Retreading the horrors of war

SINGAPORE's pioneer dramatist Kuo Pao Kun wrote The Spirits Play in the late 1990s after a visit to the Japanese cemetery in Yio Chu Kang.

In the play, five wandering Japanese spirits come together to recall the horrors of World War II. They are the general (Johnny Ng), the mother (Doreen Toh), the soldier (Tay Kong Hui), the nurse (Tan Wan Sze) and the poet-reporter (Alvin Chiam).

The opening dialogue feels like a cross between Chekhov and Beckett as the five observe the changing colours of the leaves and the passing of time. These lines of dialogue are repeated to reflect an interminable state of waiting. These spirits are caught in a endless cycle, reliving their nightmares over and over again.