Metatheatrical look at the research process behind a play, and what it means to keep each other safe.

Ever since the concept of sustainability and the looming climate crisis entered the public consciousness, the petrochemical industry has risen to become or at least close to, public enemy number one for their continued burning of fossil fuels, and the endless, rising stream of carbon emissions. Why keep working for these companies, when the fastest way to save the world would be to curb it at the source?

In Checkpoint Theatre’s new production, playwright Cheyenne Alexandria Phillips problematises this seemingly straightforward solution in her play Playing with Fire. Directed by Claire Wong, Playing with Fire takes on a metatheatrical slant as it follows Sue Rozario (Rebecca Ashley Dass), a writer doing research for her next play. Her process takes her to an unnamed petrochemical company, where she interviews several employees across age, race and background about their lives and why they continue to work in the industry despite the risks and harm it causes.

As it opens, we hear the sound of reports of the looming climate crisis, or echoes of Greta Thunberg’s famous ‘How Dare You?’ speech, implying the fiery takedown that’s about to ensue. Yet, things aren’t as simple as they initially seem, where as the play progresses, the employees reveal more of their personal lives, histories, and opinions that complicate their characters beyond poster villains, and Sue even begins to reveal her own convoluted connections to each of them. Much of this is evident in Johanna Pan’s set design, which covers the walls and floor with a rainbow sheen seen when oil interacts with puddles of water, reflecting how much difference perspective can make, where we can find beauty even in the most seemingly ugly phenomenon.

Each of the characters are given clear roles and represent a specific subset of the employees, all anonymous to protect their identities of course. There’s a young process engineer (Cheryl Lee), still relatively new to the industry and believes she can change it from inside out, once she shifts to the clean energy division. Then there’s a mid-career professional (Gosteloa Spancer), who fervently believes in the good of his job, harping on how every member of society is touched by the industry. There’s a retired manager (Nora Samosir) who entered the company in a completely different era, her values including loyalty to the company and always standing behind them regardless of what they do. And finally, there’s a humble senior technician (Rafaat Haji Hamzah), who does the job because he’s just working hard to provide for his family without worrying about the greater climate implications, because he needs to make a living.

Through it all, the play reveals the complexities and difficulties of the individual making a difference. Much of the time, the dialogues and interviews reveal that each employee is ultimately still at the mercy of the powers that be, subject to things beyond their control, and trying their best to move within their means. Change is next to impossible to achieve, simply because as a whole, the system itself does not allow or even encourage there to be any kind of change. The mid-career professional for example, takes umbrage at how the petrochemical is always made out to be public enemy number one, when the tech industry should be blamed for consistently raising the demand for energy. Or how the technician continues to work there, even when it jeopardises the relationship with his eco activist daughter – because it’s all he’s known his entire adult life.

Cheyenne’s writing of each of the minor characters makes them layered and complex, and by giving them a voice and platform, we find ourselves understanding their difficult position, even if we may not necessarily agree with their decision to carry on. Often, there is a strong emotional undercurrent that drives the resonance we feel for them; Rafaat Haji Hamzah does a fantastic job right from the start of keeping it real, never putting on any airs and being as honest as he can with Sue, right up to the point he describes a horrifying, traumatic incident where his voice breaks with fear, the tears almost rushing to his eyes as he re-lives the pain. He plays by far the most likeable character, his dialogue generally well-thought out and casual, and always ready to crack a dad joke or two, as he comments yet again about the ‘hot sun’.

Cheyenne’s script is ambitious, and manages to weave in a part of Singapore’s history we rarely learn about – the island of Pulau Bukom, where the ‘anonymous’ petrochemical plant is located, and some of the employees also double as island residents. While it doesn’t dive too deep into the subject, it does say enough about it that we are at times temporarily transported to the past, thinking of simpler days, as Nora Samosir’s character recalls her childhood with Sue’s mother, hanging out without the pressures of adulthood that awaited them, learning how intertwined the domestic and the industrial worlds can be.

Amidst the good however, there are issues with the writing, with perhaps what is most off-putting being Sue herself, who often comes across as a more unlikeable lead. Stiff in her mannerisms and maintaining an air of detachment and distance from the other characters, she rarely, if ever shows any genuine emotion, and seems to put herself on an almost holier-than-thou, judgmental pedestal towards almost all the employees. Even if she does eventually get some form of comeuppance when she realises how much of her own biases she’s been holding, there are so many moments where you can’t help but feel a little disturbed at her manipulative tendencies, and hiding her own vested interests from the others, or even trying to obscure or bury the past with Cheryl Lee’s character without putting in the work.

Worse still is how by the end, it seems that her play also puts at least one of her interviewees in jeopardy. There are several times where she explicitly says that she will maintain confidentiality, but it is implied that some of this information has made its way into the actual play itself, or at least, enough revealed that a witch hunt would happen at the company. Sue constantly plays with fire – she continually tries to trigger bigger reactions and responses from her interviewees, only for it to begin backfiring on her when she bites off more than she can chew. She is the interloper on a community that has its own rules they play by, and who try to protect each other and the company as best as they can, even with flaws.

This is compounded further by Claire Wong’s directorial choices, which make the play feel clunky and awkward. Besides Sue adopting the formal accent, other characters are also initially rigid in their physicality, often with arms crossed or adopting a more defensive stance that makes the entire play feel very unnerving. Scene transitions are also odd, where heavy club music plays while characters roll or flip oil canisters onstage, ever so slightly changing the space where they can sit or rest, though this has no discernible effect at all. Perhaps to reflect their own inner turmoil, during scene transitions, characters at times also walk backwards and forwards, before snapping back to reality.

If anything, the choice to present Playing With Fire in such a naturalistic, straightforward style drives home the idea that the focus is squarely on the script rather than delivering an emotional performance. Cheyenne’s concerns lie with information and experience shaping people into who they are and their motivations, rather than relying on pathos for these characters. There are a great many themes that she tries to cover in this play, from tensions between family and friends, the perils of climbing the corporate ladder, environmental concerns to even artistic license and duty, perhaps reflective of how messy reality too can be in this mishmash web of issues that spring up the more we delve into a problem.

By its end, it seems clear that transitioning to clean energy is a much more complex situation than we think, not only because of economic forces, but the micro, human collateral damage that may be incurred as well. There are times it is all we want to keep everyone we know and love safe, even at the expense of the planet, even knowing that there are ‘better’ ways to do so. It’s all we can do to look out for each other’s lives and livelihood, but the bottom line remains – knowing how dangerous an industry is, be it petrochemicals or the arts, if you play with fire, someone’s going to end up getting burnt.

Photo Credit: Joseph Nair, courtesy of Checkpoint Theatre

Playing with Fire plays from 15th to 25th August 2024 at the Drama Centre Black Box. More information available here

Production Credits:

Director Claire Wong Playwright Cheyenne Alexandria Phillips Cast Rebecca Ashley Dass, Cheryl Lee, Gosteloa Spancer, Nora Samosir, Rafaat Haji Hamzah Dramaturg Huzir Sulaiman, Claire Wong Set Designer Johanna Pan Lighting Designer Faith Liu Yong Huay Sound Designer Danial Ahmad Costume Coordinator Sheryl Teo