Tan Tarn How's Press Gang is arresting. It's bold. With Paul Searles' deliberative soundtrack and lightning-fast set movements, Press Gang grips you with a political scoop tearing the newsroom apart. In the heat of things, the one hour forty-five minutes flies past you. But what is Press Gang?
Rumours are abound about the Prime Minister's son, head of a Singapore-government-linked, Merlion Investment Corporation (MIC), slapped the Deputy Prime Minister - in a heated argument about MIC's secretly shrinking funds. What's more, the PM's son is rumoured to be abusing powers in other government agencies. While eager eyed civil-servant, Kin Jek (Benjamin Chow) is ready to couch his words to avoid rebuke, Politics Editor, Christopher (Shane Mardjuki) and News Desk Editor, Aminah (Oniatta Effendi) spar in a battle of ideologies. The former editor adamant that media has no place in shining light on baseless rumours. The latter editor believe that the media should question these very allegations and present it to the people. Is the media a "PR exercise" wielded by the "priorly corrupt" incumbent government? Or does media serve the people? Or is the media self-serving, trying to garner enough ads just to keep its head above water?
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P.S. I hold the stand that Press Gang has many layers to be peeled and so much more to unpack. Each reviewer would have picked up on something different and that insight helps us appreciate Press Gang in its entirety.
Bakchormeeboy (2018, July 10). Singapore Theatre Festival 2018: Press Gang (Review). Retrieved from: https://bakchormeeboy.com/2018/07/10/singapore-theatre-festival-2018-press-gang-review/
[Updated 16 Jul 2018: It was updated to include yet another review that Ivan Heng quoted on Facebook.]
At the heart of this political thriller is a pertinent question that media wrestles with today, "What is the role of media?"
Taken from: Singapore Theatre Festival's website.
Rumours are abound about the Prime Minister's son, head of a Singapore-government-linked, Merlion Investment Corporation (MIC), slapped the Deputy Prime Minister - in a heated argument about MIC's secretly shrinking funds. What's more, the PM's son is rumoured to be abusing powers in other government agencies. While eager eyed civil-servant, Kin Jek (Benjamin Chow) is ready to couch his words to avoid rebuke, Politics Editor, Christopher (Shane Mardjuki) and News Desk Editor, Aminah (Oniatta Effendi) spar in a battle of ideologies. The former editor adamant that media has no place in shining light on baseless rumours. The latter editor believe that the media should question these very allegations and present it to the people. Is the media a "PR exercise" wielded by the "priorly corrupt" incumbent government? Or does media serve the people? Or is the media self-serving, trying to garner enough ads just to keep its head above water?
Director, Ivan Heng, reminds us in his director's message, that Singapore ranks 151 of 180 on the Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index [1]. As the drama unfolds, Press Gang also confronts integrity and censorship.
A gossip founded by sources that cannot be revealed. But if their sources cannot be revealed, can they be credible? The newsroom is paralysed especially after editor, Francis, is taken to task for an (metaphorical) op-ed that alludes to the abuse of power. The newsroom is hesitant to deliver the scoop. Outside the newsroom, newly-freelance journalist, Mariam Wong (Yap Yi Kai) who runs the alternative news site, The Truth And Nothing But, and fuelled by insider news of her old allies in the Singapore Times, is also ready to pounce. But while she freed herself from the newsroom's "self-watching" and "self-censoring", she also risks her own livelihood and falling victim to the government's arsenal of legal battles, fines and arrests. Should media speculate? Are speculations for better or for worse? Does the media lose their integrity by speculating? Is online news media a game-changer?
This leads to Press Gang's most enamouring quality, it's mirror to Singapore's state of affairs.
