nathansnook's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ: A strong collage of plays that speaks to the ethos of Saโatโs investigations into the human condition. He plays with the unconventional, disregarding expectations and surprising us with the vulnerabilities of his characters.
๐๐ถ๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด + ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ฌ: Centering around the displacement of what it means to be Singaporean, to be an expat in the confines of a country raptured in a love/hate relationship. People snap. Emotions bend. The soul is elastic, but is anything fixed? Saโat is honest about his feelings about Singapore as he tackles what it means to be a citizen here.ย
๐ด๐ฆ๐น.๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ.๐จ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ: The most experimental out of the bunch with a killer robot, Japanese soldiers, and trannies. All feed into the playful nature Saโat writes in, but the weakest out of the bunch as the themes donโt coverage into anything particular. Everything feels scattered and tackles the idea of Singapore from outside of the square without really tackling anything at all. If anything, Scene 5 is the strongest as it leads into ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ด 2 with much ease.ย
๐๐ถ๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด + ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ฌ: Centering around the displacement of what it means to be Singaporean, to be an expat in the confines of a country raptured in a love/hate relationship. People snap. Emotions bend. The soul is elastic, but is anything fixed? Saโat is honest about his feelings about Singapore as he tackles what it means to be a citizen here.ย
๐ด๐ฆ๐น.๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ.๐จ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ: The most experimental out of the bunch with a killer robot, Japanese soldiers, and trannies. All feed into the playful nature Saโat writes in, but the weakest out of the bunch as the themes donโt coverage into anything particular. Everything feels scattered and tackles the idea of Singapore from outside of the square without really tackling anything at all. If anything, Scene 5 is the strongest as it leads into ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ด 2 with much ease.ย
readlahwei's review
5.0
Alfian Sa'at is a wonderful writer with the kind of thought process that makes me imagine him to be someone interesting to converse with. The stories are out-of-this world, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
vunderdrug's review
5.0
this was so hecking good i dont know what to do, alfian is such a good local author and i really look up to him, every play was unique and the style of writing is so undoubtedly his (sex.violence.blood.gore and the optic trilogy were the best, and fugitives was just extremely insightful)
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