This comes very delayed but Muswell Hill, as produced by Pangdemonium, was one of the first breaks I took from Wild Rice’s season this year. Directed by Timothy Koh and starring leading cast members Jason Godfrey and Nikki Muller, this production was a useful case study for me to explore the value of culturally adapting a play to suit the audience, or in this case, the impact on the audience if one does not.

Muswell Hill is a dark comedy play by Torben Betts written in 2012. Mat and Jessica, a couple in high society in the UK, host a dinner party on what happens to be the day after the Haiti earthquake. They each invite their best friend, and Jessica’s sister joins in the fun too, albeit later in the evening with a surprising plus-one. While the turmoils of the world around them unfold, these tragedies become cheapened as small talk at the dinner party, playing accessory to deeper dramas of betrayal, infidelity and hubris amongst the characters themselves.

Honestly, the set is the main star of the show, with stellar furnishings and beautiful art laid out over the stage. There are scenes where Jessica is in the midst of cooking and I swore to myself that this was likely an immersive advertisement for the set sponsors. Perhaps it was that sense of surrealness that carried across other aspects of the play because I found it difficult to enjoy any other part of it. Attempts at comedy fell flat, partially because of the unconvincing performances by the cast and more likely because of the nonsensical pacing of the play.

Online reviews of Muswell Hill cite director Timothy Koh’s choice to keep as much of the original setting and characters as possible, in hopes that Singaporeans have the maturity to connect with the themes underlying. This mischoice may also be why the cast seemed unrelatable. Even if Asian at heart, it was apparent that they were choosing to flex their non-Asianness instead. I was surprised by myself – as someone who likes to think they can appreciate performances by any culture, I felt a large chasm between myself and the characters on the stage. Perhaps some Singaporean or broader Asian adaptations would have been welcome, and a cast that could relate more to their audiences would have been celebrated.

All in all, Muswell Hill was one of my least favoured performances. I am not sure if I would bother with any other adaptations as well.

Here are my ratings:

Script: 3.5/5

Performance: 3/5

Production: 4/5

Overall: 3.5/5