Muswell Hill (2022) - Programme by Pangdemonium Theatre Company

24 JUNE – 10 JULY 2022 DRAMA CENTRE THEATRE

SEASON SPONSOR

STARRING (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

JASON GODFREY

MATT GREY

SAMANTHA HUM

TIA ANDREA GUTTENSOHN

NIKKI MULLER

SET DESIGNER

EUCIEN CHIA COSTUME DESIGNER

LEONARD AUGUSTINE CHOO

GAVIN YAP

LIGHTING DESIGNERS

GENEVIEVE PECK & JAMES TAN SOUND DESIGNER

DANIEL WONG

DIRECTED BY

TIMOTHY KOH PRODUCED BY

TRACIE PANG & ADRIAN PANG

DRAMA CENTRE THEATRE | 24 JUNE – 10 JULY 2022 The duration of this performance is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes, without an interval

- Professor Tommy Koh

At the 2019 Singapore Bicentennial Conference, the veteran diplomat lamented that many Singaporeans, blind-sided by the pursuit of “happiness, prosperity and progress”, lack values that an advanced country should have. Why are we quoting Prof Koh for this London-set satirical comedy, Muswell Hill? Because as an observation of us all, his words converge perfectly with playwright Torben Betts’. “Many of our people are selfish and unkind. Just look at the way they drive,” Prof Koh said, to laughter from the Conference audience. When asked if there is an alternative to capitalism, he said the question is what kind of capitalism Singapore wants. “Moral capitalism”, he said, motivates us to make ourselves accountable to the wider society, and to champion gender equality and diversity. Another Conference panelist, Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, recalled a dinner at which all the guests, including Singaporeans, “could not understand what the protesters in Hong Kong had to protest about”. He also worried that our children “only met poor people when they delivered their Internet shopping”. We ourselves acknowledge that we are guilty of the kind of obtuse myopia Mr Micklethwait speaks of, and we fall short in embracing the ideals highlighted by Prof Koh. And in light of world events like the pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Muswell Hill makes us ask questions, eg:

Is sympathy merely pity without purpose? What is the point of empathy without action? We make a big noise about our beliefs, but do we “walk the talk”? And (navelgazing aside) in making theatre, are we doing anything tangible to try to make a positive difference to our community? Hell, can theatre make any difference in the first place? Muswell Hill is a microcosm of us all, brilliantly exposing our blind hypocrisy, tone-deaf egotism, delusional self-validation, and selfrighteous “woke-ness”, in the eye of the storm of a crumbling world. Thank you, Mr Betts, for this scathingly funny and universally resonant piece of work. Thanks to Timothy Koh, our new Associate Director, for expertly helming this production – the first time that Tracie has allowed anyone else to sit in her chair. And love and gratitude to our wonderful cast, our fantastic Creative Team, our kick-ass Stage/ Production/Technical teams, and our wonderful Pangdemonium family. Many thanks to our faithful Season Sponsor DBS, for standing by us through thick and thin; to Karen and Yam for the gorgeous Sub-Zero & Wolf kitchenware gracing our set; thanks also to Hotel G, StorHub, PAUL, Dorothy’s, and our generous Friends of Pangdemonium.

THANK YOU, dear audience, for believing in our work and in (we hope) the transformative power of theatre. And finally, thanks to Prof Koh for these inspiring words: “I believe that we can always be better, and in the remaining years of my life, I want to dedicate my time, energy to making Singapore an even better place, and Singaporeans an even better people…Kindness is the greatest virtue.” Lots of love,

Adrian & Tracie Pang Artistic Directors

– PS: As we welcome the return to full capacity in our theatres here in Singapore, we are well aware that such safe spaces are under siege elsewhere. We cannot turn a blind eye to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, or pretend to be insulated from it.

Please consider making a donation to help the people of Ukraine.

Artistic Directors’ Message

“Singapore is a First World country with Third World people”

Muswell Hill Director’s Note Muswell Hill is set in January 2010. In 2010, I was a teenager. I had a cream white Macbook and a black iPhone 3G, which I used to check emails on Yahoo. I spent a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter. They looked different back then. Though sleek at the time, a quick Google of ‘Twitter/Facebook 2010 interface’ returns images that look quaint and clunky, a relic of an internet gone by. After all, this was before Facebook became a species-wide tool of connection: though Facebook is no longer hot among Zillennials, Zuckerberg’s behemoth still boasts over a two billion daily active users, many of whom use the site to get share photos, chat, and get news. A lot of Muswell Hill is about how we receive news online. Although much has changed about our relationship to the internet since 2010, plenty has remained. Case in point: Earlier this year, Russia began its invasion on Ukraine. I was at brunch. As the New York Times pushed notifications to my iPhone 13, we showed each other our screens: a video here, a photograph there. We bemoaned the beginning of war and sighed at the violence transpiring half a world away.

Director’s Note

Then, almost as quickly, we reverted to an earlier conversation about the film Drive My Car and how great it was that Japanese auteur Ryusuke Hamaguchi was receiving recognition at the Oscars.

#MuswellHillSG

The way in which we slid in and out of the invasion felt startlingly reminiscent to the characters in Muswell Hill and how they approach the 2010 Haiti earthquake: small asides and ruminations about death and tragedy with anecdotes about art and each other quickly commanding conversational attention. This leads me to ask: What is our human responsibility to tragedy that occurs far away, especially for upper-middle class people? How much pearl-clutching is enough, and how much is too little? Can we really only ‘throw money’ at the situation – and can money alone wholly absolve us of responsibility? How do our problems, rarely issues of life and death, actually compare? Welcome to Muswell Hill. I would like to formally thank to the cast and production team: you are the lifeblood of this show. Thank you also to the Pangdemonium staff for your support through this process: your ideas, expertise, and commitment continue to floor me. I would also like to say a big thank you to Adrian and Tracie for trusting me with this opportunity. The weight of this production is not lost on me. I am so thankful that I interned with Pangdemonium before commencing college. It truly changed the direction of my artistic life.

