You walk into a restaurant for the Tan family reunion.
There are familiar and unfamiliar faces, but on the whole you’re not quite sure
who is who or how they’re related to you. Or if they even are. But you’ve been
invited, and this is quite a fancy-looking place, so you might as well just
make yourself at home.
There’s some drama going on in the
background: cousins squabbling, so-and-so monologuing, gossip and rumours making
their rounds. Nothing unusual. What’s a family reunion without a huge shouting
match anyway? There are five branches of the Tan family here—really, who
is that making a scene now?
*
Yam Seng Lah
by Dabble Dabble Jer Collective and Curios-City was quite the experience. I
attended the immersive theatre-and-dining show on Saturday evening, 27 July.
Doors to The Lazy Bar opened at 6pm, creating a waiting space for those
attending to check in and receive their “name cards” denoting which of the five
families they were supposed to be part of: Tan, Teng, Raj, Mapon, Lee (I think?).
I don’t know if I missed part of the instructions/information because I joined
my group a little late, but this would’ve been a good time to set up quite a
lot of expectations for the show.
At 6.30pm, we were ushered into Curios-City’s
main dining hall. There was a bit of confusion—choose your tables, get snacks,
wander around, look at family photos stuck on the pillars… but we were not
really given enough time to do all this before things (sort of) kicked off with
various family photos on the main stage, organised by individual “families” plus
a whole group photo. I say sort of, because it was all terribly confusing.
Felicia Teng (Ysabel Loh) and Willy Teng (Yee
Heng Yeh) threw us into the whole drama side of things after the photo with
their dialogue (squabbles) about Sweet and Sour (chicken) versus Grandma’s
Fried Chicken, playing up the differences between the studious girl making
her way in fashion design in London and the spoiled party boy living it up and
trying to assimilate in the USA. It was a great reflection on comfort food—especially
for Chinese-Malaysians far from home, where just going to the nearest “Chinese”
shop doesn’t actually reflect how things taste back home. Flavour profiles change
in the diaspora, and I speak from experience when I agree that Chinese food
overseas does not quite taste like Chinese food back home. (Also, what do you
call yourself when you are a diaspora of a diaspora? Are we Chinese or
Malaysian diaspora now?) We were then called to take our seats for dinner; most
of the rest of the show was performed in between courses.
I am PEKASAM
came next, with Darynn Mapon (Darynn Wee) bursting into the restaurant right
off the plane from Sarawak carrying a tub of pekasam and an air fryer. The
start of the monologue had Wee speaking as if she were the pekasam
itself, which came off as a little awkward and weird, before she segued into
what this traditional dish really meant for her and finding her identity as a
half-Chinese, half-Bidayuh woman. Personally, I felt that the dual narrative
could have been combined a little better. Trying pekasam itself was interesting
(heh)—but it was much milder in taste that they made it out to be. It was also
nice to have different variations of how it can be eaten!
This was followed by Sofea Lee’s (Sofea Lee)
reflection in Laksa Lessons on how only one kind of laksa is true
laksa for her, despite the fact that there are so many different styles of
laksa throughout Malaysia that all bear the same name. This was the only piece
that truly used the ensemble as a whole, with some kind of group speak going on
so it felt the most “performed”. Two kinds of Northern laksa were served; I’m
assuming the non-sour one was from Kedah.
Life is a Brief Khichdi was the final (main) course of the day, which involved rumours from
the Raj family, a “secret” stove at the back, and a directed migration to “see
what they’re hiding”. VJ Raj (Villmett Thanakody) fiddled with the stove, gave
a monologue about khichdi and missing his grandmother, then made a pot of
khichdi on the spot. The staging was such that since he invited us (the Raj
family) to sit on the benches at the back of the stage before the others came
around to kepo. Because he was mostly facing the crowd, this one fell a little flat
for me. Maybe it’s because I was looking at his back? Then again, this is the
third show I’ve seen Villmett in, and in all of them I have felt that his
emotions were just not quite there. So there’s that.
