The green room – quite an entry to the first ever behind-the-scenes tour of the Esplanade Theatre. Not that the walls were really that green, but apparently this is not uncommon in many theatres around the world. The ‘green room’ has just kept its name regardless and is used for performers to relax when they’re not on stage.
Although I wasn’t exactly one of the stars, being in this room seemed quite appropriate for me. My experience with Singaporean theatre was of a pretty green character – unless you count “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” and “Rapunzel” into the equation, that is!
This meant my first experience with the Esplanade was in fact behind the stage, not in front of it.
In that light, this particular show was probably not the worst place to start for a theatre virgin like me. Of course with the “Dim Sum Dollies – The History of Singapore Part 1”, there was a lack of recognition on my part, with me being a foreigner in Singapore. But, with this particular show, what goes on backstage is very essential to the final product and the fact that the tour was during the dress rehearsal also made a difference.
Our first stop was the main make-up room, not much different from what I’ve seen in TV studios and theatres before. However, what was interesting were the amount of wigs lined up. In the show, the 3 actresses wear up to 50 wigs, with an average change of 5 seconds. We got a glimpse of hair designer Ashley Lim, whose job is quite the challenge, when you see what kind of dancing goes on in the show and the fact that the wigs should preferably stay on!
Next were the personal dressing rooms for Selena Tan, Denise Tan and Pamela Oei. More wigs, more make-up and a vast selection of costumes. Two helpers showed us how the costumes are tapped together by velcro and magnets. They also performed a quick change in order to illustrate how quick they have to be – some down to one second only. All three Dollies have to be in every scene for the two-hour duration. Upon seeing all the costumes, you began to get an idea of how much work go into this performance for the three ladies – in the spotlight non-stop with a constant change of hair, clothes and accents.
It was time to get a sneak-peak of how all these preparations would pan out on stage. The production had costed S$1.4 million and involved 10 actors, 9 musicians and about 40 people behind it all.
When I sat myself in the theatre seats, I felt I was doing ok so far. I was pretty experienced with regard to what a backstage area looks like, but the tour had got me excited to see how all these costumes and wigs would come to life.
But then I felt a little green again. I know Singaporean history, but will honestly say, that I was somewhat lost, when faced with of a couple of scenes that incidentally contained a lot of slang and local references. However, it didn’t make it less interesting to see how the props and costumes came to life – this was after all a backstage tour, and to be fair, the scenes were a selection and taken out of context.
The last part of the tour took place on the stage behind the curtain, with the person behind it all, Director Glen Goei. He told us more about the story of the Dollies and gave us an insight into his experience as a director abroad, versus working in Singapore on a show that is a political and social commentary on its own country. He also told us how involved the three Dollies are in the scripting, ideas and work flow. On this project for instance, Selena Tan wrote the basic structure and consequently, her and the team went to Bintan in Indonesia and discussed on ideas for up to 16 hours a day.
To me, meeting one of the main people behind the play was the best part. And ok, we got a hello from the Dollies from the stage and saw Hossan Leong briefly in the corridor. But in my opinion, being backstage is also about meeting the stars. And of course, when you chose to do this during a dress rehearsal, this is hard – the stars are pretty busy!
I feel a little less green now, I realised that theatre in Singapore isn’t that different from abroad, but it was fun to see how much work goes on behind a production like this. The content is a different matter though – this you can read in my review on the full version of Dim Sum Dollies.
What: Dim Sum Dollies: The History of Singapore Part 1
Where: The Esplanade Theatre, Singapore
When: Now till June 21 2015
Tickets: From S$48 to S$148. Available at SISTIC.
