Gemuk Girls (2008)
Title: Gemuk Girls
Dates: 29th Oct – 9th Nov 2008 (Singapore) /
4th – 7th Dec 2008 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Venue: The Necessary Stage Black Box / KLPAC
Type of Production: Theatre Production
Country of Production: Singapore
Year of Production: 2008
Presented by The Necessary Stage (TNS)
Production Credits:
Director – Alvin Tan
Playwright – Haresh Sharma
Set Designer – Vincent Lim
Multimedia Designer – Loo Zihan
Lighting Designer – Helmi Fita
Cast – Aidli “Alin” Mosbit, Najib Soiman and Siti Khalijah
Stage Manager – Elnie Shumastri Mashari
ASM / Stylist / Costume Coordinator – Molizah Mohd Mohter
Lighting Operator – Nureen Raidah
Multimedia Operator – Gloria Tan
Subtitlist – Fezhah Maznan
Crew – Siti Raudha Tehan
Translators – Quah Sy Ren, Irfan Kasban, Shanon Shah, Melissa Lim and Irma Suzanna Ruslan, together with the cast
Synopsis:
Kartini and Juliana are not your typical mother-daughter pair – one loud and overbearing, the other straitlaced and on the threshold of entering politics. Together, they are Gemuk Girls and proud of it.
One day, they receive shocking news about Kartini’s father who had been arrested and detained in the 1960s. Suddenly the floodgates of the family’s emotional past are thrown open. Can a family survive as they struggle to reconcile the past with the present? Will Kartini and Juliana continue to be Gemuk Girls?
Gemuk Girls is a bold and often darkly humorous look at family politics and the politics of the day.
Reviews:
“Gemuk Girls has bite and is set to be an important piece in local theatre”
- Mayo Martin, Weekend Today, Nov 1
“…this production was about human relationships damaged by separation and silence, and this much was sure: it was one of the best and most ambitious plays of the year….. there are few productions that have such power, that remind audiences of the possibilities of theatre to question, to move and to ask them to dream.”
- Adeline Chia, The Straits Times, Life!, Nov 4
“感触很深，情绪受到很大的波动， 心中打分 ‘这是今年最好的舞台剧’”
－ 周文龙，联合早报，ZBNow, Nov 4
“Usually when I watch a play, I’m thinking of the words I will use to describe it in a review. At a couple of points while watching Gemuk Girls though, as I sat there with my throat choked and tears welling in my eyes, I was at a total loss for words. Yet silence is the very thing the play warns against…. Gemuk Girls is cuttingly funny in places and bluntly devastating in others but more than that, it is a vitally important piece of work in the canon of Singapore theatre because of its courage and compassion. This is what political theatre in Singapore should be: urgent, intelligent, heartfelt and sobering”
- Kenneth Kwok, The Flying Inkpot Theatre Reviews
“The Necessary Stage has given us a work of inexorable force, enthralling artistry and naked humanity – a work so much bigger than the politics of the nation it beseeches, condemns, and ultimately, tearfully embraces.”
- Matthew Lyon, The Flying Inkpot Theatre Reviews
Production Photos: (provided by TNS)
