Directed by
Tracie Pang

Written by
Ken Kwek

Starring
Thomas Pang
Oon Shu An
Adrian Pang
Jamil Schulze
Tess Pang
Pam Oei
Serene Chen
Paul Courtenay Hyu

Kwek crafts a nuanced story that offers no easy answers. Tackling a complex whirlpool of factors such as unequal power dynamics and implied consent, he creates characters that are utterly relatable and almost painful to watch. Indeed, the play and its many shades of grey make for difficult viewing. One is unable to escape the weight of the discomfort and the unresolved, open-ended nature of these stories offer little consolation.

Director Tracie Pang has assembled a stellar cast of eight actors who deliver honest, heart-wrenching performances. Newcomer Tess Pang makes an arresting stage debut as a spunky millennial who makes a controversial allegation. There are equally strong turns by Oon Shu An as a woman trying to navigate a complex relationship, Serene Chen as an intermediary placed in an invidious position and Adrian Pang as a potty-mouthed man-child with a dark secret. Set designer and frequent collaborator Eucien Chia cleverly incorporates aspects of topography and the human anatomy into his set, alluding to the blatant bodily objectification and murky contours that dominate conversations about sex. James Tan and Genevieve Peck's sensuous lighting and Jing Ng's disconcerting soundscapes round out the emotionally charged atmosphere.

Pretty Girls is a timely reminder of the dangers of sexual misconduct and the importance of awareness to mitigate these issues. It would be wishful thinking to assume that these matters would disappear overnight but through understanding, we can play our part to shape attitudes, reframe the narrative and treat each other with the respect we all deserve

It is raw, powerful stuff - one that will leave audiences shaken. Provocation is central to the issues that the play, directed by Tracie Pang, wants to tackle: consent, sexual misconduct, victim-blaming, and toxic masculinity. It is less concerned with blunt finger-pointing and more with blurred lines. The characters are well-realised and relatable - both victims and perpetrators alike.

This is the most ambitious part of Pangdemonium’s project: the paradigm shift needed to demonstrate that people who commit or enable sexual harassment and assault are not always exceptional or monstrous. This too, the play tries to grapple with: What should happen in the aftermath of such harm? How should apologies be delivered, retribution pursued? This is What Happens to Pretty Girls is a sobering look at ways in which today’s culture continues to fail victims and create aggressors.

It should provoke audiences to ask themselves some hard questions of their own.

Unabashedly bold and brutally honest, provocative and polarizing, the play is a damning indictment against the notion in the title – it shows that sexual assault can happen to anyone. What Happens To Pretty Girls makes itself stand out from the other plays as it addresses the issue of sexual harassment in a rather uncommon manner. While the play drew inspiration from the #MeToo movement, it is actually not about the movement itself.

The play dissects the #MeToo movement and delves more into the grey areas and blurred lines instead – situations with no easy answers are addressed through the stories of our three victims. Overall, This Is What Happens To Pretty Girls is a riveting play that will leave you questioning yourself and the people you know, and reinvent your perception towards sexual assault.

Directed by Tracie Pang, This Is What Happens To Pretty Girls does a bang-up job of capturing the complexities of sexual harassment. Rather than a one-dimensional narrative about the oppression of women, it offers a multi-layered peek into the individual experiences of its eight diverse characters, each with their own story to tell.

The play peels back the layers of each character, revealing a nuanced presentation of the innumerable issues and scenarios tied to sexual misconduct and gender inequality. It grapples with the painful realities of life, many of which hit so close to home that certain dialogues sound like actual conversations you’ve heard. Everything feels familiar, yet nothing is sure. The script offers no straightforward answers or easy resolutions. Neither are there clear distinctions between who’s good and bad.

Pangdemonium boldly brings to the fore the contentious subject of sexual misconduct in This Is What Happens To Pretty Girls, a breath of fresh air in a climate of technology-enhanced activism, where third-party bystanders swiftly dole out blame and impose victim/perpetrator binaries. The piece focuses on the grey areas inherent in some cases of sexual misconduct, delivering a couple of uncomfortably visceral moments with sufficient nuance. It is here where the play makes its most salient point – witnessing all sides of a story unfold concurrently through an unbiased lens does not make it any easier to hold one party fully accountable for violated boundaries.The multifaceted nature of the parties involved in each developing scenario is also explored.

Confounding character traits and histories surface throughout the play, disrupting an easy mapping of stereotypes onto characters based on gender or power-play within situations. Exposing a character’s inner vulnerability and desperation for clarity and repentance humanises them, without negating the severity of their offending action.

The strength in This Is What Happens To Pretty Girls is thus in its ability to offer us what the real world cannot – time and space to thoroughly review a matter through multiple lenses and perspectives, and the realisation that some cases of sexual misconduct and the labels we attach to those involved are perhaps more layered and complex than they may seem.