Tan Tarn How's tongue-in-cheek approach is apparent. One can't miss how its fictional newspaper, Singapore Times, shares the same abbreviation to Singapore's local paper, The Straits Times. Mariam Wong's fate with her exasperated and ultimately reckless blog post was reminiscent of the fate of some of the Little Red Dot's local bloggers: Roy Ngerng and his defamation suit with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong [2, 3]; and Han Hui Hui being taken to task for her online postings [4, 5]. My appreciation for Kerin Khoo (played by, Amanda Tee), the lifestyle columnist that leapt at the chance to only expose the social lives of the PM's family, came from the parallel observed to the scalding compilation by mustsharenews.com on Straits Times' very own Sumiko Tan [6].
The parallels on stage rang bells and yet, I had to search for these articles just to be sure. One can't help but feel inadequate, that some references may have gone past me. But does that matter? Am I being too pedantic, missing the forests for the trees? Does it matter that some audiences will walk away none the wiser except that Press Gang was a electrifying - fictional - play?
As Kerin retorted when her fluffier, readership-pandering columns were attacked, "[I want] to make people feel a little."
And Director, Ivan Heng, serves just that. Interspersed within the charged narrative are images to drive home Press Gang's message. From the mindless spinning and turning of the online forums; to the waltzing of office chairs. The much-speculated slap brought to stage in the most underwhelming fashion. And the final scene where the backdrop with the Singapore Times falls to a mountain of boxes (by Chris Chua) - of the toll of truth-seeking journalists forced to pack up and go; or of state secrets left untold inside sealed boxes.
Press Gang is a mosaic, a montage of the state of Singapore. While we watch with bated breath of the stories unfolding onstage, it is a reminder of the stories that slip by us every day. Press Gang deserves praise for provoking and confronting audience members with the questions and issues of today that demand answering. It is a play that Singapore demands. For that, it is a play that demands remembering.
References
[1] Reporters without borders (n.d.). Intolerant government, self censorship. Retrieved from: https://rsf.org/en/singapore
[2] Lee, M. K. (2016, March 14). Blogger Roy Ngerng to pay $150,000 in damages to PM Lee in instalments. The Straits Times. Retrieved from: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/blogger-roy-ngerng-to-pay-150000-in-damages-to-pm-lee-in-instalments-lawyer
[3] Voltaire (2017, April 4). Social activist Roy Ngerng has moved to Taiwan. theindependent.sg. Retrieved from: http://theindependent.sg/social-activist-roy-ngerng-has-moved-to-taiwan/
[4] Chong, Z. L. (2017, March 21). Blogger Han Hui Hui removes posts that were in contempt of court and issues apology. The Straits Times. Retrieved from: https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/blogger-han-hui-hui-removes-posts-that-were-in-contempt-of-court-and-issues-apology
[5] Lay, B. (2017, March 22). Han Hui Hui apologises, removes posts & video that were in contempt of court. Mothership. Retrieved from: https://mothership.sg/2017/03/han-hui-hui-apologises-removes-posts-video-that-were-in-contempt-of-court/
[6] Wee, Vanessa (2017, January 24). 10 Sumiko Tan articles that are the pinnacle of Singapore journalism. mustsharenews.com Retrieved from: https://mustsharenews.com/sumiko-tan-articles/
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See also
P.S. I hold the stand that Press Gang has many layers to be peeled and so much more to unpack. Each reviewer would have picked up on something different and that insight helps us appreciate Press Gang in its entirety.
Bakchormeeboy (2018, July 10). Singapore Theatre Festival 2018: Press Gang (Review). Retrieved from: https://bakchormeeboy.com/2018/07/10/singapore-theatre-festival-2018-press-gang-review/
Chen, V. (2018, July 11). Press Gang: Politics behind publishing the political. Retrieved from: http://popspoken.com/arts/2018/07/press-gang-politics-behind-publishing-the-political
Nanda, A. (2018, July 11). Singapore Theatre Festival: Press Gang a heavy-handed newsroom drama. The Straits Times. Retrieved from: https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/singapore-theatre-festival-press-gang-a-heavy-handed-newsroom-drama
Response to Nanda's work, Koh (2018, July 14) as cited by Ivan Heng:
[Updated 16 Jul 2018: It was updated to include yet another review that Ivan Heng quoted on Facebook.]