Why male friendships are tricky

WHAT makes a man? What makes a good male friendship? How are they different from female friendships? What happens when they intersect with issues of race, identity and ideology? How does one keep a friendship strong and true when the world intrudes with its demands, obligations and discriminations? These are some of the questions that an ambitious new play by Myle Yan Tay attempts to answer.

Tay’s Brown Boys Don’t Tell Jokes centres on five “brown” men (Indian, Chindian and Malay) who’ve been friends since youth. They are all in their thirties and stand at different crossroads of their lives. One is a politician (Gosteloa Spancer), another is a musician (Krish Natarajan), the third is activist (Adib Kosnan), the fourth is an academic (Shahid Nasheer) and the fifth is a therapist (Ebi Shankara). All live in Singapore except the latter who’s left the country.

On the eve of the local general election, the five reunite to talk about old times. But things don’t turn out as expected: Old wounds resurface, secrets come to light and loyalties shift. The play is directed by Huzir Sulaiman, artistic director of Checkpoint Theatre, which recently scored the top prize of Production of the Year at The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards for Faith Ng’s play The Fourth Trimester.