This play is heart-wrenching, thought-provoking and talks about day-to-day situations that affect all of us. It will leave you with many impactful thoughts. Let’s create a society where we can have meaningful conversations and finally talk about all the greys. We can all make the greys less grey.

Thank you Ken Kwek and Pangdemonium for being our voice, and for allowing me to find peace.

Hit me like a ton of bricks. This play is urgent, harrowing, and somehow both unexpected and totally expected.

This is required watching.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for injecting life into this play and making it possible. Thank you. This is What Happens to Pretty Girls was an absolute stunner. A stellar cast with the delivery try of an invigoratingly smashing and provocative performance. All the cast were absolutely amazing.

Thank you Pangdemonium for constantly provoking audiences and inciting important conversations that have been neglected for far too long in our society. I, as a graduating Criminology student, struggle at times to engage in these conversations with people around me, and the impact is often minimal. People do shun these perspectives. What Pangdemonium is doing is absolutely imperative, and the impact of your plays are positively pandemic, like an influenza everyone should catch.

Please keep up the fantastic work!

World class, unrestrained, painful, true, breathtaking. Theatre at its best, as theatre is supposed to be.

Thank you Pangdemonium.

This was an extremely painful but necessary pill to swallow. It is haunting, brutally honest, and hear-wrenching. It made me reflect on me own actions and it was painful to face my own former demons, but it is so, so vital.

I laughed, l cried, I shook in horror and remorse, but most importantly, I learned a very valuable lesson.

Wow. Pangdemonium. This has got to be one of the most traumatising plays I have ever watched. Watching this and then reading the programme made me realise how much we have [not] progressed as a society, and how much more work we need to do to ensure the safety of all genders.

Words cannot describe how disturbed I was during this play, and how sad I was, living as a male and seeing all of this unravel in front of me, wondering how this could possibly happen to anyone, male or female.

But also, I am hopeful that with more proper open civil discussions, we will get better. We MUST get better. Thank you Pangdemonium for this amazing offering. Thank you to the cast for coming out of your comfort zones for this.

What an utterly powerful and devastating piece of theatre. This is What Happens to Pretty Girls lays it all on stage, and makes you ashamed of the way we’ve all played a part in perpetuating the very problem portrayed in the title. Stunning performances by the cast, and what an insane piece of writing from Ken Kwek.

Pangdemonium never fails to impress, but this one really takes the cake.

Pangdemonium absolutely handled this issue beautifully, without downplaying any part of it. I could not ask for a better portrayal of this intense issue that is so prevalent in our society. Thank you. So glad there are people who see the importance in this conversation.

It’s scary how uncomfortable some parts got. felt every emotion that was expressed by the wonderfully talented actors. I cried, I was shaking, I was shaking so much I couldn’t give the ovation it so deserved.

Today I watched my first Pangdemonium show - This is What Happens to Pretty Girls - and I just want to say THANK YOU. I am a victim myself, and the words in the play are almost the exact ones thrown at me when I voiced out. And you are right, these things scar us for life. And victims like us don’t dare to voice out because nobody believes us anyway. But I am extremely grateful for this play - it really portrayed what I couldn’t tell my perpetrators, and it gave me strength from within.

So, a heartfelt thank you for saying what I couldn’t. And for making me believe that there are people who understand us.

And Pangdemonium nails it again! It can be tricky handling the topic of sexual assault, but I really enjoyed how this makes one leave the theatre contemplating the issues of consent, the grey areas and ambiguity in adult dating and relationships, drawing perpetrator/victim lines. Loved how there were no clear-cut heroes and villains, and excellent characterisations of the complex emotional nuances pre and post-assault - extremely real reflection of how and why people may respond in seemingly irrational ways in such compromised situations. As a woman it makes you wonder how you would/should respond.

As a man, I suppose it makes one look in the mirror and question ones own masculine beliefs and views of entitlement towards women’s bodies. There were some real moments of discomfort, where you could almost hear that intense, deafening silence from the entire audience, either from resonating with their own lived experiences, or from internally going “oh this, this can’t be happening?!” Highly recommended!

Directed by
Tracie Pang

Book & Lyrics by
Greg Kotis

Music & Lyrics by
Mark Hollman

Starring
Adrian Pang
Andrew Marko
Benjamin Chow
Bright Ong
Edward Choy
Erwin Shah Ismail
Ethel Yap
Farhan Hassan
Jo Tan
Joash Tang
Kimberly Chan
Mae Elliessa
Mina Ellen Kaye
Muhammad Shafiq Haziq
Sean Ghazi
Seong Hui Xuan
Vanessa Kee

Pangdemonium’s hysterically funny satire is the most fun this review has had at the theatre in the past six months…with pitch-perfect direction form Tracie Pang….Eucien Chia’s neo-noirsh set, lushly lit by James Tan, masterfully supports by Jeffrey Yue’s sound design…the ensemble delivers stellar work, Ben Chow further cements his reputation as one of the great triple threats in Singapore theatre today.

