The climate crisis in our backyard

A PLAY about climate change was always going to be a bitter pill to swallow. Directed by Edith Podesta, Wild Rice’s new production Pulau Ujong puts the spotlight on real-life Singapore-based environmental professionals, activists and scientists, and scrutinises the many ways in which we destroy Singapore’s natural landscape and the greater earth in pursuit of growth, development and, ironically, happiness. 

The play breaks new ground because we’ve never seen anything like it on local stage – climate warriors (played by actors) tallying up the damage we’ve collectively wrought and continue to inflict on Singapore. Unfortunately, because so much of what they say is founded on scientific evidence and rational analysis, some of these individuals have a tendency to come off as a little dull on stage. 

Playwright Alfian Sa’at counterbalances them by inserting monologues from non-human characters such as Ah Meng the orangutan, an old banyan tree on Fort Canning, a hornbill, a Malayan tiger, a trumpet tree and the Northeast Monsoon, all speaking of the regretful ways Singapore might have destroyed its flora and fauna.