Dwayne Lau shows you how to find the silver lining in every moment, in this sincere, autobiographical show disguised as an interactive cabaret.

There’s something charmingly chaotic about Snakes and Ladders: Life Edition!, a 40-minute cabaret-style solo show performed by actor Dwayne at the Esplanade Concourse. Free and open to the public, it’s an earnest, heartfelt experiment in autobiographical performance, part-musical, part-game-show, part-memoir, as well as a work-in-progress Dwayne hopes to continue developing in future.

Framed as a life-sized version of the classic childhood board game, the show invites the audience to roll a giant pair of dice to determine Dwayne’s journey through the “board” of his life, chosen because Snakes and Ladders was the very first game his late mother taught him to play. Each panel corresponds to a moment from his personal or professional past: childhood dreams, family stories, theatre triumphs, audition failures. From the get-go, there’s an infectious sense of play. Dwayne bounds onstage in a black shirt and shorts, ready to let his imagination run wild with a rack of costumes, and backed vocally by the capable trio of Beatrice Pung, Sharon Sum, and Victoria Lam.

What works well is Dwayne’s authenticity. There is always an earnest sense of sincerity in every word that comes out of his mouth, never pretending to be anyone but himself, and his vulnerability, whether recounting the loss of his father, reflecting on growing up Chindian in Singapore, or poking fun at his failed Singapore Idol audition, is disarming. His ability to move between humour and heartbreak, sometimes within the span of a few bars of music, is impressive and emotionally honest. That whiplash between tones can feel jarring at times, but it’s clearly intentional to reflect how real life often doesn’t follow a neatly structured emotional arc – a literal game of snakes and ladders.

Still, structure is precisely what this show would benefit most from. The central dice-rolling mechanic is fun in theory, but the execution lacks clarity. The “board” placed on the floor is hard to see, and for a concourse setting with a transient audience, some kind of projected visual aid or clearer markers would make a huge difference. While the randomness creates a kind of thrilling unpredictability, it also means the story struggles to build momentum or thematic progression. At times, it feels less like a story being told and more like a scrapbook being flipped through at random.

The musical choices are eclectic, with an abridged version of The Wizard of Oz that brings together the original film’s songs, Lady Gaga, Wicked and even Britney Spears, snippets from local musicals such as Liaozhai Rocks! and The Amazing Celestial Race, and original parodies, such as the standout reworking of “Grow for Me” into a bald-actor anthem) weave in and out, creating a bootleg theatre dreamscape that’s part nostalgia, part karaoke, part tribute. That rough-around-the-edges aesthetic where he imagines performance as childhood make-believe, is endearing and even moving in moments. But as the medleys stack up and the mood shifts rapidly, the emotional pacing becomes uneven. The show sometimes feels like it’s trying to do too much too quickly in an attempt to race towards the end, rather than letting its most resonant moments breathe.

Still, there’s always heart in every scene. Dwayne’s tributes to his family are sincere and felt, especially with moments such as mentioning how his sister’s childhood performance in The Wizard of Oz inspired him to take up theatre in the first place, or even the very recent demise of his late father, who passed just as he was about to perform in his favourite musical – Little Shop of Horrors, is sincere and raw. No matter how many punches life throws at him, he looks back on every experience with fondness and understand that it’s shaped him into who he is today, thanking companies like Toy Factory, The Theatre Practice, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Wild Rice and Sing’theatre for giving him all these opportunities to shine.

Ultimately, Snakes and Ladders: Life Edition! is a deeply personal and passionate work that invites its audience into Dwayne’s world with open arms. What it needs now is a stronger narrative spine to hold all the emotional weight it’s carrying. With a little more dramaturgical shaping, this could grow into a compelling one-man show that fully delivers on its potential, one where every roll of the die feels like a step forward, not just a detour. His final, hopeful rendition of Stephen Schwartz’s “Corner of the Sky”, from Pippin, round out the piece with an affirmation and says it all: that even amid rejection, grief, and the endless search for validation, there is joy in simply continuing the journey.

Snakes and Ladders: Life Edition! played on 6th and 7th June 2025 for free at the Esplanade Concourse as part of the Esplanade’s Flipside! Festival. More information available here