I had the privilege to attend a preview of Chinatown Crossings produced by Drama Box - season two of the promenade theatre performance runs from 6 Jun to 13 Jul 2019. It's a live show on location in Chinatown which I enjoyed it very much. The show's three main characters took us from inside a dim creaky old Kreta Ayer shophouse through mysterious back alleys, to the bustling streets of Singapore Chinatown.
Award winning playwright Jean Tay created a memorable immersive experience that engages all our five senses - you will see, hear, feel, smell, touch and yes, even taste Chinatown food as you follow the performance.
The show will engage your imagination too as it juxtaposes grimy 1960s Kreta Ayer with today's glitzy Chinatown that you are breathing in, in the moment. The show peels back the facade of today's tourism business oriented Chinatown to reveal its grittier roots and kampung spirit - the Kreta Ayer of our hardy pioneers fresh off the boat from China and India.
We followed main character Kunalan, an Indian man who grew up in a Chinatown shophouse in 1960s Kreta Ayer. Kunalan returned to tell us his fascinating story and of his multiracial community. A story based on interviews with Chinatown residents past and present.
Together, we traced his evolving friendship with Ting Ting, his landlady’s feisty daughter, as well as his relationship with her Cantonese caregiver, Fong Cheh, a majie ๅฆๅง who became a surrogate mother to him during his growing up years.
My mum's adoptive mother i.e. my grandmother was a majie too. Like her sworn sisters, grandma worked for a wealthy family till she retired in 1980. From Fong Cheh, I am reminded about my grandma and her sisters' resourcefulness, resilience and sacrifice, values of loyalty and integrity.
We walked with Kunalan through the streets of Kreta Ayer and partook in his story of friendship and familial ties. As his memories come to life during the roving theatre performance, we were treated to an array of interesting adventures in the nooks and crannies scattered across the neighbourhood and immersed ourselves in atmospheric places of cultural liveliness and worship.
We experienced the insides of a Chinatown shophouse; relived the echoes of living in old Singapore through a soundscape; and discovered many lost and forgotten practices, and art forms, of Chinatown’s vibrant community.
I was delighted that Jean has woven food into Chinatown Crossings. We relived the culinary pleasures of 1960s Kreta Ayer, following little Ting Ting to taste her favourite hawker dish in Chinatown Complex. The segment in Chinatown Complex was like an appetiser that whetted our appetites, awakened our hunger for the food of our grandparents.
I was very excited when Drama Box proposed a collaboration which lets Chinatown Crossings audience extend their culinary journey with a full hour heritage food trail with me in Chinatown Complex (scheduled 27 & 28 July).
Buy your Chinatown Crossings ticket here ๐ click
Register for complimentary Chinatown food trail here ๐ click
Registration password is jkcc2019
I have curated a 1-hour tour of Chinatown Complex food centre where I will show participants where they can still taste the flavours and smell the aromas of Kunalan's Kreta Ayer, Ting Ting's favourites, and Fong Cheh's hometown comfort dishes.
Our reward will go beyond culinary pleasures to a deeper understanding and appreciation of Chinatown which is not possible, any other way. I like to let you take back your own food memories and stories to tell for years to come.
I must add that heritage dishes from Kunalan and Ting Ting's era are fading
Buy your Chinatown Crossings ticket here ๐ click
Register for complimentary Chinatown food trail here ๐ click
Registration password is jkcc2019
You got the password for your free Chinatown Complex food trail, so book your show dates now. Only 40 free food trail slots ๐
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