Singapore — Pachyderm Theatre must be looking forward to staging Queers Volume 1 at The Projector after a long production pause due to Covid-19 curbs.
Queers Volume 1 consists of four stories from 1917 to 1967 set in an old London pub, and it’s about the lives of LGBT people over the past 100 years.
Tickets are available from Peatix: queers1.peatix.com
Pachyderm Theatre co-founder Sean Worrall is a gay man playing a gay character, while co-founder Susie Penrice Tyrie is a straight woman playing a straight woman wed to a gay man.
Both actors also co-founded Wag the Dog Theatre. Their mission with Pachyderm Theatre is to support up-and-coming young artists here and share their expertise as producers.
The other two actors in Queers Volume 1, Shahid Nasheer and Shona Benson, were cast for their acting ability and Worrall says he did not ask about their sexuality.
Curated by Mark Gatiss, the production will be staged Dec 3 to 5 at The Blue Room of The Projector at #05-00 Golden Mile Tower in Beach Road.
Pachyderm Theatre is emerging from the darker days of the pandemic with a renewed drive for connection and collaboration with theatre creatives in Singapore and beyond.
Worrall has lived in Singapore for two decades and became a citizen eight years ago. When asked if Singapore has become more accepting of minorities, he replied,
“Things have changed MASSIVELY, and for the better. Just look at the news recently (re: Mr Lawrence Wong’s statement on minority inclusion). I can remember the days when people in the office used to whisper & laugh in the pantry about co-workers.
“Now there are allies everywhere, and young Singaporeans will call out hate speech. SOOOO much progress in such a short time. AND … as we point out in our show, QUEERS, in the UK it took a long long time. A long time to achieve decriminalisation, and another 50 years to achieve acceptance. It will happen in SG within the next 10 years, I reckon.”
Worrall describes the actors in the play:
“Shahid Nasheer – he is a La Salle graduate in his late 20s. He is a Malay Singaporean and he has one of the best ‘ears’ in the business. He is the only Singaporean I ever met who can do many different British accents. Plus he is a very truthful, naturalistic actor.
“Shona Benson is a mother of three boys, and she is playing a queer character who likes to dress as a man. Her character exists in 1929 and there were no ‘gay/straight’ labels in those days so it’s hard to describe that one. She just knows what she is, and wants to be accepted, but doesn’t know how to ask for acceptance.
“Susie Penrice Tyrie plays a middle-aged lady called Alice who gets pregnant as a teenager and nobody wants to marry her. Until she is fixed up with the handsome son of some rich people. Who turns out to be gay. But somehow they make their marriage work through friendship.
“And my character is an old tailor who, when he was much younger, was a male prostitute. Many of the lines I have to say are very dirty and rude, but very funny. And he often speaks in an old secret gay language called Polari: e.g. “Bona to vada your dolly old eek”. I won’t tell you what that means LOL!”
Volume 2 (1967 to 2016) will be shown in February 2022. The whole series – 100 years – is full of humour and heartbreak and unmet expectations.
According to Worrall it turns out (predictably!) that every human relationship is difficult to navigate.
“There was no ‘end of the rainbow’. Which really feels like ‘equality’, in the end. Gay, straight, bi, trans, queer etc. – we are all just human. Trying to live our truths, and being loving and passionate and kind and selfish and ugly along the way. Just living the human condition, really.”
/TISG