剧评：Geng Rebut Cabinet (GRC)

 

《解去所学，重筑梦想》—— 观Geng Rebut Cabinet (GRC)

文 / 郭毅杰

视野剧团（Teater Ekamatra）的Geng Rebut Cabinet (GRC) 挪用我国集选区（Group Representation Constituency，同样简称GRC）制度，集结五名（包括一位少数族群）演员，借题竞演源于社会现实的政治闹剧。不过，在巧思翻转的剧场时空，马来族群是国家多数，华人则为少数。错位倒置的形式督促观众换位思考剧院内外相等存在的种族政治议题。

该剧曾两度上演拉萨尔艺术学院的小型表演空间，如今进驻较为商业的野米剧场义安公司剧院，将少数群体叙事引入主流剧场观众的中心视野。

Kita Bersama Mengejar Mimpi
    
这行文字镶刻布景上方照耀群众，观者如我半知不解，但晓得必是某种集体口号。舞台设置貌似平凡无奇的民众俱乐部，然而在灯光音响的催促下，隐藏机关一一启动，灵活组装桌椅展示架窗板等，有效于局促的舞台空间调度场景—— 无论是政党会议室、牛车水服饰店，抑或大选集会场地等—— 构筑人们熟悉的日常生活空间。

剧本正于公共及私人空间、五人群戏与两人对话之间往复周旋，相应使用不同的表演语言、探讨相似而非的课题，剖解种族政治议题的多面棱角。剧目主要以马来语演出，开场群戏便依此行事，全体演员聚在办公空间开竞选会议，用多数族群的马来语交谈，其中唯一的华族人物Catherine听得懂却难以加入。即便两侧附有字幕，对不谙马来语的观众而言，语言运用产生了疏离效果，有意无意促使我们变相体悟少数族群日常遭受的歧视困境。纵然如此，不少台词仍以英语脱口，尤其是Catherine与另外四位—— 人力部长Roslan、全科医生Zainab、律师Maisarah、陆军总长Bukhari—— 的辩驳，毕竟其中诸多关乎体制性及隐含种族主义的讨论之目标受众是多数族群（华人）。

当五人同时现身舞台，观众极易因社会教化而反射性地以语言族群归分人物，于此编导有意识地将他们拆解成两人单位（Catherine同其中一位），避免落入二元对立的陷阱，以小空间的私人对话模糊所谓多数与少数的界限，扩充剧目的多元关怀。多数形成的集体实际上由诸众独特的个体形成—— Zainab自认其大学教育不及另外三位、Maisarah宣称不视自己为同志（只是不结婚）。两人的自身认同不单关系种族，还交叉着阶级、性/别等多重身份，再现人身议题的复杂与多元交织。

接近尾声的其中一幕设在幼稚园。台上架有白板，Roslan画出四个稍有重叠的圆圈，组成文氏图（Venn diagram）辩解种族之间存有的平衡融合的共同空间。Catherine则以四个颜色深浅不一的圆圈组成新的文氏图，反驳前者的论述，阐明种族的人数及影响力将偏颇共同空间的色彩。昵称Boy（男孩）的Bukhari就坐小凳。前者似乎是我们自小被教化种族和谐的表面真理，而后者正急需积极执行—— 解去所学，认清现实。

共逐梦想

最后的梦境，少数族群获得一系列平权行动（affirmative action），其中包含少数代表Catherine始于集选区的席位及其终于受委的国会职务，然而一场梦罢了。再说，即便实现平权行动，那也不过形同虚设的胜利。无论如何都绝非美梦。“共逐梦想”是剧中工人行动党（Workers Action Party）的抽象宣言，对此剧目无法更无需提供正解。我想，有理想没有错，不过—— 口号必由衷，筑梦须动工。

 

关于演出：2024年9月5日，8PM，Wild Rice @ Funan，Teater Ekamatra 呈现

Playwright Alfian Sa’at
Director / Production Designer Mohd Fared Jainal

Cast

Dalifah Shahril
Farah Ong
Sani Hussin
Fir Rahman
Serene Chen

"Unlearning and Rebuilding"—Reviewing Geng Rebut Cabinet (GRC)

Review by Quek Yee Kiat

Translated by Neo Hai Bin

Teater Ekamatra's Geng Rebut Cabinet (GRC) appropriates Singapore's Group Representation Constituency (similarly abbreviated as GRC) system by assembling five actors (including a minority representative) to contest in a political farce rooted in social reality. In an ingenious subversion of theatrical time and space however, the Malays make up the nation's majority, while the Chinese form the minority. This formal displacement shifts the audience to adopt different perspectives on racial and political issues that exist both within and beyond the theatre.

