剧评：Make Hantus Great Again
观《让鬼魅再次伟大》“Make Hantus Great Again”
文/ 杨洤斌
打从养成进入剧场看戏的习惯以来，我承认，较常支持的剧作都是出自以英语或华语为主要创作语言的剧团。这回确实是第一次观赏由本地马来剧团呈现的作品。坐在席位上等开演的过程，我也质问自己：为何如此？是该剧团的产量不足，无法让我有机会提高支持度？还是因为我个人平时与少数族群的有限接触，从而对非英语/华语的戏剧产生了莫名的偏见？有趣的是，开演后的90分钟便凑巧地提供我检视这一疑问的机会。
视野剧团（Teater Ekamatra）呈现政治讽刺喜剧《让鬼魅再次伟大》（ “Make Hantus Great Again”），再现的是一场发生于灵异界的政治选举，除了尝试道出民主进程背后的复杂性，更反讽地显露出让人不寒而栗的丑陋人性。
观众也许以为，以政治为主题的话剧是沉重乏味的，不过该作品却能让大家在轻松逗趣的氛围内，简易地吸收明白故事的寓意。导演 Rizman Putra 的执导，再加上演员们的滑稽表演，将整出喜剧的灵魂诠释得非常到位，观众们接连不断的笑声，即是最好的证明。
鲜明突出的人物塑造也是一大辅助，尤其是4位参选人：不仅隐喻4种不同意识形态，各自的性格，也似乎以现实生活中的不少真实政治人物为依据拼凑而成。如此设计让观众能够将更多精力专注于更重要的人物对话。因为台词在推展剧情的同时，更是在间接尝试剖析不同意识形态的利与弊，带动观众思考这场选举到底能如何直接影响所有选民。
编剧 Suffian Hakim 除了通过民俗传说中的魑魅魍魉来谈政治，他也把压抑在世世代代新加坡人心中，以及困扰着新加坡种族和谐的无形禁忌带入有形世界，迫使观众审视。剧本内容的大多素材，确实是以岛国社会里平日不敢说出口的诸多针对各别族群的刻板印象为基础综合而成。英文有谚语说“每则笑话背后带有一定的事实和道理”（There’s a grain of truth in every joke），观看演出时不免让人怀疑大家的笑声中掩盖的又是怎样的情绪？是尴尬不安？还是痛快认同？因人而异的同时也耐人寻味，要让观众于幽默之中保持批判性的反思能力，确实考验整个团队如何拿捏。
不过这样也好，让如我一般平时少与其他族群同胞们互动的观众有机会打破习惯，在剧场看戏的这短暂时空里，放胆通过其他族群同胞的透镜重新看待熟悉的岛国课题。或许在这一零负担的思考过程中，新加坡人更能看清楚新加坡社会结构里的吊诡之处，从而找到向前迈进的新契机。
关于演出：2022年10月29日，3PM，The Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre @ Wild Rice, Funan，Teater Ekamatra 呈现
Written by Suffian Hakim
Directed by Rizman Putra
Starring Azizul ‘Izzy’ Mahathir, Farah Lola, Hafidz Rahman, Jamil Schulze, Munah Bagharib, Neo Hai Bin, and Norisham Osman
Set design by Allister Towndrow
Lighting design by Ian Pereira
Sound design by Safuan Johari
Graphic design by Akbar Syadiq
***
WATCHING “MAKE HANTUS GREAT AGAIN”
Theatre review by Yeo Quan Bin
Translated from Chinese to English by Neo Hai Bin
Ever since I started watching theater plays, I must admit that the plays I support, more often than not, are mostly works from theatre companies that use English or Chinese as their main language medium. This was indeed my first time watching a work presented by a local Malay theatre company. As I sat in the audience seat, waiting for the play to begin, I also questioned myself: Why is this so? Is the theatre company not producing enough shows, and hence I have lesser chance to support their works? Or was it because of my limited contact with minority groups, which actually fed my inexplicable prejudice against non-English/ non-Mandarin dramas? Interestingly, this 90 minutes play happened to gift me the opportunity to examine this question.
Teater Ekamatra’s presentation of the political satire "Make Hantus Great Again" depicted a political election that took place in the spiritual world. As the play exposed the complexities of a democratic process, it also laid bare the ironic ugliness of human nature that made one shudder.
The audience may think that plays with political themes are usually grave and boring, but this performance allows the audience to effortlessly take in and understand the moral message of the story through a fun and interesting manner. Director Rizman Putra's direction, coupled with the actors' burlesque performances, fully encapsulated the soul of comedy— the continuous laughter from the audience throughout the play is the best proof of it.
The distinctive and prominent characterizations made the play all the more flavourful, especially the four candidates who were running for election: not only do they served as metaphors for four different types of political ideologies, but their respective personalities also seemed to be based on real political figures in our world. Such theatrical device allowed more emphasis on the dialogues from the more important characters— as the dialogues pushed and advanced the plot, they also allow space for analysis of the pros and cons of different political ideologies, hence pushing the audiences to think about the many ways that elections can affect voters.
Playwright Suffian Hakim not only discussed politics through the enactment of devils and ghosts from our folklore, but also brought to light what have been suppressed in the hearts of Singaporeans for generations, as well as those invisible taboos that have plagued Singapore’s racial cohesion, impelling the audience to scrutinise them.
Most of the materials in the script was built on the synthesis of many stereotypes against the different racial groups, which are actually stereotypes that everyone knows but dare not expressed. An English proverb claimed, "There's a grain of truth in every joke". When watching this performance, one can't help but wonder what kind of emotions the audience were experiencing, and if they were masking those feelings with laughter? Was it laughter to hide embarrassment? Was it laughter of hearty agreement? It may differ with every individuals, and hence also extremely intriguing.
The art of balancing critical reflection with humour was a test to the creative team. But this works well for audiences like me who seldom interact with compatriots from other racial groups, and in the short time of watching a play in the theater space, we were given the opportunity to break habits and boldly re-examine familiar social issues through the lens of other racial groups. Perhaps, without any burden and pressure, Singaporeans can have a chance to undergo a reflection process, and see clearly the strange and paradoxical nature that exist in Singapore's social structure, and thus find new ways of moving forward.
Performance watched: 29th October 2022, 3pm at The Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre @ Wild Rice Funan
Presented by Teater Ekamatra
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