The play revolved around a Christian family in Singapore with a dad, mum and 2 boys living simple and honest lives in a government flat. Mum is a housewife, dad works for the government and the 2 boys are in school, one in high school, the other an undergraduate in a local university.
Seems simple enough? Well, life is never what it seems, is it? Whilst watching a documentary, the TV started having some issues with its reception and mummy passes a clothes hanger to the undergrad son to stick into the cable hole to fix it. Now, I've always been taught never to stick hard objects into live holes because accidents are bound to happen. Before we know it, the undergrad son is lying motionless on the floor, another victim of ignorance and electrocution.
A year later, on the anniversary, doorbell rings and in walks Daniel, who reluctantly admits his secret relationship with Joseph, the "perfect" deceased son.
Brother : "THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TARNISHING THE MEMORY OF MY BROTHER!ON HIS ANNIVERSARY TOO! YOU'VE JUST MADE HIM DIE ALL OVER AGAIN! HE'S NOW IN HELL, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!
Mother : "MY SON IS NOT GAY! YOU ARE LYING!GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
Father : "YOU....HAI YAH......"
What ensued was a series of heated exchanges between family members, Daniel and omnipresent Joseph, who appears to be enjoying the drama unfolding before his eyes. As the play rolled along, we discover the complexity of the relationship each family member had with Joseph, and surprisingly, it was the quiet dad who finally brings peace to the house through his acceptance of the relationship. We were also slowly lead on to the reason why Daniel came to the house, because of the promise he made to Joseph the night before he died, that if he couldn't come out to his parents, Daniel would do it on his behalf. And with a wicked twist of fate, the night Joseph stuck the clothes hanger into the TV was the night he was going to come clean to his parents about his sexuality and Daniel. And true to his promise, Daniel finally took the plunge, albeit a year later.
What I loved about the play was its ability to present a very real situation facing many Asian families when it comes to sexuality in a humorous yet touching manner, minus the cheese and victimisation apparent in many plays, musicals and movies dealing with this subject matter. Whilst it had a happy ending, the last scene revealed that the scenes which had just been played out, including the happy ending was only what Joseph had imagined as a spirit. The play ended with scene one where Daniel pressed on the doorbell, for real this time.
Wow....perhaps a little too close to heart......
Teardrops rating : 4 out of 5 shot glasses. I hope this review did justice to the play.
http://www.mansingaporetheatrefestival.com/play/family-outing/
BTW : Joel Tan, the writer of this play was only 22 when he wrote this and is still in the midst of completing his studies at the National University of Singapore.
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