An earnest, metatheatrical exploration of what it means to not belong.

Produced by Hijinx, in association with Blind Summit, Meet Fred is a metatheatrical, devised work by Singapore Repertory Theatre’s (SRT) Inclusive Young Company (IYC) that follows the titular puppet, Fred (voiced brilliantly by Shea Chiang). One day, Fred gains sentience and realises that life is a lot more complicated than he bargains for. For one thing, he is completely dependent on his two puppeteers for any kind of movement. For another, his PLA (Puppetry Living Allowance), used to pay his puppeteers that allow him to move, comes under threat and he is forced to get a job and navigate the many complications the ‘system’ presents him with, throwing him one challenge after another as he works his way towards some kind of stable existence.

Being produced by the IYC, Fred and his struggles clearly allude to the issues that the disabled experience in real life, and highlighting how little choice he has in almost any matter, facing continual discrimination in all aspects of his life. Right from the beginning, we’re already placed in a metatheatrical situation, where Fred awakens to meet the ‘director’ (Prithviraj Kumar Basu), who rushes him through an orientation to the world, and we become keenly aware of the many paradoxes and hypocrisies created by the ‘system’. Despite being told this is a play about Fred, led by Fred, every request he makes is denied by the director, suggesting that his choices are far more limited than how the general public might perceive.

This only continues to worsen, where Fred’s entire life begins to feel like a series of misfortunes with his hands tied behind his back; when Fred goes to apply for a job at the job centre, his advisor (Muhammad Hidayat bin Mohammad Yaakob) continually recommends jobs that a puppet is unable to do, before finally landing on children’s party entertainer, where Fred takes offence at the assumption that just because he’s a puppet, he would be good at the job. All his misgivings are similarly denied, and the more he protests, the more he realises that there really are few to no options available for Fred to choose from. Even something as normal as setting up a Tinder profile and finding a date proves disastrous, as the woman (Megan Pang) showing up is immediately shocked and unable to commit to the date when she finds out he literally is a puppet.

In essence, Fred’s life is a living nightmare, and the absurdity of his predicament often results in uncomfortable laughter from the audience, where there is something deeply terrifying about how no one is willing to empathise or help him get his life back on track. The play makes no attempt to hide the burgeoning darkness and pressure placed on this poor puppet; Fred’s constant swearing and attempts to get others to realise just how difficult things are for him are ignored, and there is a sense of dread that builds up the more he resists, to the point he is even driven to attempt suicide (set to the tune of P. Ramlee’s rousing ‘Getaran Jiwa’).

As a devised work, Meet Fred does feel like a mixed bag, designed as a show intended to show off the many talents and ideas of its creators. What this results in is a radical, surreal world that he exists in, where the rules rarely make sense and every next scene is nigh unpredictable. Musicians randomly come out to play Avril Lavigne’s ‘Complicated’; Fred shifts between the world of the ‘play’ and his actual life simply by having a crew member (Trevor Joshua Lee Jing Wen) make slight adjustments to the set; and from time to time, we see a projection of IYC members one after another, passing commentary on Fred’s situation, ranging from the concerned to the dismissive. By committing to this absurd, dream-like state, we are better able to suspend our disbelief, and accept all the weird encounters Fred experiences in his brief time in this world.

One might even compare Fred’s story to a kind of dark fable, presented in a way akin to children’s educational television programmes comprising multiple segments and presentation formats. This can be a little confusing at times, where the overarching plot does feel messy, but in essence, does reflect the sheer confusion experienced by Fred. This is further enhanced by Laura McEwan’s set design, which comprises several white walls with scribbles all over, referencing social media trends, pop music such as Rose and Bruno Mars’ ‘APT’, as well as distressing, intrusive thoughts, all of which seem to form the mindscape of Fred, or the typical headspace of the devisors that he is meant to represent.

And then there are even moments that feel particularly innovative and brilliant. After being rejected from his Tinder date, Fred enters a melodramatic state, where the entire environment seems to reflect his downbeat mood. A fan blows directly at him, while a crew member tosses plastic bags to make it seem like he is caught in a blustery windstorm, while he upends an entire bowl of cotton onto him to resemble being pelted by rain. Later on, he even stumbles into a bar, drinking from comically-large pints of beer, and it is these scenes where Meet Fred goes larger than life and really leans into its false premise of being an innocent puppet show that it shines with its creativity, making us feel strongly for Fred without the need for dialogue to explain what’s going on.

In essence, Meet Fred needs more finessing and editing still, particularly in its script, which often drags out the performance by being repetitive or stating the obvious. But within the explosion of ideas and voices lies an earnestness to its antics, a raw, urgent cry of frustration that emerges time and time again, as we come to fundamentally understand how often the disabled feel like they do not belong in the world, and how misunderstood their situation is. By its end, there is a bit of a strange message – that despite all the difficulties one goes through, one ultimately has a choice as to how to live one’s life, so long as one does not give up on it. But this is a particularly odd message to leave us with, given how little agency we’ve seen Fred have throughout the show, and how much rage we’ve seen against the flawed system he was ‘born’ into.

Perhaps then, what Meet Fred really wants to do is to act as a platform and venting ground, elevating complaint into something more artistic. Beyond offering professional development in the arts for the d/Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent, there is a secondary, more urgent role to SRT’s IYC is clearer than ever – that is to also provide a space for these individuals to express their perspectives and tell their stories freely and openly through the arts. With Meet Fred, the IYC has come together to put up a genuinely creative and commendable, if at times unfocused story, leaving one shocked by the struggles a single person can be subject to, and are left more aware of the empathy we can and should be putting out there to help those in need, and see things from their point of view instead of just taking the system as it is.

Photo Credit: Singapore Repertory Theatre

Meet Fred played from 22nd to 23rd November 2024 at the KC Arts Centre. More information available here

Production Credits

Director Grace Lee-Khoo Movement Director Regina Foo Production Designer Laura McEwen Lighting Designer Dorothy Png Sound Designer Noor Hidayat Norzizan Cast Prithviraj Kumar Basu, Shea Chiang, Goh Tze Kiat, Jireh Koh, Trevor Joshua Lee Jing Wen, Keanan Lim, Muhammad Hidayat bin Mohammad Yaakob, Megan Pang, Srikant Pattabhiraman, Jeremy Tay Yong En, Kevin Yeong Kwok Keong, Ruixuan Yung