Theatre review: Last Of Their Generation

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: The 'void deck' is a feature unique to apartment blocks in Singapore, a covered ground-level space where children play and families hold celebrations.

ZOO Southside (Venue 82)

***

Mohamad Shaifulbahri’s first solo piece of theatre keeps returning to the void deck of his family’s block in Tampines, a kind of receptacle for the memories of his formative years.

Directed by Adeeb Fazah and staged by Bhumi Collective, Last Of Their Generation is a personal reflection on what it means to feel pulled between two places: London, where Shaifulbahri went to drama school, with its theatres and big-city buzz, and Singapore, the place of his childhood, first love and above all family.

Occasionally, the constant shifting of locations and time periods becomes confusing, and the big musical number two-thirds of the way through comes as a bit of a surprise.

The play fails to reach a conclusion, much as Shaifulbahri does: he seems to love both places and can’t choose one over the other.

There is, however, much that is resonant here about memory, regret, and what it means to grow up and move on but find yourself far away from the people you love.

Until 13 August. Today 12:40pm.