And finally, I would like to thank my family, who’ve supported me throughout my career and my stupid love of theatre: dad and mum, Nick and Sam. You guys mean the world to me. Love you lots.

Timothy Koh Associate Director

As our fictional party of six are dining on monkfish stew in Muswell Hill, London, a real-life disaster is unfolding 7,000km away… The epicentre of the 7.0-magnitude quake is just 25km away from capital Port-au-Prince, but tremors are felt as far away as Cuba and Venezuela. Eight aftershocks follow the same day, and at least 52 are recorded over the next two weeks. All of the capital’s hospitals, as well as three facilities run by Doctors Without Borders, sustain serious damage, as do Port-auPrince’s airport and its seaport, which is rendered inoperable. Telecoms services are severely affected, major roads are rendered impassable, and close to 300,000 buildings, most of which were residences, are damaged beyond repair. The National Assembly building and Port-au-Prince Cathedral are destroyed. The human toll is horrific and remains incalculable. Some estimates put the number of deaths around 50,000, while the Haitian government estimates that over 316,000 have perished, but all authorities acknowledge that the death toll is impossible to truly count. Around 1 million people are displaced, and a cholera epidemic that began months before claims over 3,300 more lives.

News and images of the quake quickly activate a massive humanitarian response. The Dominican Republic and Dominican Red Cross respond with emergency supplies and airlifts to Dominican hospitals. Nations from every continent contribute money, supplies, and manpower. Port-au-Prince’s airport operate around the clock but cannot accommodate all the arrivals. Foreign air forces airlift survivors to hospital ships off the coast, and some supplies are dropped to the island by parachute. The “Hope for Haiti” telethon on 22 January raises $58 million in one day. Haiti has a long history of seismic activity — massive earthquakes were recorded there in 1751, 1770, 1842 and 1946. The island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, lies mostly between two large tectonic plates, the North American and the Caribbean. The Haitian capital of Port-auPrince practically straddles this fault-line. Despite warnings from seismologists, the country’s extreme poverty means that infrastructure and emergency services are not prepared to handle the effects of a natural disaster of this magnitude. Though the global humanitarian response to this tragedy is immediate and overwhelming, Haiti’s crippled infrastructure makes delivery of aid difficult. The situation is still classified as an emergency six months after the earthquake.

Haiti’s Eearthquake

Haiti in Ruins: The 2010 Earthquake Over the following decade, the resilient people of Haiti struggle against the odds to rebuild their lives. Fast forward 11.5 years to 14 August 2021, 8.30am: A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti. The country is still recovering from the 2010 earthquake, and from Hurricane Matthew which struck in 2016. This massive quake destroys around 10,000 homes, churches, schools and hospitals. Just days later, Tropical Storm Grace hampers efforts to help those affected. More than 4.4 million people are left lacking food, water and shelter. The Haitian government declares a state of emergency. This is in the wake of the political instability after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on 7 July. The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic also accelerated the death toll. Meanwhile, Singaporeans are up in arms over being allowed to dine-in only in groups of up to five…

12 January 2010, 4.53pm: A massive earthquake devastates Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Page 3 – 4

A Talk with Torben Betts

“

Perhaps this pandemic has taught us that we are all connected and, just as the virus does not respect borders, we need to join hands and take care of each other as a species if we have any chance of longterm survival. - Torben Betts

Pangdemonium: What motivated you to write Muswell Hill? Torben Betts: The impetus to start writing the play was when I was sitting in a London pub the night after the terrible earthquake in Haiti. I was alone and reading about the disaster, and I noted that almost everyone around me was immersed in their mobile phones - twelve years ago, that was still a newish thing. I eavesdropped on a couple who were half having a real conversation and half elsewhere, texting or messaging friends or maybe on Facebook etc. It struck me that nobody was 100% present. Maybe as a reader I was also elsewhere! Playwright;s Interview

Then news started filtering through about the terrible loss of life in Haiti and gradually all the people in the pub (most of whom were in the 20s and 30s) began talking in a very fractured way

#MuswellHillSG

about the tragedy and the evident massive loss of life. As the news came on the TV in the pub, some of us stopped and looked up. It became clear that this was a catastrophic event and that these were amongst the poorest people on Earth. And something hit me - that despite this, the sense of community in Port-au-Prince was strong, and by contrast we all seemed like rather isolated individuals, perhaps further disconnected from each other by our addiction to the internet and social media.

P: Are the characters in the play based on any real-life people that you know or at least have met? TB: That’s an interesting question. I originally trained as an actor and I when I first began writing plays, I tried to come at it from an actor’s point of view. So, I would choose my characters, try to get each of them very clear in my mind and then put them all together in a situation. I created a setting and the backdrop and then placed my characters into it and tried to let them dictate the action, if you see what mean. So, yes, all of these characters are based slightly on people that I’ve known or come across and then they are fleshed out with my own eccentricities a little bit. One of my friends for example maintained that I had split myself in half and that part of me was Mat and half of me was Simon!

P: In the context of the pandemic, do you feel that this play is all the more resonant to us? TB: I think that we maybe now look at the pre-pandemic years as being relatively problem-free despite the wars and the usual horrors that happen in this world, but I think again the disparity between the rich and the poor, not only in individual societies but across the globe, has been highlighted during these times. It’s as usual the most impoverished people who suffer disproportionately in times of adversity, and while people in the so-called First World have of course had a bad time through Covid, it’s those in the developing world who have borne the brunt of this crisis. And the terrible loss of life in Haiti in 2010 was of course largely to do with the inadequacy of the housing and the impoverishment of the citizens, where the country’s infrastructure could not withstand an earthquake on that scale. Perhaps this pandemic has taught us that we are all connected and, just as the virus does not respect borders, we need to join hands and take care of each other as a species if we have any chance of long-term survival.

