Review: Theatre Idols Semi-finals

I’ve been a fan of the work Action Theatre productions for a while now, especially since Hitting (on) Women, so when I received the publicity for THEATREiDOLS again this year, I was naturally excited. After all, Hitting (on) Women by Ovidia Yu was born out of THEATREiDOLS, and I was hoping something for a similarly wonderful experience. Of course, it helps that the dramatised readings are free, hence, extremely friendly to my student pocket.

Pirate wanted to go for both nights, and I decided to humour her even though they were on weeknights, this being her virgin Singapore theatre experience. We had a great time there, and before you ask, the finalists are Numb by Christine Sim, and Catching Adam Cheng by Jacke. All the plays were directed by our dear Loretta Chen, and the event was MCed by Annabelle Francis, who, in my opinion, did a really bad job, and traumatised Pirate forever with her high socks and stilleto open shoes.

So… on to the reviews:

Official synposis: Jacke Chye’s Catching Adam Cheng is a hilarious and heartwarming play about four elderly women who decide to run away from their nursing home to catch Adam Cheng’s concert!

My take: It IS as hilarious as it sounds. The actors were wonderful, especially, and tried their best to turn a script which could be a little draggy sometimes into a fun ride. It is at once both introspective and funny, and heartwarming, with well-developed, lovable, but sometimes rather predictable characters. The main character, Siew Lin, felt too much some kind of Martha Stewart, too perfect and too noble, with not a weakness except her fatal brain tumour. The play itself was just too damn long, highly reminiscent of Harry’s long traipse through the woods in Deathly Hallows, or Frodo’s extra-long journey across Middle Earth.