered Corrie Tan thoroughly excoriates a show, any local critic worth his or her salt must take notice.
To unjustly sum up her points: there is an imbalance of representation in terms of languages and characters; characters from minority races are often reduced to tropes; it sidesteps any political issues and generally perpetuates the myth that Singapore has successfully overcome the barriers of multicultural interaction.
Had this show meant to represent the history of Singapore rather than a neighbourhood, I would wholeheartedly agree with Tan’s critique.
First, Tan’s point about an imbalance of languages represented is heavily based on her and her friend’s experience. As such, I believe that she slightly overstates her case. Her sheer comfort with the languages is due to her linguistic talent.
It is important to note that the Southern Chinese languages are not completely mutually intelligible. Her point about the language composition of the show privileging the Chinese may apply to those of an older generation who are conversant in two Chinese languages, while having some knowledge of the others. However, being half a generation younger than Ms Tan, I do struggle with the Southern Chinese languages and have no idea what the character is saying, save for a few words.
That said, there is no reason for the convent school students to be conversing in Mandarin, as they worry about there being an Orang Minyak in the hallway. The milieu that they would have grown up in would mean that it is highly probable that they would be speaking in English. With this change, there will be three scenes that will be completely in English (assuming that you choose to speak to Irwan or Dr Van der Hoot when you visit the Nantina Home).
With regard to the imbalance of characters represented, that would depend on the availability of historical research on places such as the Bras Basah gaol. Even if there were lack of credible historical records, I agree with Tan that the non-Chinese characters are often linked to ghosts and other mystical exotica.
The criticism of the show’s reluctance to address political issues and perpetuating a myth of complete inter-racial social cohesion may be true, but is it a fair one? It is tough to decide.
For starters, despite the scale of the production, it has the modest aims of telling the audience lesser known stories about the place and impress upon them that our history is more colourful than we think. In the programme notes, director Kuo Jian Hong writes that the show “paints of colourful and complex tapestry [sic] of Singapore’s cultures, thus enriching our understanding of the past and allowing us to reflect on what it truly means to belong to a place.” Additionally, playwright Jonathan Lim implores his audience to “please, please remember [the stories].”
Hence, it is clear that the show is not focused on interrogating, as Tan puts it, “contemporary structures of race, ethnicity and language.” Besides, to do so, one need not focus extensively and exclusively on history as this show has done. Should a critic then criticise something that is not clearly within the aims of the production? Personally, I struggle with that question because saying that a show should stretch its ambitions beyond what it has presented can be a valid point.
Yet, one still can ask, what is the point of remembering these stories beyond personal edification? Why these particular stories? If remembering history is so important, why did the playwright blend fact and fiction in the various scenes? How does having a knowledge of history allow one to understand what it “truly means to belong to a place”, especially when there is a distinct disjuncture between the past and present in Singapore?
The show leaves those questions out. The closest thing to painting a complex history that the production achieves is a throwaway line by a Japanese Mamasan in a scene where a gaggle of prostitutes regale the events of the 1915 Sepoy mutiny in all its camp glory. It goes along the lines of let it be known that the Japanese and Singaporeans fought together to bring peace to the country—a weak attempt to address the perception of the Japanese are evil in the past due to its invasion of Singapore in WWII.
As quickly as that line is forgotten, it is likely that these stories will share the same fate. But this does not preclude a fun night out with the great cast of Four Horse Road.
Other Reviews
“Four Horse Road: A fun take on Waterloo Street’s history” by Benson Ang, The Straits Times Life!
“‘Four Horse Road’: buried histories and blind spots” by Corrie Tan, ArtsEquator
“Patchwork Histories“ by Jevon Chandra, Centre 42 Citizens’ Reviews
“Four Horse Road 四马路” by Teo Dawn
“Review: 四马路 Four Horse Road by The Theatre Practice” by Bak Chor Mee Boy
Isaac Tan 
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Thanks for the review, Isaac; and I’m glad you had a fun time walking with us on Waterloo. Just wanted to share my thoughts on some of the points you raised!
# you ask if knowledge of history can help us better understand what it means to belong in a place. It’s no guarantee, certainly. Belonging arises from so many factors, mostly existing in the present. But as each individual searches in the present for reasons to belong, perhaps the past offers some of us additional inducements. The foreign convict in Bras Basah gaol sought to belong here because he drew and built this city – but it was knowing the heart that beat behind those drawings that made the local boy feel closer to his birthplace.
But this boy is uncommon – that’s why I wrote a story about him. There are those who are vulnerable to history and let it weigh on them – and many many more folks who aren’t and don’t. For the latter, history may often only bring knowledge but not purpose/meaning.
But the souls behind this production, and many who watch, and the souls inside these stories – all are souls who do feel the pull of history, who hear the voices of the past and seek to connect with them. In this process, we all find ourselves a little more tangled up in this street, this place. Just as the erasure of history displaces people, the embracing of it can deepen our twisting roots.
# you mention and agree with Corrie’s point that the show is a) reluctant to address political issues and b) generally perpetuates the myth that Singapore has successfully overcome the barriers of multicultural interaction.
Re: a) A violent mutiny resulting from weak colonial leadership. Two foreign powers lording it over their newly-conquered natives while the socialist-inspired resistance plots their leader’s escape. Colonial powers put one colony’s hard laborers to work building another. Disenfranchised locals offer their lives to the colonial masters in a desperate act of appeasement. There is politics in some of the stories. But not too much – because we made room for religious difference, class divides, folk beliefs, mental health, the trauma and displacement of war, the unexpectedness of friendship, memory as ghost and ghost as memory, the coldness of institutionalized religion VS the true power of faith, the nature of sacrifice; and love in a time of war. So we had to let politics and race take their place among other important human themes.
Re: b) I wouldn’t say that. The Indian mutineers slay Chinese civilians. The Asian prostitutes mock the Europeans, and particularly resent the British. There is naive ignorance and unfriendly assumptions felt by the PRC worker toward the Indian temple volunteer, and the Chinese bus driver towards the Malay boy. The May Blossom restaurant is full of local races subjugated by the Japanese. Masako’s tale in Nantina is one of ostracism because of her Japanese-Chinese blood. The Catholic priest is insensitive to the Jewish faith. The list goes on. At heart, these stories are about people meeting over fences and across divides – trying to find some sort of connection despite the social gulf between them. The barriers have always been there – then and now- but this show allows the hope that some individuals can overcome it. All of Singapore is not our purview- this is storytelling, not national policy. These 10 tales cannot, will not, should not represent the whole of our history or be construed as a sweeping statement about our present – they are just 10 slices of possible pasts.
Dear Jonathan,
Thank you for your considered reply as it allows me to revisit the show and reflect on my experiences again. May I republish your comments as a blog post? I think it is a waste to leave it in the comments section and I appreciate artists responding to my efforts.