P: With the Russian war on Ukraine, none of us can claim to be insulated or untouched by the humanitarian crisis unfolding. What are your thoughts, with reference to the narrative in Muswell Hill? TB: We in the UK feel hugely affected by the crime happening in Ukraine but I can’t help feeling the hypocrisy of if all. When the US/UK invaded Iraq and Libya illegally the Western media was a big cheerleader for it and we saw very little of the carnage over there. Ukrainians are obviously “more like us” and Putin always the official enemy anyway - I suspect the character of Simon in Muswell Hill would be making these points were that dinner party taking place now! Most sane people realise we are all connected and should all be looking out for each other, no matter your skin tone or how far away you live but it always seems so selective. I keep wanting to write another play similar to Muswell Hill where the backdrop is a war, rather than a natural disaster. That way the characters would be forced to take sides a bit. I remember it being almost impossible to emotionally comprehend the cataclysm of what happened in Haiti even though there was no actual criminal apart from them all living in extreme poverty. Now we have an absolute murderer and criminal responsible for the destruction. The West however should not feel so morally superior as we’ve killed a hell of a lot of people in the last 20 years. I think Simon would be underlining this now.

P: The Theatermania, New York review said that “In holding a mirror up to middleclass delusion, Betts has penned a bitter satire of the kind of socially conscious urbanites who attend the theater.” - as a theatremaker in an industry that perhaps largely depends on patronage from the middleclass, what are your thoughts about that comment?

Playwright;s Interview

I don’t know what that says about me, but I hope the six characters in the play are fairly real and have a little autonomy as their fates were not set as I began writing the first draft.

TB: Well, I guess until relatively recently when I moved out of London, I was one of these middle-class, socially conscious urbanites and so it’s possibly a fair comment. I also think an artist should be free to bite the hand that feeds him/her! I never really intend for my plays to be bitter, although most of them are pretty dark. Muswell Hill is, I suppose, satirical in that it’s exploring the concerns of a few First-World 30-somethings by contrasting them with the far more serious problems people face in in other poorer parts of the world. I try not to write with an audience in mind, but of course theatre is a place where middle-class folk do tend to congregate and so why not address the audiences that are there? My contention is that the human creature is collectively a mentally unwell one (can anyone really argue with that?) and so I examine this phenomenon by putting different individuals under my playwright’s microscope. As Marcus Aurelius famously said: “The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”

Page 5 – 6

Lights in the Dark Do Singaporeans give a damn about the suffering being endured by the people of Ukraine over the past few months? Or to the millions displaced by the civil war in Syria in the last ten years? What about the plight of innocent civilians in Afghanistan over the past decades? Yes, these examples are man-made horrors, whereas the humanitarian catastrophe in Muswell Hill is the result of a natural disaster – but in our safe little bubble, are we as myopically self-involved and unironically jaded with the suffering of others, as the characters in the play? In our ivory tower of “happiness, prosperity and progress”, are we remotely aware that there are many in our own backyard who are locked out? Do we merely pay lip service compassion towards the less fortunate within our own community, let alone the wider world? Is our answer – to quote Mat in Muswell Hill – simply to “throw money at the situation”? A crisis can bring out the best and worst in all of us. And in the dark of the Coronavirus pandemic, there are some lights guiding us towards the one at the end of the tunnel. Here are just a few of them…

Lights in the Dark #MuswellHillSG

Ms Fion Phua (left) chooses to spend Sunday mornings knocking the doors of one- and two-room rental flats to provide food, a clean home, and a haircut.

Nicknamed Robin Hood for her efforts in helping the underprivileged, Fion Phua and the informal network she founded, Keeping Hope Alive, has toiled tirelessly for over two decades to reach Singapore’s less fortunate in different neighbourhoods. Keeping Hope Alive is built on people offering their time and unique skills rather than donating money. During Singapore’s circuit breaker in April 2020, Ms Phua stepped up efforts to care for the blind, bedridden, and elderly living alone. Her core team of volunteers met urgent needs – plumbers, handymen, and people who could dispense medicine or tap on government resources. Suited up in personal protective gear, masks, and face shields, the volunteers installed bicycle bells on wheelchairs, trimmed nails, cleaned bed bug-infested homes, and repaired household items. Hairdresser Mark Yuen, one of the volunteers, said, “To some people, a haircut is more than beauty and hygiene, it also provides comfort. It makes one feel that they are not alone, that someone cares.”

An array of donated items was also arranged for distribution to the residents – rice, cooking oil, eggs, boxes of fresh produce, vitamins, and children’s toys. Residents eagerly queued to stock up on essential and even big-ticket items like washing machines, hospital beds, and sofas. One resident’s refrigerator had been broken down for over a month. Volunteers verified her situation, then carted a new fridge straight to her kitchen and provided a stash of supermarket vouchers, garlic, onions, and vegetables. As a gesture of thanks, she made tea for the volunteers. “I felt happy and thankful. It is hard as I am the only person working and my salary is $1,300. I need to pay the house bills and my son needs study materials,” said Sukkuriya Beevi, a cleaner from India. The network also handed out donated smartphones and taught recipients how to video call and access government services online. They were overjoyed to see their loved ones through the screen, even if they couldn’t hug, Ms Phua recalled. “We support social distancing, not social isolation.”

During the pandemic, volunteers from WIMBY delivered freshly baked goods to a worker dormitory in eastern Singapore as part of an initiative called Birthday Makan. The items were provided by six bakeries, many of which were home-based businesses, and sponsored by members of the public. Sisters Tang Hui Ling and Hui Yi, are co-founders of home-based bakery SugarBellySg, which was among the six bakeries involved in the initiative. “We are grateful to be able to give back to the workers. We baked the brownies with love so hopefully they will feel encouraged by it,” said Hui Ling. WIMBY’s media strategy leader, Elly Chaw, said the initial goal of 1,400 pieces of sponsored baked goods was exceeded, hitting 2,100. “But we try not to be too fixated on the figures. Our goal is to reach as many people as possible to raise awareness and get more Singaporeans to care about migrant worker issues,” said Ms Chaw, who works in publishing. And more than two years later, WIMBY’s efforts to support migrant workers are still going strong, as they remain focused on integrating migrant workers into our community.

