SIFA 2017 :: 'Dragonflies' by Pangdemonium

Commissioned by Singapore Festival of the Arts (SIFA), 'Dragonflies' is a new work written by Stephanie Street and staged by Pangdemonium. So after 'Tango', it's the second original work staged by Pangdemonium. Very nice.

Luckily the ushers warned us that the play was slated to zoom through its two hours and ten minutes with no intermission. This was in spite of the stated '15-minute intermission' printed in the festival program booklet + the updated version, and on SISTIC's website. It was an important warning. Gotta consider my bladder, you see.

Adrian Pang plays protagonist Leslie Chen who was forced to be a global nomad since his adopted country England (post-Brexit) threw him out, and his home and rather-xenophobic Singapore refused to acknowledge his legally-adopted-in-England daughter Maxine Wilson, played by Selma Alkaff. Tan Kheng Hua played Annabel Chen, Leslie's sister. The siblings' mother Margaret Chen is portrayed by Fanny Kee. We see Thomas Pang, Frances Lee, Daniel Jenkins, Victoria Mintey and Shrey Bhargava too. Acting is excellent, of course. The play began in the year 2021 in England then Singapore, where the characters' lives began to unravel from both politics (Brexit and climate change, anti-immigration sentiments and policies), and personal losses of wife and mother, and perhaps an estranged relationship between brother and sister. we followed the characters to 2023 in East Kolkata in India, where they built new lives for themselves.

I was left rather bemused after the show. Too many themes within two hours and ten minutes without pause. What am I supposed to latch on to? What's up with the lengthy lines on climate change? The audience definitely got it, both on a macro and personal level. Yeah, I get it, and I get why the play is written as such. BUT. There was just too much going on. It was literally rammed down our throats. Towards the end, it felt a little rushed. imho, three scenes could have been omitted. The pacing left loads to be desired, and it could have been neater. There, I said it. It's a great effort though, and overall, it's definitely a play of our times.