There were many reasons for attending DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) - the cast, the playwright/director, the fact that my friend bought the ticket for me, the poster, the genre …
There were many reasons for liking the play – the cast, the script, the piano, the genre …
There was only one reason for disliking the play – the delivery.
Did I mention I like the genre?
If you also grew up chancing upon the peak era of Hongkong TV drama – the 80s, like I did, you would probably like the genre too. They usually touched the audience deeply with enlightening lines, tremendous acting, unforgettable theme songs, great chemistry and unrequited love.
Yes, unrequited love. Remember Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung in 新扎师兄？It really puzzled me for many years why local TV serial failed to see this point. But of course I would realise later that Japanese TV serials are the epitome of this genre. From how I discovered my love for Momoe Yamaguchi （through her performance in 赤的疑惑) , to the unsurpassable Tokyo Love Story, melodrama at its best would shatter the way you feel about life.
It was not so common to find good melodrama on stage, however. Till today, the one and only melodramatic piece I can think of is 《暗恋》in the classic《暗恋桃花源》by Taiwanese group Performance Workshop.
So I was looking forward to DNR.
Yes there was an unrequited love story line – think While You Were Sleeping (Bill Pullman, Sandra Bullock) with a sad ending. But what I liked most was the attempt to go back to basic of storytelling – clear story line, simple set and a piano playing 一帘幽梦.
And these days I have the habit of listening to the lines and play them in my head while watching a play – a bad habit, I think. But through this process I did enjoy the script. The lines were pretty witty, infused with many reflections on relationship from (presumably) the playwright. While there were lines which I found a little ‘too symmetric’ for my liking – e.g. the use of ‘Startled’ by Ye Ling (played by Serene Chen) and Mr Man (played by Gerald Chew), there were many powerful lines which used the least telling words and yet revealed the most – when Ye Ling wanted to avoid Mr Man to choose her over his awakened wife (CJ, played by Karen Tan), she said (something like): I know what you are going to say and I don’t want you to say it because if you say it everything will be changed and everything will turn bad. Or when CJ hugged Ye Ling at the end, she suddenly said: I’m sorry. Ye Ling asked: What for? CJ just repeat: I’m sorry. They hugged again, even closer. They understood each other, even without spelling it out. And the audience understood it too.
There lied some indescribably tender emotions, which really are the essence of a good melodrama.
Unfortunately the delivery of characters throughout most part of the play was not melodramatic enough, for me. In fact, it felt anti-melodramatic. The emotions seem restrained or subtle. I felt calm throughout the play. The well crafted lines demanded audience’s brain to process them and hence you really need the raw emotions from the cast to hit the audience instantly, in order to make them feel the pain and loss of the characters. Unlike the typical Taiwanese melodrama seen on TV these days which have the raw emotions accompanied with lines that describe the emotions – hence double and over dosage of emotions, DNR felt under dosage.
Was it due to cast limitation, lack of chemistry or directorial choice?
I read that ABVTRI intends DNR to be first of a series of three performances. Looking forward to see what will follow.
