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.