Having been staged twice in a smaller performance space at LASALLE College of the Arts, the play now ventures into a more commercialised venue at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre @ Wild Rice, bringing the narratives of minorities to the attention of mainstream theatre audiences.

 

Kita Bersama Mengejar Mimpi

The phrase etched at the top of the set reflects upon the masses. Audiences like myself might only comprehend half of it, but I fathom it must be a kind of collective slogan. The set resembles an ordinary community centre, but with the aid of lights and sounds, its hidden mechanisms are activated; tables, chairs, frames, and panels are flexibly assembled (and re-assembled), which effectively sets various scenes within the confines of the thrust stage—be it the meeting room of a political party, a clothing store in Chinatown, or the grounds of a General Election (GE) rally—constructing familiar everyday spaces.

The narrative shifts between public and private spaces, and between the ensemble of five and pairs of two, with different (combinations of) performance languages being deployed accordingly. They seem to address similar topics, but in fact dissect the many facets of racial and political issues in Singapore. The play is primarily in Malay, with the opening ensemble scene performed as such—all five characters are gathered in an office space for a campaign meeting, and they converse in Malay (the language of the majority in the play). The only ethnic Chinese character, Catherine, struggles to join in the conversation even though she has some understanding of Malay. Notwithstanding the surtitles screened on both sides of the stage, the use of Malay creates an alienating effect upon non-Malay speaking audiences, which intentionally (or unintentionally) compels us into experiencing the everyday discrimination (and alienation) faced by minorities. Despite this, quite a number of lines are performed in English, notably Catherine's debates and exchanges with the other four characters—Roslan (Manpower Minister), Zainab (General Practitioner), Maisarah (Lawyer), and Bukhari (Chief of Army). After all, the target audience for many of these discussions on institutional and implicit racism is the majority (in real life), the Chinese.

Due to social conditioning, it is highly likely for the audience to reflexively categorise the characters by their language and ethnicity, whenever they appear on stage as an ensemble. As such, the playwright and the director consciously breaks them down into scenes with personal dialogues between two characters (Catherine with any one other character) held within small spaces, so as to avoid falling into the dichotomy trap. This further blurs the (purely racial) lines between the majority and the minority, and broadens the play's diversity of concerns. 

The collective majority in the play is in fact made up of unique individuals—Zainab, who thinks that her (local) university education is inferior compared to the other three, and Maisarah, who declares that she doesn't identify as LGBT (just not married). Their identities are not solely tied to race, but also overlap with class, sex/gender, and other multiple forms of identification, representing the complexity and multifaceted nature of being human.

Towards the end of the play, there is a memorable scene set in a kindergarten. A whiteboard is set up on stage, on which Roslan draws four overlapping circles to form a Venn diagram, thereby justifying the existence of a balanced and integrated common space among the races in Singapore. Catherine counters his argument with a new Venn diagram with four differently-shaded circles, depicting that the population numbers and influence of the majority race do indeed overshadow the minority race. All these unfold while Bukhari, whose nickname is Boy, is seated on a small stool. The former (argument) seems to be the racial harmony myth all of us have been taught and socialised since childhood, yet the latter (argument) is the one in dire need of active implementation—to unlearn what we have been taught, and to recognise the reality of racial issues in Singapore.

 

Chasing Our Dreams Together

In the final dream sequence, the minority race received a series of affirmative actions—in the case of Catherine, the minority representative in the play, that includes her GRC seat (which is reserved for a minority candidate) and her appointment as Speaker of Parliament. But everything is just a dream. Besides, even if these affirmative actions were to be realised, it would be nothing more than a hollow victory. "Kita Bersama Mengejar Mimpi" is an abstract (read: empty) manifesto made by the play's Workers Action Party, for which the play cannot (and need not) substantiate. Having ideals is not wrong, I suppose, but—slogans should stem from the heart, and dreams should be actualised with work and action. 

 

The above review was written after the performance on 5th September 2024, 8pm at Wild Rice @ Funan, and presented by Teater Ekamatra.