Interestingly, this time, the show was smaller, more intimate, less grandiose: performed on the small stage next to the IFB cafe. It was also a good deal better. Either he learned from feedback in the last show, or else (given that both these pieces have been performed before) he decided to ride on the successes of Part 1: Hamlet and take more risks in Part 2: Titus Andronicus. Am I making sense? Yes I am. You figure it out for yourself.
Here's the setup on stage: an old man is sitting with his feet in a basin of water. A young woman is seated next to him, a skull in her lap, motionlessly weeping. Every now and then, he wipes off his feet, rises before the audience, points to us, and says, "Shi noo? What for?"
Activist: Our culture teaches us to be religious, and our religion teaches us to forgive and forget. And forgive and forget is a concept that we always discuss. And there are people who agree and people who disagree about these concepts. And when I come across a person who arrests me, I can maybe shake his hand, but I can never forget what happened.
Meanwhile, amidst the audience, there's a man with his face wrapped in newspaper, performing odd antics: lighting a baby doll's hair on fire, crumbling prawn crackers between his hands, crawling under chairs, offering me a wet wipe. He also gave me a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Doll (the yellow one), let me hold it up and shot at it with a toy rifle. Later I think he burned this, too.
Rachael: Do you think he’s the ghost?
Me: Then she’s Ophelia. (points to young woman with pots)
Rachael: I thought she was Ophelia. (points to weeping woman) They could both be Ophelia.
Me; Opheliae!
Rachael: Take a photo of the number of people taking photos. It’s bizarre.
And since we had the free time, Brett suggested the four of us go over to Shwedagon Pagoda! Awesome idea.