Presented by: Chamber Made and CultureLink Singapore
Reviewed: 29 October, 2022
Margaret Leng Tan is an icon. A force of nature. An outlier. A classically trained musician who has made her name in avant-garde composition and performance, she is renowned for her work with toy pianos.
Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep is a one-woman show, but as such shows often are, that label belies the collaboration that results in the performance. Tan performs from her extraordinary body of work, using piano-plain and adulterated-toy piano, percussion played with grains of rice, and what I think is called a melodica. In the end, the specifics don’t matter. The music she creates, the echoes and calls and responses of unexpected sounds, is the ultimate soundscape. Tan’s music forms a meta-rhythm interspersed with pieces of prose about her life (one hesitates to call them anecdotes). Each of these story fragments gives more texture to the performance.
This work is also visually breathtaking, with minimal yet awe-inspiring staging, using video projection, simple yet profound props, and meticulous lighting.
Watching Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep makes you quickly realise that you are in the presence of greatness, witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime performer delivering a meticulous, pitch-perfect, and stunningly moving piece of work.
This is absolutely one of the highlights of this year’s OzAsia Festival, and will no doubt be remembered for years to come:
“Nice to meet you. What school did you go to? And did you see Margaret Leng Tan in 2022?”
Reviewed by: Tracey Korsten
Photo coutesy of Esplanade Theatres on the Bay
Venue: Dunstan Playhouse
Season: Season ended
Duration: 60 minutes
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