Kudos to the entire cast, who were amazing…Mina Kaye and Benjamin Chow really sold the show with their vocals…one of the funniest musical you’ll see, this is not one to miss.

A powerhouse of a production from Pangdemonium at their peak with an all-round superb ensemble in this fun romp to end off their season.

Director Pang has assembled a juggernaut of a team that boasts a wonderful mix of old collaborators and new faces. It’s a delight watching veteran performers alongside comparative newcomers…Kaye dazzles, while Chow is especially memorable in the demanding number ‘Run, Freedom, Run’…things are rounded out by strong production values, with Eucien Chia’s film noir-esque set, and fine support by James tan’s lighting, Jeffrey Yue’s sound design and Andy Benjamin Cai’s vibrant choreography…Urinetown is one heck of an entertaining musical.

Pangdemonium, you sell drinks in the lobby, make a whole show about peeing, and then make us laugh SO hard for two hours. My condolences to the cleanup crew. Thank you for an absolutely brilliant show. I’ve never been so happy pissing myself.

A stellar cast with all my favourites. I have been following Pangdemonium for several yeas, and whatever they do, from drama to comedy to musicals, is world class. 

One of the most awesome shows I’ve seen in 10 years attending events in Singapore - a huge CONGRATS to the entire Pangdemonium team on this roaring success!

Thank you for such an enjoyable night. The show was sensational, very fun, highly entertaining, and the musical pieces and choreography were absolutely amazing.

Another brilliant piece by Pangdemonium! Funny and classic truly ending this Season with much to think about in our world today! Looking forward to the 2020 Season!

Another stellar production from the good people at Pangdemonium. This season’s offerings have been wonderful, with layered explorations of many social issues. Thank you for consistently making us think and feel.

Rousing musical numbers and emphatic dance moves masterfully executed by a brilliant cast, backed by a script with poignant and urgent messages. Superb entertainment. Bravo! 

A fantastic evening of dramatic caricature, nifty coordination, tight choreography, tuneful songs, songbird voices and uncanny stare. Thanks for a mirthful evening and making my heart leap.

If you haven’t seen this amazingly hilarious productions of Urinetown, you are missing out BIG! We absolutely LOVED THE SHOW! The team led by the incredible Adrian and Tracie Pang is outstanding! You will be in stitches. Funny, witty, entertaining, sparkling, original and ingenious. We were blown away by the calibre of the cast. Everybody should have a part of theatre in their life and we are looking forward to the next season.

Getting to this standard didn’t come easy. Some would’ve said we’d never get there: our talent pool & audience are too small. But everyone persisted. There’s this absurd, admittedly patriotic, pride that wells up at how well this troupe of mostly Singaporean actors has done this.

Directed by
Timothy Koh

Written by
Torben Betts

Starring
Jason Godfrey
Nikki Muller
Samantha Hum
Gavin Yap
Tia Andrea Guttensohn
Matt Grey

A successful first outing for director Timothy Koh…Muswell Hill encourages audiences to leave our baggage at the door the next time we attend a dinner party, or at the very least, learn to empathise and understand the unique circumstances others may be going through, in the hopes that we remain civil and focused on what we have, rather than the petty things in life that divide us.

Muswell Hill is a very timely play in the face of the crises we’re seeing around the world. Director Koh, along with his brilliant cast and crew, have put together a wonderful rendering of the play that engulfs you as though you’re another guest…an escape that will make you laugh because of its honesty.

This relatable and powerful play asks questions of its viewers in a way that is brutally honest. Because truth be told, there is a little bit of us in those characters. This dinner party is certain to send viewers home with food for thought.

Honest, funny and hitting a little too close to home (as it should), it challenged us to examine ourselves, our society.

Smart, funny, cringeworthy, shocking, thoughtful....A perfect night at the theatre

This dinner was woven with masterful performances, production and directorial choices…they absolutely nailed it.

Pangdemonium what a fantastic return! #muswellhill

A VERY FUNNY SHOW BUT SO ASTUTE IT WILL MAKE YOU SQUIRM AND CRINGE. BUT MOST OF ALL, IT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH - LOTS!!

Brilliant acting, directing, design, and production! Bravo!!

Bravo! What a thought-provoking, funny, satirical play about our times! Go watch this!!

120% worth it. Such a biting social commentary that compels us to hold a mirror up to ourselves.

