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Ghoulishly grotesque, cheekily funny and exquisitely designed, this story of sibling loss is also a visceral, deeply investigative contemplation of identity, colonialisation and the horrific cost of assimilation.Summary
Rating
Excellent
On January 17 1874, Eng Bunker woke to discover his brother Chang was dead. The original ‘Siamese twins’, conjoined by a piece of cartilage and a shared liver, the Bunker brothers were taken to the USA as indentured servants aged 17 and came to fame as curiosities, exhibited countrywide. They later became independently successful entertainers and wealthy plantation owners. Each had a wife and multiple children. From being effectively owned, they also came to possess enslaved people. And in the process of transforming from foreigners to American citizens their cultural being was completely redefined.
Eng was to die only hours after his brother. Focussing on this moment of loss and unprecedented isolation, The Lonesome Death of Eng Bunker creates an extraordinary opportunity to consider both personal and existential loss. It’s a grotesque yet twistedly playful process that binds the audience into an active interrogation.
Writer Tobi Poster-Su is also our storyteller for the evening, relating not only the historical facts of the brothers’ tale, but the facts as he misremembers them. Initially, he animates conjoined bananas, teabags and other items that are quickly and comedically destroyed. He’s highly entertaining and likeable, leaving the audience laughing keenly at his nonsensical performance. Throughout the show he switches presentation styles, offering puppetry, humorous stand-up delivery, self-indulgent burlesque – even weaving in some exquisitely beautiful songs (crafted superbly by Tom Poster). But don’t be fooled by his quirky and throwaway delivery. This is a PhD-level contemplation of deeply serious issues. It’s an exploration of identity, normality, dehumanisation, prejudice, nature and nurture, commodification: and the audience are at the core of it.
Erin Guan’s stunning set design makes clear this is a story of butchery, with a graphic backdrop of disembodied human-puppet parts and a stainless steel trolley centre stage. But it’s not just physical mutilation discussed; the dismembering of cultural identity through assimilation into Western culture is also disclosed. Meanwhile, the living and the dead are set side by side through Aya Nakamura’s beautifully constructed puppets, each face actively emotive in stasis. Under Poster-Su’s careful operation they describe human vulnerability and objectification, enabling us to literally view the visceral disembowelling of Eng and Chang’s culture. Like them, the brothers are manipulated to the very end.
Puzzling contradictions and juxtapositions challenge throughout, starting with Poster-Su visually washing his hands as he simultaneously claims he’s trying to figure out the issue. He drops in casual stereotyping, accusing his clearly British/Southeast Asian audience of being Americans, so reflecting Western behaviours of profiling. Bubbly comedy undercuts the deep poignancy of the story, never allowing the existential horror of the very many types of loss portrayed to settle. We’re left questioning what these men’s identities really were, what it is we’re laughing at, and how society and nurture play a role in reconfiguring the self and in accountability for our behaviours.
AJ Turner’s wonderfully complex music and sound design is at the core of a playfully manipulative atmosphere that subtly leads the audience. Resonant horror film styling underscore the grotesqueness, but is undercut with traditional Southeast Asian melodies and brightly cartoon tunes. While this leaves us entertained, it’s also a distraction: we’re made to skim the surface of truths, signalling possible complicity through ignorance.
There’s a profound sense that this age old story reveals truths about the interminability of manipulation. Today, the Bunkers’ shared liver is still in a museum, performing for the public long after they have gone. But by twisting our perspectives on the reality of their lives, this show creates a powerful space in which to reflect on the true costs of assimilation into Western culture.
You can read more about this production in our recent interview with Tobi Poster-Su and Iskandar Sharazuddin.
Written by: Tobi Poster-Su
Produced by: Natalie Chan
Directed by: Iskandar Sharazuddin
Set and Costume Design by: Erin Guan
Lighting Design by: Cheng Keng
Sound Design and Composed by: AJ Turner
Composed by: Tom Poster
Puppets Designed and Made by: Aya Nakamura
Produced by: Wattle and Daub with Kakilang
The Lonesome Death of Eng Bunker plays at the Omnibus Theatre until Saturday 21 September. Further information and booking details can be found here.