We moved back to our seats for khichdi
before being called again to a separate cooking area at the back for Love is
a Plate of Kesari, where Monica Raj (Charity Yong) cooked Kesari with the
help of Wee and Yee while reminiscing about her grandmother’s kesari and the last
time she had it at fifteen. I couldn’t help loving this one because I originally
published this creative non-fiction piece by Miriam Devaprasana as part of Nutmag
7: Inheritance in 2023. They tweaked it to fit the staging but Yong gave a
delicately emotional performance to round up our dessert.
With these last two dishes also being
cooked on the spot, we were offered a home-recipe version of the dish in
contrast to the more modern/fusion restaurant version—the homestyle version was
obviously better, despite how slapdash the cooking process looked!—which I
thought was a fantastic personal touch.
*
As a whole, Yam Seng Lah was an
interesting exploration of food, memory, and culture. It offered a lot to
reflect on, and a lot to taste as well! I won’t comment more on the food because
I’m a picky eater, but everything was edible even with my limited palate (I was
a little worried pre-show). There were some weaker spots in the performances as
mentioned, but all the separate monologues mostly hung together, especially
with how the separate narratives and families tied up at the end.
Where it failed for me was in how it was
set up—I loved the fact that this one Tan grandma had such a multicultural extended
family, but I still have no idea how the families are connected or how each
character is related to each other. I don’t even know if I got all five
surnames right even after scrolling through their social media for clues.
Felicia and Willy at times sounded like cousins, but also felt like siblings (I’ve
been told they’re cousins); I couldn’t figure out if VJ and Monica Raj were
siblings or husband and wife; and if both Sofea’s and Darynn’s fathers were the
ones related to this Chinese Tan family, why were their surnames Lee and Mapon
respectively? I wish they’d given us a copy of the family tree along with our “family
names” while we were waiting at the doors. Moving the family photos outside
would also have helped with this, besides giving us more time to actually look
at them.
Seeing that immersive theatre isn’t quite
common, it would have been helpful to have a little announcement (or reminder)
when the doors opened that once we entered the hall, the actors were already in
character, and we were not waiting for a traditional type “play” to start. It
took a little while for me to figure out what was going on; amidst the general
confusion of where to sit and herding towards snacks and photos, it was only when
Loh and Yee got into their actual scripted dialogue that things really began to
click for me.
Though in all honesty, part of this
disconnect could have been because I know most of the cast personally. As quite
a few of the scripts were written by the actors themselves about their personal
experiences, there was quite a weird blurring of lines between reality and
fiction. I do wonder if this affected the general visiting audience in the same
way, or if they would have been a little less disoriented.
*
Dinner concludes with a song, a dance,
and the longest, loudest yam seng everyone in the room can manage. You look
around and feel like you’ve gone through a journey with them, even if you still
don’t know who they are. The family fight has been settled—for now—and it looks
like you’ll be added into yet another WhatsApp group you’re probably going to
mute immediately. But hey, that’s family, right?
You leave, sated. Thoughtful. Maybe a
little nostalgic. Maybe it’s time to head for some comfort food after all that
fancy restaurant stuff?
*
Despite all my quibbles, I loved what
Dabble Dabble Jer Collective and Curios-City presented in Yam Seng Lah,
as part of George Town Festival. It was a true celebration of our mixed,
slightly confused cultures that’s coalesced into our Malaysianness. The
restaurant itself was a lovely, cosy place that really set the mood. The music
(Bernadine Jeanne Abeysekra) was superb and added to the vibe of the night—changing
according to the culture of each piece. I guess I understand the need for the
dim lighting—and the coloured lights were a nice touch—but I do like to
actually look at the food I’m eating, instead of having to move the table light
back and forth every time any one of us wanted a little more light!
This second show by Dabble Dabble Jer
Collective, whilst quite a vast difference from their 2023 debut, Burden of
Proof, is equally as stellar. It’s amazing to see the thought and care they
put into each performance they craft—making it not just mindless entertainment,
but something that reaches deeper into your soul.
Here’s to their next show!
Yam Seng!
The Sapphire Solution by M.H. Thaung
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