Explosive end
Boom
naughty and bizarre,
makes the apocalypse look surprisingly hilarious. THE end of the world is upon us, and the future of the entire human race rests in the hands (or rather, loins) of a geeky marine biologist and a rebellious journalism student. It’s just too bad that she hates babies and he is gay.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in boom, the latest play being staged at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre. Absurd, irreverent, and quite hilarious, the best thing about the production is that it tackles some very big themes with zany humour.
Jules (Jon Chew) is a marine biologist who studies the sleep patterns of fish to learn when the world will end, and he has determined that the cataclysmic event is going to happen that very evening. And when Jo (Sharom Lam), a journalism student, answers Jules’ online ad for “sex to change the course of the world”, little does she realise he means it literally; as the two sole survivors of the apocalypse, he intends to repopulate the world with their progeny.
But there is more to the situation than meets the eye. For instance, why does Jo keep passing out every time she tries to leave the underground room they’re both trapped in? And what the heck is that distubingly chirpy woman Barbara (BB Ostella Adam) doing pulling levers in the corner?
Written by San Francisco-based Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, the script is deliciously bizarre, with the witty one-liners coming fast and furious. Director David Lim wisely handles the material with a light touch, letting the cracking script speak for itself. Sets by Yusman Mokhtar are deceptively clever – what seems like a generic messy apartment is soon revealed to have a specific role in the story.
With a play like this, the performances are of utmost importance, and the cast of boom certainly do it justice.
Chew is totally delightful as the hapless Jules, and his delivery of the rapid-fire dialogue is one of the highlights of the show. A character like this could very easily slide into being a stereotype, but Chew keeps the theatrics grounded with an undercurrent of vulnerability that is very appealing.
Adam, too, wins points for playing her character with just the right amount of quirkiness, and delivers some of the most hilarious lines in the script with aplomb.
In fact, her earnest delivery of a completely risqué monologue was one of my favourite scenes in the whole play!
Lam, while taking some time to warm up as the caustic Jo, provides a good contrast to Jules with her ironic take on the role. Interesting female characters are always wel- come, and Lam’s indignation at being seen simply as a means for procreation addresses an important subtext of the play.
Part Twilight Zone, part postapocalyptic sci-fi, part slapstick and part rom-com, boom is one of those odd creations that defy being categorised.
Beneath the jokes, however, are thought-provoking questions about evolution, the function of sex, the pressure to procreate, and our tendency to mythologise our creation. The playwright further complicates the tale by filtering the proceedings through an unreliable narrator, causing us to question the truth of what we see. Ultimately, it is a story both fatalistic and hopeful; life does go on, but will it be life as we define it? n boom is playing at Pentas 2, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) until Feb 25 at 8.30pm and on Feb 26 at 3pm. Tickets, priced at RM35 (RM23 for students, disabled, UNHCR and TAS card holders), are available from KLPAC (03-4047 9000), The Actor’s Studio @ Lot 10 (03-2142 2009 / 2143 2009), and www.ilas sotickets. com. For more information, log on to www.klpac.org/endoftheworld.