Seah Hui Li rises before dawn every morning to make 400 traditional steamed buns filled with creamy red bean paste to sell in one of Singapore’s famed hawker markets. But as Covid-19 restrictions kept diners away, the 63-year-old stall holder struggled. But business has started to look up, thanks to an Instagram campaign, @wheretodapao, aimed at helping elderly vendors and ensuring the city state’s rich tradition of local street food continues to thrive. The Instagram site is the brainchild of 24-yearold social media executive Jocelyn Ng, who, together with her sisters Jasmine and Jacquelyn, was inspired to help the hawkers after reading about their Covid-related struggles. “I’m not an influencer or anything,” she said. “I just wanted to share the personal stories of all these elderly hawkers.”. The campaign promotes the stalls of struggling hawkers who’ve been hit hardest by the pandemic because they are not digitally savvy enough to promote themselves on food delivery platforms. The @wheretodapao Instagram page has more than 37,000 followers and carries photos of some 75 stalls, short biographies of the hawkers and reviews.

And an increasing struggle they are facing is the push away from traditional cash-only stalls and towards embracing electronic payments and food delivery platforms. Around 3,000 cooked food stall holders use such online ordering services, with the support of the government, industry bodies and community volunteers.

Lights in the Dark

Amid a surge of Covid cases in migrant worker dormitories in 2020, volunteer-run group Welcome In My Backyard (WIMBY) was started to care for this most vital, valuable, and vulnerable part of our population.

But for the mom-and-pop stall holders not online, the @wheretodapao Instagram initiative provides a much needed lifeline. Anthony Low, chairman of the hawkers division at the Federation of Merchants’ Associations Singapore, applauds the initiative, and is confident the traditions will survive the pandemic. “The older generation of hawkers have been through rain and storm,” he said. “Covid will not bring them down.”

Sisters Jocelyn, Jasmine and Jacquelyn Ng, who started @wheretodabao

Some of the oldest hawkers have been on the job since the 1960s, and many have faced challenges passing down their recipes to younger apprentices.

Here are some ways we can each make a difference:

WIMBY at work

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Cast of Muswell Hill Matt Grey Tony

Matt trained at the Guildford School of Acting and has acted in the U.K. Australia and Singapore.

Jason Godfrey Mat

As a model Jason Godfrey had agents in a dozen countries and lived on five different continents before settling in Singapore. Now a full-time actor and writer, Jason is most recognizable from his time playing James Shelley in the long running drama series Kin. Jason will be appearing in the upcoming TV series’ Third Rail; The Girl He Never Noticed; and is currently writing for the thriller series Veil and the children’s show What on Earth. Jason Godfrey is proudly represented by FLY Entertainment.

Gavin Yap Simon

Gavin is a Malaysian actor, writer and director. Selected theatre credits include Waiting For The Host, Tribes, Fat Pig (Pangdemonium); The Importance Of Being Earnest (Wild Rice); Hand To God (SRT) and Red (Blank Space). Television credits include The Bridge (Double Vision/HBO Asia); Lion Mums 3 (Ochre Pictures/ Mediacorp); Mixed Signals (Stardust Story/Mediacorp); and Invisible Stories (BirdManDog/HBO Asia) Feature film directing credits include Take Me To Dinner (2014); KL24: Zombies (2017); and Revenge Of The Pontianak (2019), co-directed with Glen Goei.

Cast of Muswell Hill #MuswellHillSG

His next feature, Geng Kubur, goes into production later this year.

Notable roles include Terry in Yorkshire Television’s One Summer; Scrooge in A Christmas Carol; Franz Kafka in Kafka’s Dick; and Nice in Nice and Pleasant, an avant-garde comedy. More recently for Centre Stage, Margery Norbutter in A Right Rubbish Christmas; Lucky Eric in Bouncers; Dame Cherie in Frost in Space; Toddy in Victor/Victoria with Laura Fygi at the Esplanade; Sigmund Freud in Freud’s Last Session for Blank Space Theatre Company, directed by Samantha Scott-Blackhall; Larry in Company for Dream Academy directed by Hossan Leong; Danforth in Toyfactory’s The Crucible and Egeus and Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Salarino in The Merchant of Venice and Antonio in The Tempest for Singapore Repertory Theatre; Royce in Two Houses directed by Lim Yu-Beng for The SIN-PEN Colony; Peter Timms in Chinglish and Clive Cunningham in Dragonflies for Pangdemonium; and Lieutenant Holmes in This Land is Mine for Weiyu Films. Matt received a Best Actor award at the Straits Times 13th Life Theatre Awards for his portrayal of Freud. He specialises in voice training for actors and is the Progamme Leader of the Diploma in Performance at LASALLE College of the Arts.

Cast of Muswell Hill

Tia Andrea Guttensohn Annie

Tia is a multicultural actor, host, teaching artist, and co-founder of theatre collective, The Assembly Point (@theassemblypoint). She trained at LASALLE College of the Arts and graduated with a BA(Hons) in Acting in 2017. Tia began her journey in the local theatre scene with Shakespeare in the Park 2018, and her credits now include Rubber Girl on the loose (Cake); Broadway Beng: Last Beng Standing (Dream Academy); The Amazing Celestial Race (Wild Rice); and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Singapore Repertory Theatre). She is delighted to be adding Pangdemonium to the list! While most at home on stage, Tia also works in film, television, commercials, voiceovers, and hosting. As an educator, she takes joy in sharing the magic of theatre. Tia is often caught up in several exciting opportunities at once; keep up with the whirlwind through her Instagram, @tiaguttensohn. Being Singaporean and Austrian, and having grown up in Singapore, Switzerland, and Hong Kong, Tia finds a piece of home wherever she goes. Her next stop is London, where she will be pursuing an MA in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship. Muswell Hill is out of her budget, but she plans to pay it a visit!

