PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS
Pangdemonium
Singtel Waterfront Theatre @ Esplanade
Singtel Waterfront Theatre @ Esplanade
25 Mar - 9 Apr 2023
Director: Tracie Pang
Playwright: Duncan Macmillan
Playwright: Duncan Macmillan
Movement Director: Andy Benjamin Cai
Production Designer: Philip Engleheart
Lighting Designer: James Tan
Lighting Designer: James Tan
Projection Designer: Genevieve Peck
Sound Designer: Jing Ng
Sound Designer: Jing Ng
Photo credit: Pangdemonium
“Most haunting though, is when Emma goes cold turkey, which causes her to begin hallucinating in the solitude of her own room. Philip Engleheart’s production design is especially important throughout this ordeal, with hidden doors and built-in elements in the walls that open up to allow for quick, smooth set changes, alongside Genevieve Peck’s multimedia and projections, that transform the clinical rehab centre into a darkened, night- mare-scape. The detox process is like something out of a horror film, with Tracie Pang taking artistic license to turn it into a surreal experience, filled with spectral hallucinations and representations of violent, excruciating torture. As messy as she is, you sympathise with her on account of how much pain she’s going through.”
-- Review by Bakchormeeboy
“Designer Philip Engleheart’s carte blanche, white-tiled traverse stage and movable furniture set- up incorporates technology well to reflect the disorientation of drug-induced highs and withdrawal symptoms – lines are projected then distorted on the side panels, an exit sign suddenly appears, then grows alarmingly large.”
-- Review by Clement Yong, The Straits Times
Nominations
- Best Multimedia The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2024
- Best Multimedia Bakchormeeboy Awards 2023
"The projection is so precise, with exit signs or outlines of a door on the other side. Apart from the obvious ones — with the clubbing and psychedelic episodes — I think I’m most impressed towards the end, when the projection was a slightly different angle, so Emma’s room felt like it was tilted; it was slanted a little bit. In the first half, her room was flat, but in the second half, I was wondering why her room was tilted at an angle. I realised it was because of the projection angle of the tiles on the floor, but when they turn off the projection, you realise it is just a flat stage!"
"Another beautiful moment has to do with the floors of the rehab facility. In the scene just before Emma’s first withdrawal, the projection on the floor is just black lines to form tiles across the floor. However, the black lines start to fade and become wavy, until it turns into a swimming pool, then it turns into a sea."
-- In Conversation: Azura Farid & Isaac Tan on People, Places & Things by Duncan Macmillan (Pangdemonium) – Critics Circle Blog
