Makan Place, The Republic Cultural Centre Theatre

It was with great anticipation that I attended Tueday's evening musical performance of Makan Place, the first musical in Singapore.  It was first staged in 1988 and did not have a full staging till 2012.  Makan Place was part of REFLECTIONS, Republic Polytechnic's Community Arts Festival.













This musical talks about chasing your dreams and was set in roadside hawker stalls, a place that was disappearing from Singapore street scene except in touristy areas.  The 2 protagonists were Siew, a school student, and Zil, slightly older than Siew.  We did not see many instances of chasing their dreams: Siew was more infatuated with his tutor, and we were only left with Zil dreaming of show business.

We were introduced to the life of Singaporeans at that time: hawkers trying to make ends meet, and charging tourists higher price, the debt collectors, the Convent girls versus the boys' schools etc.   Playwright R Chandran (Act3 Theatrics) managed to incorporate these storylines well.

The cast consisted of students, staff and alumnus.  The stage definitely belonged to Lim Teck Kiang, who played Zil hilariously and managed to hold the show on his own.  And the staff members who played the hawkers did a good job, in particular Hafidz Abdullah who played Rahim the teh tarik man and Thng Poh Huat who played Pakcik Hassan.  The ensemble also did a competent job in the supporting and dancing roles.

As a college production, Makan Place was a polished performance and engaged the audience.  It was great to see a musical milestone in Singapore being restaged and hoped that the audience need not wait for another 25 years to see it again.