Samantha Hum Karen

Samantha Hum is an AustralianMalaysian actress, born and bred right here in Singapore. Drawn to performing from a very young age, she finds deep joy in her ability to entertain an audience. After college, she was accepted into the prestigious 16th Street Actors Studio, where she studied the teachings of Uta Hagen, Lee Strasberg, Ivana Chubbuck, and Mike Leigh under the tutelage of such notable masters as Kerry Armstrong and Larry Moss. Furthering her career in Canada, her most notable roles include Robert Zemeckis’ film Welcome to Marwen; The Flash; The 100; The Day We Met; and in Mining Moon for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Award. Not just a one trick pony, she’s also a talented voice actor and has been blessed to work with noteworthy titans like Nintendo and Lego! She is excited to have finally brought her talents home and is furthermore truly grateful to have already gotten her wish of doing the acting trifecta: appearing on Mediacorp 5 with it’s longstanding drama Code of Law; Mediacorp 8 on shows such as My Star Bride and My Guardian Angel, and now in theatre with Pangdemonium’s Muswell Hill.

Nikki Muller Jess

Nikki Muller is a Swiss-Filipina presenter and actor. She landed her first regional TV job when she was 15 years old, hosting MTV@ Mbassy. She’s a three-time nominee as Best Entertainment Presenter at the Asian Television Awards. The first nomination was for her work on Disney Channel Asia’s flagship show, Studio Disney, when she was just 20 years old. Nikki’s covered tennis and motor sports on Fox Sports Asia, talked food science on National Geographic and cycled six countries along the Mekong Delta for Channel News Asia. Nikki adores the theater and was a recent The Straits Times Life! Best Actress nominee for Pangdemonium’s 2021 one-woman production Girls and Boys. Her previous Pangdemonium adventures include Fun Home; The Effect; and Circle Mirror Transformation. She’s played a Eurasian wildcat in Dick Lee’s musical, Hotpants; and made her professional stage debut in the lead role as “tai tai” extraordinaire in Michael Chiang’s High Class (2013). Nikki is proudly represented by Fly Entertainment.

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Creative Team of Muswell Hill

Torben Betts Playwright

Tracie Pang Producer

Timothy Koh Director

In New York City, Tim has worked as an Assistant Director at Lincoln Center Theater and Manhattan Theatre Club, held a Fellowship at Playwrights Horizons, and directed thesis plays at NYU’s Graduate Department of Dramatic Writing. Other US experience includes work with Scott Rudin Productions, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and the Lucille Lortel Awards. In Singapore, he is the Associate Director of Pangdemonium, where he helms the New Works Lab and the Very Youthful Company. With Pangdemonium, he was Assistant Director on The Mother and The Glass Menagerie. Training: New York University Tisch School of the Arts (BFA Theatre), College of Arts and Science (BA English and American Literature).

Creative Team of Muswell Hill #MuswellHillSG

Tracie trained at Croydon College, London, and has clocked up more than 25 years working in theatre throughout the UK and Asia. In Singapore, she set up The Little Company, for whom she wrote and directed numerous productions for children aged 3–14. She was Associate Artistic Director for Singapore Repertory Theatre from 2006-2010. In 2010 Tracie founded Pangdemonium with her husband Adrian. At the Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, she won the Best Director Award for Pangdemonium’s Falling, and received nominations for Pangdemonium’s The Full Monty; Dealer’s Choice; Rabbit Hole; Next to Normal; Fat Pig; Tribes; Dragonflies; and also for SRT’s The Dresser; The Snow Queen; and The Pillowman. Other productions she has directed for Pangdemonium include Closer; Spring Awakening; Swimming with Sharks; Gruesome Playground Injuries; The Rise & Fall of Little Voice; Frozen; Circle Mirror Transformation; Chinglish; The Effect; Rent; The Pillowman; Tango; Fun Home; The Father; Peter and the Starcatcher; Late Company; This is What Happens to Pretty Girls; Urinetown: The Musical; The Son; Girls & Boys; The Mother; and The Glass Menagerie. Tracie was awarded the 2015 AWA International Woman of the Year for The Arts,; and the 2017 Women’s Weekly Great Women of our Time Award for Media and the Arts.

Theatre includes: Apollo 13: The Dark Side of the Moon (Original Theatre Online); The Illusion of Time (Playground Theatre, London); Caroline’s Kitchen (Park Theatre, London, Liverpool Everyman, UK tour, Brits-off-Broadway); The National Joke (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); Invincible (Orange Tree Theatre and St James Theatre, London, Brits-off-Broadway); Eight Little Criminals (Playground Theatre, London); What Falls Apart (Live Theatre, Newcastle); Get Carter (Northern Stage); The Seagull (Regent’s Park Open Air); A Listening Heaven (Edinburgh Royal Lyceum, nominated as TMA Best New Play 2001); The Unconquered (Traverse/ Tron/Brits-off-Broadway/UK tour, winner of Best New Play at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland, 2007); Muswell Hill (Orange Tree Theatre and Park Theatre, London); The Company Man (Orange Tree Theatre); It Never Happened (Arts Educational); The Error of their Ways (HERE Arts Center, New York); Lie of the Land (Arcola Theatre, London/ Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh); The Swing of Things and Her Slightest Touch (both Stephen Joseph Theatre); Incarcerator (Battersea Arts Centre, London); The Lunatic Queen (Riverside Studios, London); Five Visions of the Faithful (Edinburgh Festival Theatre); Clockwatching (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond and Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); The Biggleswades (Southwark Playhouse); and Silence and Violence (White Bear Theatre, London). His plays have been performed around the world and to date have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Finnish, Czech, Polish, Greek and Portuguese.

Eucien Chia Set Designer

Muswell Hill is Eucien’s sixteenth production with Pangdemonium, following his recent set designs for The Glass Menagerie; The Father; The Pillowman; RENT; Fat Pig; and This is What Happens to Pretty Girls. His work with Pangdemonium has often been recognised at the Straits Times Life! Awards, with nominations in the Best Set Design category for The Mother; Urinetown; Little Voice; Spring Awakening; and receiving the Best Set Design award for Dealer’s Choice. Other Awards: Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards Best Set Design winner for Company (Dream Academy) and December Rains (Toy Factory). Selected productions: The Commission (SIFA); La Cage Aux Folles (2017), Boeing Boeing (2017), A $ingapore Carol, The Emperor’s New Clothes (Wild Rice); A Good Death (Esplanade Studios); Normal (Checkpoint); H is for Hantu (STAGES); and Sing To The Dawn (I Theatre). Eucien thanks God for his amazing family.

