Hi, Can You Hear Me?

by A Yagnya
The Necessary Stage
Esplanade Theatre Studio, Singapore

How do we navigate a world of change and confusion? A world where natural disasters and wars leave us feeling powerless and disillusioned? Are we able to reach out and make ourselves heard over the din? 

Written by A Yagnya and co-directed by Yagnya and Alvin Tan, this collaborative, devised The Necessary Stage production confidently blends the epic and the intimate, gently folding us into its complex narrative. In a prologue delivered by performer Sharda Harrison as herself, we are reminded that even as we turn off our devices and submit to the play, we cannot press a pause button on the real world outside. That world, with all its chaos and contradiction, continues to rage on and will be waiting for us as we leave. 

In 2050s Japan, elderly Shimizu pines for his late wife while dealing with a dispassionate AI caretaker. In the present day, a broadcast journalist, John, carries on a long-distance affair with an older woman, Sindhu. In a liminal space between life and death, a tiger called Utama presides over a bar, unable to shake off thoughts of its untimely death at the hands of colonial masters. Frequenting this space is goddess Guan Yin who is trapped in a cruel cycle of death and rebirth. 

Adroitly moving back and forth in time, connections are forged between these characters, uniting them in a kind of existential ennui as individuals whose lives are fractured by events beyond their control. We see how the past infects the present and how the legacy of violence bleeds through time. This is accompanied by live soundscapes from Jevon Chandra and arresting multimedia work by Brian Gothong Tan that engulf the stage, almost dissolving over the characters. 

Photo Credit: Tuckys Photography

Yagnya and Tan keep the pace brisk and while the narrative takes a while to settle into a rhythm, it slowly and surely draws one into its rich emotional core. There are standout turns by Doppo Narita as the aged Shimizu who gradually retreats into his mind, Sukania Venogopal as the confident career woman who injects gravitas into her every line and the impressively multi-lingual Zelda Tatiana Ng who sings and spouts poetry.  

Hi, Can You Hear Me? offers no easy answers but underscores the importance of human connection, of reaching out to one another through the roaring chasm of uncertainty and trying to collectively take a step forward.

The Crystalwords score: 3/5