Scathing satire of our oversensitive nation’s shitstorm of culture wars.

In this democratic age, where everyone’s voice matters and have been given a platform via the internet, it was inevitable that we became increasingly entitled about our opinions. Any counterarguments is seen as a personal attack, and it becomes all too easy to turn any debate into a matter of black and white, to rally an angry mob over hurt feelings and social justice, where even the most innocuous or unwitting reference can spark a heated culture war.

As someone who works in such an environment constantly exposed to controversy and naysayers, playwright Joel Tan seems to understand this phenomenon all too well, with threats of censorship or cancellation the moment sensibilities are offended. But as an artist at the mercy of state policies and overwhelming pressure from conservative groups, what exactly can he do to contribute to the conversation in a constructive manner, while also gaining enough traction to make an impact?

The answer seems to be to take all that pent up frustration and sense of hopelessness, and turn it into an entertaining, satirical whirlwind of a play. Written by Joel Tan and directed by Ivan Heng, G*d Is A Woman takes us on a wild ride where no group is safe from critique amidst a ridiculous but completely plausible culture war in Singapore.

The play opens during the 2023 ‘Singapore Festival of International Arts’ (SFIA), where Festival Director Caleb Tan (Brendon Fernandez) has brought in a show titled God Is A Woman, featuring a film where an Albanian artist performs a dance in the nude. Despite having received all the approvals several months back, a Christian conservative wife of a powerful man has gotten hold of the flyers, stirring up a wave of complaints and emails to the government from her congregation criticising it for ‘pornography’.

It’s an all too familiar scenario for any boundary pushing art in Singapore that more often than not, wounds the sensitivities of a certain vocal group, leading. to its cancellation, to which Caleb cheekily censors the artist’s nipples and nether regions with bright red dots bearing the letters SG in white, within a black and white film. For Caleb, it’s a compromise that allows the work to proceed and save the jobs of the technical crew and creative team involved in the production, and take the heat off in the hopes others don’t make noise about other work in the programme.

But for his angry playwright friend Jonathan (Benjamin Chow), he simply cannot understand how Caleb can do all this and ‘give in’. Reeling from the frustration at trying to turn his feelings of anger into a failed play, an eureka moment sees him posing as an anonymous religious conservative starting a fake petition to cancel Ariana Grande’s upcoming God Is A Woman concert tour (the only stop in Southeast Asia). Things take a twisted turn however when the petition goes viral, with a sizeable number of actual religious conservatives backing it, and the truth gets buried in the resulting noise and media storm.

Joel is a skilled writer who makes overt references to a multitude of recent events and ties them all together in a single humourous narrative. From the scrambling over the sales of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour tickets, to the lifetime performance ban The 1975 received from Malaysia after their Good Vibes Festival outburst, to crazy internet stans completely capable of ruining others’ lives, G*d Is A Woman weaves it all in, through a series of familiar character archetypes navigating the rising tension as the situation gets completely out of hand.

Joel adopts a unique rotating character structure to his play, where almost every scene is a two-handed that introduces a new character into the mix, and includes a character from the preceding scene. While this can initially feel disorienting as we attempt to recall and understand the flurry of characters introduced, it is a technique that also ensures that there is never a ‘main character’ and that we get an equal amount of time hearing out each character’s situation and backstory, and keeps the narrative moving forward.

Adopting a take no prisoners approach, Joel begins with characters from the arts scene, as they consider the moral implications of allowing such a petition to go through, to the extent they rally together and even go on boycott. Soon, the scope of the issue expands its reach, and everyone from the concert’s promoter to the same Christian conservative wife get involved, alongside a major telco and a minister, and even Ariana Grande herself (with an extremely Southern ‘yuh’ over a Zoom call). Suspension of disbelief aside at some of the hijinks they get up to, there is fair criticism is levied at almost every single one of these characters, highlighting just how absurd a culture war actually is, and told through razor sharp humour.

Director Ivan Heng has the difficult task of guiding his four person strong cast through a multitude of characters and scenarios, leading to just a few choice set pieces to establish each scene and facilitate quicker transitions, done primarily with Ariana Grande songs playing, of course. Even if the majority of the characters lean into caricature for easy laughs, each actor ensures that their lines are always delivered with real emotion and sincerity, allowing us to grasp them and understand them despite their brief time onstage.

Every cast member does well to embody each of their two characters. Zee Wong toggles between completely different characters as gruff stage manager T and shines as holier-than-thou Cassandra Foo, capturing her snooty and facetious tone in a love-to-hate role. Benjamin Chow is somewhat subdued in his role as quirky playwright Jonathan, but brings out the humour as Singtel bigwig Darius Foo, utilising grunts and an extra-strong Singaporean accent to bring on the laughs.

As internet-savvy actress Maggie, Munah Bagharib is essentially a heightened version of the millennial archetype, but shows a particularly different side to her acting chops as an unnamed, golf-loving Minister, bringing something almost terrifying with the way she carries herself, mustachioed and fully cognizant of how much power every word holds. But the standout among them is Brendon Fernandez, who does effective voice work that positions Festival Director Caleb as a cuckolded artist needing to please all sides. His accent work is on point as concert promoter Jeff, bringing on a sleazy attitude where you can almost smell the heavy cologne, before swapping into his actual Singaporean accent when cornered.

Brian Gothong Tan’s media segments are integral to the success of this play. From the initial iconic video of the Albanian artist’s video, to a campaign video to save Ariana’s concert featuring some familiar faces in the local theatre scene, to a hilarious fancam style recording of Cassandra Foo set to Ariana’s ‘Dangerous Woman’ that makes complete sense in the context. Projected large so the entire theatre can see these, there is often the sense that we are so surrounded by media, it has essentially penetrated every facet of our lives.

In the failed fictitious play penned by Jonathan, he posits that everyone, from audience to artist to politician, are all pigs. Much of G*d Is A Woman only seems to echo that sentiment, with the flawed character showing signs of selfishness, cruelty, self-righteousness and lack of empathy. Joel’s play feels like it comes from a very personal place of frustration, and while the anger is clear in the script, it is admirable how he has taken it and turned it into a whipsmart, laugh-out-loud rollercoaster of a satire that leaves no stone unturned and reverberates with the audience present.

G*d Is A Woman is a dangerous play in the best way possible, in that it pushes at boundaries, asks difficult questions, and dares to call out problematic behaviour and attitudes. It takes guts to do a play like this, and when all the noise is over, what makes this such a powerful work is how it ends not on blame alone, but to remind us of what we forget in the kerfuffle – that we seem to have forgotten the point of art, that beauty does not lie in landscapes alone, but in freedom of expression. Just because you find something offensive, doesn’t mean you have to cancel it. Rather, we should try bridging that false binary of black and white, and understand the artist intent before passing judgment – and perhaps you might just walk away with a greater appreciation for the power that art holds in provoking thought.

G*d is a Woman plays from 8th to 23rd September 2023 at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre. Tickets available from SISTIC

Production Credits:

Playwright: Joel Tan Director: Ivan Heng Associate Director: Sim Yan Ying “YY” Cast: Munah Bagharib, Benjamin Chow, Brendon Fernandez, Zee Wong Set Designer: TK Hay Lighting Designer: Tai Zi Feng Multimedia Designer:Brian Gothong Tan Costume Designer: Theresa Chan Sound Designer: Daniel Wong Choreographer: Ryan Ang Hair Designer: Ashley Lim Make-Up Designer: Bobbie Ng Prop Master: Joyce Gan