剧评：四马路
重建丰富多元的新加坡历史——观《四马路》
文/张棋汶
五年前有幸加入「剧读」团队开始撰写剧评，评的第一部剧就是实践剧场在2018年首演的《四马路》。这次重回滑铁卢街时，还依稀记得当时剧中所呈现的一些故事，一开始有点担心这次无法以新的“视角”来看戏。但演出开始后，当我再次穿梭于四马路的街道与建筑时，便发觉这些顾虑是多余的。正因为《四马路》作为流动剧场的特殊性质，以及每组观众会被分配前往不同路线的精心安排，让两次观看这部剧的体验都充满了惊喜与期待。
再现被官方历史遗忘的记忆
《四马路》以流动剧场的形式，带领观众走进四马路的世界，呈现的是10个曾在四马路周围发生的故事、历史事件和都市传说。在登记入场后，工作人员就将不同颜色的小包包分发给观众，每个颜色都有专属的叙事路线，而叙事的内容和先后顺序的不同，便决定了观众当晚所得到的体验。
在处理这些跟四马路有关的历史故事时，《四马路》选择以小人物的视角进行叙事，通过多语形式，呈现的也大多是鲜为人知的小故事。比起国家官方叙事的统一性和单一性，这样的叙事方式再现了那些被大历史所遗忘的个人与地方记忆，也体现出了新加坡过去的多元面貌。
从演出名称《四马路》来看，编剧舍弃了由殖民政府命名的“滑铁卢街 / Waterloo Street”，而是以坊间俗称的“四马路”（也采用了英文直译 “Four Horse Road”）为剧名，或许也是一种抵御国家叙事、殖民主义的方式，同时也赋予了《四马路》里的故事和人物发声权，让这些小人物的声音和民间记忆来说故事。以“囚犯与男生”的那场戏为例，观众通过印度籍囚犯与华族男生的日常交流和对话，无需复杂的布景和道具，便仿佛回到了19世纪殖民时期的新加坡。
在历史与现实中建构集体记忆
《四马路》也具有特定场域演出的特性，通过挖掘四马路周围的相关资料，在四马路街道上演现实历史中发生过的事件。不知是否为执行上的挑战，演出空间并没有横跨到滑铁卢以外的其他街道，少了这些“真实空间”，难免些许影响了演出的“沉浸感”，也让人觉得故事有些零散。但制作团队借由引路人的角色，引导观众漫游于实践剧场与毗邻的C42两栋建筑，由里到外大大小小的办公和排练空间，化身为各场景的舞台，也给观众创造了一种身临其境的观戏体验。
剧中，观众时而是坐在一角聆听故事的旁观者，时而则是历史事件的参与者，让观众有机会重新发现和反思新加坡的历史。在“五月花酒楼”的那场戏中，进入角色后的演员就跟在我身旁一起走进酒楼的场景，然后也同我们一起喝茶聊天。这里，观众不仅成了剧本里的人物，也成为了这个历史中的见证者和参与者，一起建构出了集体记忆。
历史可能是过去式，但《四马路》从2018年首演至今，经历了不少挑战与契机，也正在创造很多新的历史篇章。2020年的公演因疫情而中断，去年才恢复实体演出，这次却遭遇了首演前一周的火患......《四马路》能够突破重围顺利开演，体现了实践剧场想要呈现好戏给观众的决心与诚意。
想起在等待演出开始要前，看到挂在剧场外的横幅，实践剧场特别感谢了在火患中拔刀相助的群体。看着一长串的个人、艺术团体和企业对实践剧场和本地剧场的支持，不禁令人感动。《四马路》这部剧打破了空间、时间和语言的疆界，剧外实践剧场也突破了种种不可控的外在挑战。或许呈现《四马路》这部剧的意义，是要让我们在瞬息万变的现实环境与社会挑战中，学习怎样看待历史，接着再一起创造新的历史篇章。
关于演出：2023年8月4日，8PM，滑铁卢街/四马路，实践剧场呈现
演出详情：https://www.practice.org.sg/productions/four-horse-road
Assistant Directors: Ang Xiao Ting, Isabella Chiam
Playwright: Jonathan Lim
Cast:
Al-Matin Yatim, Andrew J Mowatt, Ang Xiao Ting, Benjamin Koh, Cheryl Tan Yun Xin, CHIA, Ebi Shankara, Elisha Beston, Ella Wee, Elle Cheng Li Ling, Hang Qian Chou, Isabella Chiam, Izzul Irfan, Jodi Chan, Joel Tan, Justin Lee, Lynn Chia, Mandy Neo, Meryllyn-Faith Tan, Ng Mun Poh, Niklaus Chia, R Chandran, Seah Janice, Sonya Wong, Wendy Toh, Yeo Lyle
Set Designer: Szu-Feng Chen
Props Designer: Chan Lee Lee
Lighting/Projection Designer: Genevieve Peck
Sound Designer: Sandra Tay
Music Composer & Arranger: August Lum
Costume Designer: MAX.TAN
Hair Designer: Ashley Lim
Make-Up Designer: Bobbie Ng from The Make Up Room
Accent Coach: Petrina Kow
EDIT&PLAY | Prologue Video Production Team
Reconstructing the Rich and Diverse History of Singapore — Reviewing “Four Horse Road”
Reviewer / Teo Qi Wen
Five years ago, I was fortunate enough to join “the.preter”, hence starting my journey in writing theatre reviews. The first play I reviewed then was Theatre Practice's “Four Horse Road”, which premiered in 2018. This year, as I returned to Waterloo Street, I still vaguely remembered some of the stories presented in the play, and at first I was a little worried that I would not be able to watch from a new perspective in this re-run. But once the show started, as I travelled through the streets and buildings of “Si Beh Lor” (Note: the colloquial name for Waterloo Street) again, I realised that my initial concerns were unwarranted. Because of its unique feature of a “mobile theatre”, and the careful arrangement of assigning each group of audiences to a different route, the experience was still filled with surprises and suspenses.