Lighting Designer

Genevieve Peck

James Tan (Pangdemonium’s Associate Artist/ Independent Lighting Designer) was conferred The Young Artist Award and awarded Arts Professional Scholarship by The National Arts Council of Singapore. Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design, UC San Diego.

Lighting Designer

James leads the Pangdemonium Lighting Apprenticeship Programme – giving an intermediate level lighting individual an exclusive opportunity to further develop their craft with the company. He was also recently invited by ETC (Electronic Theatre Consoles Inc.) to be a mentor with The International Fred Foster Student Mentorship Program, assisting lighting design and technology students make the transition into the professional working environment. Selected Theatre Lighting Design Credits: Dragonflies and Next to Normal (Pangdemonium); Merdeka and Public Enemy (W!ld Rice); Disgraced and Hello Goodbye (Singapore Repertory Theatre); Red (Blank Space Theatre in collaboration with Esplanade – Theatres On The Bay); and Lord of the Flies (Blank Space Theatre with Sightline Productions). Selected Events Lighting Design: From Singapore to Singaporean: The Bicentennial Experience (Singapore Bicentennial Office); OCBC Garden Rhapsody: Rainforest Orchestra – Asia & Australia Edition (Gardens By The Bay) and The Art of the Brick® Exhibition by Nathan Sawaya (MBS ArtScience Museum). International & Regional Tour: Relatively Speaking (The British Theatre Playhouse) and God of Carnage (Singapore Repertory Theatre). Selected Public Artwork: Yellow (Public Art Trust - Rewritten: The World Ahead of Us).

Genevieve graduated from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London with a BA(Hons) in Theatre Practice, specialising in Lighting and Projection/Video Design.

Creative Team of Muswell Hill

James Tan

Design credits include The Glass Menagerie, Tango, and The Effect (Pangdemonium); Lungs, The Sound Inside and The Lifespan of a Fact (Singapore Repertory Theatre); A $ingapore Carol (Wild Rice); The Commission (Pangdemonium, SRT & Wild Rice); Between You and Me, Lear is Dead and Art Studio (Nine Years Theatre); Both Sides Now 2019, Missing and With Time (Drama Box); Four Horse Road, I Came At Last To The Seas, Lao Jiu 2017, Liao Zhai Rocks 2016 and If There’re Seasons 2014 (The Theatre Practice); ASEAN Para Games 2015 Opening and Closing Ceremonies (Philbeat Pte Ltd)

Daniel Wong Sound Designer

Daniel Wong graduated from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music (Hons) in Recording Arts & Science, and is a sound designer, composer and music producer. Recent sound design credits include I And You (Gateway Arts); The Sound Inside (SRT); Tuesdays with Morrie (SRT); Cafe (W!LD RICE); and Chatroom (Pangdemonium). Associate sound design credits include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (SRT); Fantastic Mr. Fox in Mandarin (SRT); and Dragonflies (Pangdemonium). Composition credits include Smartypants and the Swordfish (Gateway Arts) and Perfecting Pratas (Sight Lines Entertainment). Page 13 – 14

Creative Team of Muswell Hill Leonard Augustine Choo Costume Designer

Leonard is an international costume designer, fashion consultant, educator, and bespoke maker currently based in Singapore. He designs costumes for dance, opera, theatre, and film, and was the principal fabric shopper for the costume department of the New York City Ballet for 12 seasons, working on over 75 unique ballets. Design credits include: The Glass Menagerie, The Son, Urinetown, This is What Happens to Pretty Girls, and Late Company (Pangdemonium); Guards at the Taj, Gretel & Hansel, and The Truth (Singapore Repertory); iSing International Opera Festival (Suzhou, China); American Ballet Theatre Fall 2018 Campaign Video; Moulin Rouge Commercial Spot (New York); Forest Boy (NY Musical Theatre Festival); Imagining Madoff and Pattern of Life (New Repertory Theatre); Don Giovanni (BU Opera Institute and Huntington Theatre); and House (Boston Centre for American Performance). Leonard has done work for the Juilliard School, the television shows Gotham (FOX) and Crashing (HBO), Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Ballet Academy East (New York), Barrington Stage Company, and Opera Omaha, and has lectured at the Arkansas Arts Centre, National Library, and LASALLE College of the Arts. Creative Team of Muswell Hill

Holding a Master in Fine Arts from Boston University, Leonard was the first and only costume designer awarded the Singapore National Arts Council Overseas Arts Scholarship in 2011.

#MuswellHillSG

Ashley Lim Hair Designer

Ashley started his hairstyling career in 1986 and set up Ashley Salon in 1999 to further pursue his dedication towards the art of hairdressing, especially for the theatre. Since 1987, he has worked on over 300 productions locally and abroad. He is privileged to be widely recognised by the local theatre community as a veteran in his artistry. Some of Ashley’s most memorable creations include his headpieces for Forbidden City and Monkey Goes West. Recent credits include The Great Wall; SRT’s Forbidden City; Michael Chiang’s Army Daze 2; W!LD RICE’s Boeing Boeing; La Cage Aux Folles and HOTEL; The Theatre Practice’s Liao Zhai Rocks!; and Dream Academy’s Broadway Beng: 10th Anniversary Concert and Kumar50, and Hua Yi: Liu San Jie. He took home the Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre, presented by Mediacorp. He will be working with SRT for their next musical LKY musical.

