pass·ages
An Esplanade Production (TRIP Programme)
Esplanade Theatre Studio
12-14 Apr 2024
DIRECTOR / CONCEPT: Sim Yan Ying “YY”
WRITER: Jean Tay
CHOREOGRAPHER: Daphne Chen
DRAMATURG: Nidya Shanthini Manokara
SET DESIGNER: Petrina Dawn Tan
LIGHTING DESIGNER: Gabriel Chan
SOUND ARTIST / COMPOSER: Jing Ng
PROJECTION DESIGNER: Genevieve Peck
COSTUME DESIGNER: Sim Yan Ying “YY”
Photo Credit: Crispian Chan
“Often poetic and even a little abstract, Genevieve Peck’s multimedia is the perfect accompaniment to Sim Yan Ying’s devised, movement-heavy pass·ages, with a multitude of media forms and formats that are tailored for each character to bring out their psyche and thoughts, all playing across an unusual screen set- up that makes it tough to design for, yet always finds its purpose. It washes over characters at times, but never drowning them, instead offering them pause or to show how overwhelmed they are, finding both the chaos and the calm at different ages.”
-- Exerpt from Bakchormeeboy Awards 2024 article
“YY’s design team also puts in good work for pass·ages, where the projections by Genevieve Peck are aesthetically-pleasing, textured as they appear on the screens, from monochrome close-ups of blemished skin, to a diary-like video of snacks being crossed out and salads added when Millie thinks of all she has to give up, watery blue oceans as Ogy seems to be tossed from side to side in a nightmare. “
-- Review by Bakchormeeboy
”The rest of the design elements support this emphasis on the body, from the thrust formation of the stage closing the distance between performer and audience to the prominent sounds of breathing in Jing Ng’s sublime compositions. Genevieve Peck’s projections of the topographies of human skin (or is it the womb?), along with close-ups of plant matter and their delicate capillaries, support this biotic theme. The crumpled pieces of paper in Petrina Dawn Tan’s set design are an apt, simple canvas: the wrinkles wrought by time are irreversible.”
-- Review by Cheng Nien Yuan, Critics Circle Blog
