Unity (1918)

It's been over a year since I last took time out to drive to KLPAC to watch a live performance of a play. I'm glad that KLPAC is allowed to operate again (as of this post), but I also was totally fine with watching yet another online performance. This time the online ticket buying experience was painless (nearly had a heart attack when I couldn't find my wallet in the house, but it had been in the car outside the house from the night before). 

It started a couple days ago, but I wasn't in the mood for it. In the beforetimes, I probably would've dragged myself to KLPAC on a weeknight because there would've been a weekday promo price. Ticket prices were RM 35, RM70 and RM100. At this point, you're helping out KLPAC with your purchase, so if you can afford... 

“A War, A Pandemic, 11 Actors — Welcome to 1918 in 2021.”

A play about the 1918 flu pandemic (we all know the Spanish nothing to do with that pandemic, okay) while we're still in the middle of a 21st century pandemic? Sure, I'll watch it, sign me up!

Prerecorded in between lock-(or shut)downs on Pentas 1, it's about the residents of Unity (in Saskatchewan, Canada) during the 1918 flu pandemic, mostly through the point of view of Beatrice, the protagonist. 

It kinda feels like watching a documentary the way the camera follows everyone around so closely. Or a mockumentary. It's what I imagine watching The Office must be like. I dunno how they would've pulled this off as a live performance because there's some things you can pull off pre-recorded that would be hard to do live? 

It's a three hour show with a (very brief) five minute intermission (it's so long it started at 8 p.m. GMT+8), which I have to mention because they also have start times for other time zones as well for people outside Malaysia who might want to watch). It's just that I'm not sure if I would've seen it again any time soon. Also, I'm guessing everyone was either really engrossed in the show and the chat was pretty dead or so out of it that they have nothing to say in the chat. Or maybe there weren't that many people tuning in. I dunno which.

• There's parts of the Pentas 1 that you would have never laid eyes on if you're there as an audience member. 
• Wait, did Sunna and Stan get married? 
• Did Beatrice die in the end? 
• Who was left alive by the end of this? 
• You have to admit, being able to do whatever as the show was going was kinda liberating (eat noisy snacks, make noises); especially when it's a 3-hour production. 
• It feels like it's been forever since I last saw Jon Chew on a local stage.