Recreating Memories Forgotten by Official History
As a mobile theatre, “Four Horse Road” transported the audience into the world of Waterloo Streets— presenting 10 stories, historical events and urban legends that have taken place around the area. Upon registration, crew members will distribute different coloured bags to the audience, each colour representing different route with different stories, so that depending on the content and sequence of the narratives, the audiences will have different theatrical experiences on the same night.
In dealing with the history of “Si Beh Lor”, “Four Horse Road” chose narratives from the perspective of underdogs, and presented lesser-known short historic events through a multilingual approach. Compared to the uniformity and homogenised nature of the official national narrative, choosing these narrative recreates personal and local memories that have been forgotten by the larger history, thus piecing together the diverse facets of Singapore's past.
In terms of the title of the show, the playwright abandoned the colonial government's naming of “Waterloo Street”, and instead adopted the colloquial name “Si Beh Lor" (choosing also to use the direct translation "Four Horse Road” as its English name). This choice of the title is perhaps a way of resisting the official narrative— and the narrative of the colonial powers— hence giving voice to the people of Si Beh Lor, using the voices of the underdogs and folk memories as the main narrative. In the scene "The Prisoner and the Boys", for example, through the daily exchanges and dialogues between the Indian prisoner and the Chinese boy, audiences were transported back to 19th-century colonial Singapore without the need for complicated sets and props.
Constructing Collective Memory in History and in Reality
“Four Horse Road” is also a site-specific performance: by excavating relevant research of Si Beh Lor, those historical events were staged on the streets of Si Beh Lor itself. However, perhaps due to execution challenges, the performance space did not span to other spaces beyond Si Beh Lor, and these lack of "real spaces" inevitably affected the “immersion" aspect of the performance, and the stories hence felt fragmented. The production team took on the role of a “guide”, facilitating audiences to roam around The Theatre Practice building and its adjacent Centre 42 building. The big and small offices and the various rehearsal spaces within and outside of the two buildings were transformed into different stages for various scenes, creating an immersed sense for the audience.
At times, the audience was a spectator sitting in a corner listening to the story; at other times, the audience was a participant of the historical event. These different treatments gave audiences the opportunity to rediscover and reflect on Singapore's history. In the scene of the “Mayflower Restaurant”, one character followed me into the restaurant, and then joined us for a cup of tea and a chat. Thus the audience not only became characters in the script, but also acted as witnesses and participants in history itself, constructing a collective memory together with the creative team.
History may be a thing of the past, and even though “Four Horse Road” experienced many challenges and opportunities since its premiere in 2018, it is still creating many new chapters. The 2020 reiteration was castrated by a pandemic, and when theatre performances resumed last year, the production suffered from a fire outbreak in the theatre space just a week before its premiere ... The fact that “Four Horse Road” was able to overcome obstacles and opened its show successfully fully demonstrates the commitment and sincerity of The Theatre Practice in their hope to present good quality works to its audiences.
I remembered there was a sign hung outside of the theatre company, and on the sign, special thanks were given to groups of people who came to aid after the fire outbreak. It is heartwarming seeing the long list of individuals, arts organisations and businesses that supported The Practice Theatre and local theatre. As “Four Horse Road” broke down boundaries of space, time and language, outside of “Four Horse Road”, The Theatre Practice prevailed over uncontrollable external challenges, too. Perhaps the point of presenting “Four Horse Road” is to allow us to learn how to look at history in the midst of changing realities and social challenges, and how then to create a new chapters of history— together.
Performance watched: 4th August 2023, 8PM, Waterloo Street/Si Beh Lor, presented by The Theatre Practice
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