Cast JASON GODFREY Mat MATT GREY Tony TIA ANDREA GUTTENSOHN Annie SAMANTHA HUM Karen NIKKI MULLER Jess GAVIN YAP Simon BRENDON FERNANDEZ Understudy (Mat, Simon) SEONG HUI XUAN Understudy (Annie, Karen, Jess)

Creative Team TIMOTHY KOH Director TORBEN BETTS Playwright EUCIEN CHIA Set Designer GRACE LIN Assistant Set Designer GENEVIEVE PECK Lighting Designer JAMES TAN Lighting Designer DANIEL WONG Sound Designer JING NG Associate Sound Designer LEONARD AUGUSTINE CHOO Costume Designer ASHLEY LIM Hair Designer

Production & Stage Management Team CAT ANDRADE Stage Manager NURLIANA HARON Assistant Stage Manager GILLIAN ONG Assistant Stage Manager OOPS & UNDO Technical Managers DANIEL SIM Props Master RAY NG Props Assistant LOO AN NI Costume Coordinator WEENEE Dresser MICHELLE WAI Hair Assistant JEAN YAP Sound Operator AMIRUL AZMI Lighting Apprentice

Special Thanks

BENJAMIN CHOW RUTH CHEE PETRINA KOW

Pangdemonium Board RAEZA IBRAHIM AUN KOH JOHN CURRIE DEBBIE ANDRADE TRACIE PANG ADRIAN PANG

Production Team of Muswell Hill

Production Team of Muswell Hill Pangdemonium Team TRACIE PANG Artistic Director/ Managing Director ADRIAN PANG Artistic Director/ Producer KIMBERLY WONG Company Manager CRISPIAN CHAN Creative Director/IT TIMOTHY KOH Associate Director KRISTAL ZHOU Marketing Manager JASPER LIM Creative Designer LEAH SIM Production Manager SUNITHA NAYAR Production Manager CAT ANDRADE Company Stage Manager KUSUM SANDHU Sales & Ticketing Manager GUILLAUME VAUTRIN Accounting Manager GUINEVIERE LOW Company Administrator EUNICE YAP Production Apprentice RAKIN SHAMIL Ticketing & Marketing Assistant JAMES TAN Associate Artist

Page 15 – 16

Education and Outreach A major component of Pangdemonium’s mission is to nurture aspiring artists and theatre practitioners. We want to provide opportunities for emerging talents to work with, and learn from industry professionals, in a challenging and inspiring environment. With this very practical as well as instructive series of specialised workshops and masterclasses in various theatre disciplines, we aim to reach out to the community, fuel the creative instincts of young minds, cultivate the passion for the art of story-telling on stage, and share hands-on experience in the craft of theatre making.

Triple Threats Musical Theatre Workshop Our long-running Triple Threats Musical Theatre Workshop is designed for youths aged 13 to 19, who are interested in the art of musical theatre. The programme aims to impart the fundamentals of storytelling through music, expression through song, vocal instruction and movement culminating in a special showcase. After a two-year hiatus, Triple Threats will be back in June 2022!

Education and Outreach

Our alumni have gone on to programmes in LASALLE and made their professional debut in shows like Fun Home and The Great Wall Musical.

#MuswellHillSG

Very Youthful Company

New Works Lab

The Very Youthful Company (VYC) represents our youth wing, where theatre-makers aged 14-19 form a company and perform a fully-staged play.

Pangdemonium launched their New Works Lab in 2022. The Lab provides playwrights with intensive dramaturgical support on a new original play.

They act, stage manage, and design aspects of the show under the guidance of our Pangdemonium team.

This year, Rachael Ng was selected to further develop her script, “Toilet Play”, with our Associate Director, Timothy Koh on through stages of redrafting, feedback, and inquiry.

VYC’s inaugural production was Chatroom by Enda Walsh, staged last year at the Drama Centre Black Box. The program is scheduled to return in the final months of 2022. Information about auditions will be made available soon.

This process-focused program will culminate in a workshop with actors and a staged reading to an invited audience in the third week of July.

Education and Outreach

Technical Apprenticeships Our Technical Apprenticeship programme offers a full-time, production-long, professional experience for highly motivated and committed individuals who are looking to bridge the gap between their academic experience and a professional career in theatre. We offer apprenticeships in Stage Management, Production Management, Technical Management, as well as an exclusive programme in Lighting Design.

Stage Management

Production Management

Apprentices work with our professional stage management teams from pre-production through final performance.

Apprentices work with our full-time production management staff.

In the process, they will have the opportunity to maintain paperwork, take line notes, be on book, preset and run shows, among other duties.

Production management has the critical role of keeping a production running smoothly from conceptualisation through rehearsals, set-up, performances and eventually strike and archival.

Stage management apprentices are required to attend daytime rehearsals and become an active running crew member during evening performances.

Apprentices will assist the production management team in coordinating the various production disciplines – scenic, lighting, wardrobe, sound, multimedia projection, stage management.

Technical Management

Production management apprentices are required to fulfil office hours in the department as well as attend to the needs of the production during performances.

Apprentices will have the opportunity to work with our professional Technical Management team and Creative team. The apprentice will gain hands on experience working with professionals in the industry from pre to post production. This is a 24-month apprenticeship programme for all young professionals interested in technical management. Dates and hours will be determined by the needs of each production.

Lighting Design This is a 12-month apprenticeship that will give a intermediate-level lighting-specialized individual an exclusive opportunity to further develop their craft under the mentorship of Pangdemonium’s Associate Artist, James Tan. Dates and hours will be determined by the needs of each production. James Tan is an established Singaporean Lighting Designer. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design from UC San Diego. James recognizes the significance of mentorship for young aspiring lighting professionals. James was conferred The Young Artist Award and awarded Arts Professional Scholarship by The National Arts Council of Singapore.

We’re looking for early-career professionals who meet the following qualifications: • •

• • •

•

Have some previous theatre training and skills. Exhibit a strong drive to work in this field (relevant academic qualifications are a plus, but not a requirement). Are over 18 years old. Are willing to clock irregular working hours. Can commit for the length of the production (depending on individual apprenticeships, may be anything from 2 to 6 months). Word processing and spreadsheet experience is also required.