Muswell Hill was a wonderful experience. It felt like my worst fears as a human being adapted & expressed on stage and I loved every second of it. What an experience. Great job to everyone who was a part of it. A true, genuine delight

The world may have changed, but the fact that Pandemonium hits it out of the park every damn time hasn't.

There were moments we laughed, and moments too close for comfort, exciting, not a dull moment. In true Pangdemonium fashion, keeping it real, putting it out there for us to think about.

A poignant play shedding light on the ever-increasing problem of mental health issues in society, and leaves an indelible mark on us with its message...Adrian and Zachary’s strong chemistry and stellar performances...Tracie Pang manages to capitalise on the dramatic moments to deliver maximum impact and emotion. Audience members are taken on an emotional roller coaster that makes us feel relief, shock, surprise and pain in quick succession. Tracie Pang skilfully executes Florian Zeller’s whiplash-inducing twists.

A disquieting, uncomfortable look at mental health issues among the young, its associated shame and stigma, and the importance of professional help in such circumstances...a stellar, nuanced performance by Adrian Pang, who skilfully navigates the many emotional registers - from earnest compassion, blistering rage, to helpless desperation - which gave tremendous depth to his character. Pang's heartbreaking performance here was a masterclass in acting.

Theatre doesn’t have to be entertaining, but it does have to make you think, and feel.This is a play and a production that simply has to be seen - harrowing and possibly even traumatic – depending perhaps on one’s own family background as well as what we know (or think we know) about mental health. Stimulating, expertly acted and beautifully produced. Excellent directing from Tracie Pang.

Adrian Pang and the cast of The Son were amazing. Great direction by Tracie Pang and the actors did a stellar job, including Zachary Pang who displayed much depth and maturity in his role. It was cathartic and at the same time gut-wrenching to watch this play. We have so much class and depth in our local theatre - if you start going, you will realise that there is a treasure trove of great theatre right here in Singapore. I may be a musician but watching and beholding the other art forms in Singapore that are now at very high levels, makes me a better musician. Another inspiring evening. Thank you Pangdemonium!

Was at your show tonight, and by the end of it, I was floored by the brilliant performance and haunted at how close I had come to a mirror through Nicolas’ journey. I came expecting to watch a good play, and I left feeling seen and heard, and not alone. Thank you and the team for putting together such an important production that, while difficult, is most necessary, and I am affirmed that the theatre is where truth really exists. I can safely say that The Son has changed my life. Thank you.

Pangdemonium delivered a stunning show…again. Seriously the best value theatre in Singapore that demands attention. Pangdemonium's Season Pass - you get a great intimate seat in three carefully curated contemporary and classic shows that are guaranteed to inspire conversation, touch your heart and tickle your funny bones. And every show has a relevant message that has the power to shift. This is the power of great theatre, and The Son is one such show. Powerfully brilliant.

So thankful we managed to catch The Son. It hit way too close to home. I was ugly crying throughout, but dammit, Pangdemonium, you guys hit it out of the park again. Thank you for speaking our stories with such truth and accurate portrayals. Thank you for shedding light on issues our society at large has such a hard time understanding. If you ever wondered why we need theatre and the arts, this is why.

Pangdemonium’s The Son is proof that the theatre scene in Singapore is strong and well worth a bigger fan base. Pangdemonium really ups the limits with this story and this topic. They aren’t afraid to really go hard and push the senses of the audience. To me, that’s what makes them worth every penny.

Pangdemonium’s The Son left me a complete mess. A good mess. The theatre’s ability to speak for those who are silent, represent those who are seemingly forgotten and to bring the masses to relate to another part of society, never fails to awe me. To the team of The Son - you guys are AMAZING and deserving of a standing ovation. The acting, the set, the execution was close to perfect. Thank you for giving life to something so wonderful and meaningful. We are blessed to be part of the audience.

This is not a shout-shout. This is me pleading with you to watch Pangdemonium’s The Son. Confronting, heart-breaking and so damn important. Thank you Tracie Pang and team for doing this.

Watched The Son tonight, and holy shit I was not prepared for it. Is was a very raw, believable and moving performance. The cast’s outstanding performance made me forget I was in a theatre. Too good for words and hard to forget. It left me with much to think about. A soul-nourishing experience. 

Riveting acting, bringing to life the struggles a parent faces helping a loved one with depression. And even better still accurately portraying the symptoms a person depicts with depression. Had me glued to my seat. Laughter, sadness, tears, anger…Never thought a play could make me flabbergasted. Never thought I could use that word to describe my astonishment of experiencing a gamut of emotions evoked from the stage.

Pangdemonium continues to push the boundaries of theatre and I love it. Wonderful cast, an innovative and beautiful set, great lighting, and above all, sharp delivery of an important message.