Admission by interview only. For enquiries, please email us at education@pangdemonium.com. Page 17 – 18

Thank you for being our Friends! White Knights

Champions

Diana Koh Foundation

Aileen Tang Alan F Quadros Alvin & Christina Liew Angela Wu Anjali G Singh Anonymous Audrey Chng Catherine Cheung & Elvin Too David Neo Dianne Hummal Dr Serene Ng Dr Tan Eng Thye Jason Duncan Kauffman Goh Kok Wee Gretchen Liu Han Jok Kwang Kang Mei Ling Kevin & Dina Coppel Khoo Teng Seen Koh Woon Teng & Alan Ng Leslie Lee Lim Mingcheng Luke Bradshaw Mary Ann Tear Melanie Tan Novus Ferro Pte Ltd Pang Siu Mei Robin Arnold Ronald & Janet Stride Steve Miller & Pat Meyer Suzanne Liau Trisha Chan Vivien Chia Yap Su-Yin Yvonne Soh Yvonne Tham

Winged Crusaders Anthonia Hui & Leonardo Drago Holywell Foundation The Grace, Shua and Jacob Ballas II Charitable Trust

Crusaders Jacqueline Ho, Esq Valerie Uy Velasco

Superheroes Conrad & Andrea Lim Desmond & May Lim Harris Zaidi Jim Rogers & Paige Parker Ong Yu En Prof Tommy Koh Roopa Dewan Russell Heng

#MuswellHillSG

Heroes Anonymous Anonymous Dr Irene Lim & Prof David Stringer Ferdinand de Bakker & Yoon Lai Cheng Heng Gek Hwah Jaime, Erin, Emily, Erica & Evelyn James & Rebecca Orme John Currie & Hong Sun Chee Katherine Krummert & Shawn Galey Michelle Sassoon Michelle Shek & Harry Brilliant Oh Jen Jen Ronald Gwee SL Chan Suzanne Lim Sze Wei Goh Toh Wei Seng Veronica Hong & Edward Ion

Thank You for Being our Friends!

Pangdemaniacs Ajit R Nayak Andrew Lim Anonymous Antonio Castellano Audrey Phua Brian Selby & Angelina Chang Carla R Forbes-Kelly Cassandra Ronald Cherilyn Chia Chia Yu Hsien & Linda Lim Chiming Ngu Christopher Pang Clara Goh & Vincent Tan Cynthia Wong Dominik von Wantoch-Rekowski Dr Christopher Chen Elissa Oh Elizabeth Mariko Gomez Eugene Ang Faye Kwan Foo Yee Ling Geoffrey Baker Geraldine Ang Grace Chiam Gregory Tan Hui Boon Tng Hwee Suan Ong Jason Tan Choon Chin Joee Ng Jorin Ng Kevin Chang Khoo Swee Koon Koo Kai Siong Lee Eng Hin & Saralee Turner Lim Lay Keow Loh Soon Hui Lone Lee Mahita Geekie Maryanne Gul Matthew Flaherty Maurice de Vaz

Mayer Tung Nithia Devan Ong Pei San Pierre Colignon PS & KF Rajesh Achanta Rebecca Yeoh Richard Hartung Ronald JJ Wong Ross James Sandra Gwee Sardool Singh Sehr & Ashnil Dixit Selina Chong Sharon Solomon Silver Rita Elaine Susan Sim Tan Lijun Tan Pei Shan Teo Kien Boon Vidula Verma Yap Zhi Jia Yichun Ng Yue Han Zhuo

– We would like to express our sincere thanks to our new Friends who made their kind donations after this list went to print. Page 19 – 20

Become a Friend of Pangdemonium! Join our philanthropic friends and help us tell the stories that are inspiring, relevant and accessible for the young and young-at-heart. At Pangdemonium, we believe in staging productions that have a global resonance and universal significance in hopes of fostering a resilient and compassionate society. Your support will not only go towards bringing stories to the stage, but also giving opportunities to our theatre practitioners as well as nurturing the next generation of artists and audiences.

Support Us #MuswellHillSG

You will be the first to hear about our latest projects, meet other like-minded patrons at receptions, receive complimentary premium seats, enjoy backstage tours, and much more! It is only with the support of everyone where words can be brought to life, to build a theatre that empowers, stimulates and inspires.

–

Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a registered charity with IPC status (UEN No.: 201229915M) and cash donations above $50 are eligible for a 250% tax deduction. Donate today at donate. pangdemonium.com. For more information on joining our Friends of Pangdemonium programme, please contact us at fundraiser@pangdemonium.com.

At Pangdemonium, we are able to continue doing the work we do because our corporate partners believe in us. For the past decade, Pangdemonium has shared the power of live storytelling with audiences from all walks of life. Even during unusual and challenging times, we continue to tell these stories. And we are extremely grateful to companies like Alfa Tech and HCS Engineering, for standing with us in solidarity, and coming on this journey with us as corporate donors.

Corporate support is crucial in helping Pangdemonium fulfill our mission, by assisting in our day-today operations, keeping our high production values, and funding our education and outreach programmes. In appreciation of your generosity, Corporate Donors will get to enjoy exclusive opportunities – from being able to demonstrate your commitment to the arts and the theatre community, to connecting with clients and as an organization over meaningful experiences, increasing brand engagement, and achieving your organisation’s philanthropic and community outreach goals.

Support Us

Corporate Giving – Strengthening Our Community – Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a registered charity with IPC status (UEN No.: 201229915M) and cash donations above $50 are eligible for a 250% tax deduction. Consider making an online gift today at donate.pangdemonium.com or contact our Philanthropy team at fundraiser@pangdemonium.com.

Corporate giving strengthens our community, and we welcome your solidarity and support, however great or small.

Page 21 – 22

Tracie and Adrian would like to say a big thank you to the following for creating further pandemonium with us on our production of Muswell Hill. SEASON SPONSOR

SUPPORTED BY

OFFICIAL ACCOMMODATION

OFFICIAL STORAGE PARTNER

LOVINGLY FED BY

OFFICIAL WINE SPONSOR

SPECIAL THANKS TO

HCS ENGINEERING PTE LTD Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a recipient of support from the National Arts Council’s Major Company Scheme for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2023. #MuswellHillSG

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Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a registered charity with IPC status. Registration number: 201229915M Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a recipient of support from the National Arts Council’s Major Company Scheme for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2023