Hotel

by Alfian Sa'at, Marcia Vanderstraaten

A hotel in Singapore is opened at the turn of the century, when the island is still a jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Each day, new faces appear and swiftly disappear – guests and staff alike.

Every ten years, we check in to meet the hotel’s residents: Indian mutineers, Cantonese nannies, Malay film stars, Japanese soldiers, transsexual sex workers, wedding guests, suspected terrorists, and more. They live out the pivotal moments in their personal lives, as empires die and new ones are born from their ashes.

Even though the chambermaids clean up after them, readying the room for the next guests, traces of the past persist, and time reveals its cyclical nature. Ghosts communicate with the living, doubles are separated by decades, and a single moment of decision haunts the generations that come after.

An immersive, multigenerational epic, HOTEL explores the notions of empire, nationhood, migration and identity against the backdrop of a shrinking world. Spanning a century and performed over close to five hours in nine languages, this ground-breaking theatrical event highlights the eclectic energies born from the collisions between the old and the new, East and West, tradition and modernity.

213 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Amy ☁️ (tinycl0ud) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watching this on stage was the highlight of my week. The cast was incredible! I liked best the multiplicity of language used in all the scenes. Even for the script, if you open it to any page you'll see characters speaking, swearing, and cracking jokes in non-English. I was most impressed by the written Cantonese because do you know how hard it is to write an ordinary sentence in Cantonese? It's freaking hard unless you have native fluency. Like what is 冇??

The play is set in a single hotel room over the span of 100 years, starting from 1915, then 1925, etc all the way till 2015. Each scene is a snapshot of that particular decade—the music, the dress, and the social/historical/political landscape of that time. Depending on the characters and what position they occupy, different scenes use different languages in varying degrees. In one scene it was mainly Cantonese, in another it was mainly Japanese, and in another the characters spoke Hokkien unless their colleague was around then they switched to Malay.

Many of the characters were deliberately diverse, which complicates matters when it comes to marriage and nationality, during wartime or otherwise. One character's transgender status ties in with larger questions of what it means to belong in more than one category, to be plural and 'Other', ethnically or otherwise. There are some recurring characters (e.g., a young woman in an earlier scene is a grandmother forty years later, a young bellhop is a senior employee in a later scene) and for the stage production, I liked it when significant props reappeared. I had a great time and I hope they do another run in 2035 so I can watch this again and make it a family outing haha.

[Khairun Atika · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Don't you envy him? Having nothing to remember means having nothing to forget." - Hotel by Alfian Sa'at and Marcia Vanderstraaten

In 1915, a new hotel in Singapore has just opened, a transit of sorts to the jewel of the British colonies. It has stood the test of time as we check in on the guests of a particular suite every ten years. The residents of 308 represent people from all walks of life, near and far. A Cantonese nanny, Japanese soldiers, a prominent Malay film star, a terminally ill patient, an Indian spiritualist and even suspected terrorists.

Spanning a whole century, the room witnesses the pivotal moments of the lives of these residents, against the backdrop of an ever-changing Singapore, this enigmatic play highlights the critical events, changes and transitions in this fine city. Themes such as migration and separation, and personally moving accounts surrounding race, religion and sexuality all play a part in this wonderful tapestry of Singapore's progress and changes throughout the years.

While a play is, of course, meant to be enjoyed in his wondrous theatricality, this was an immense delight to read. Vibrant, enjoyable yet heartwrenching, it portrays the Singapore we know, the Singapore we remember and the Singapore we vividly imagine. It is a wonderful spectacle of all that we know, with traces of the people from all walks of our nation we might not truly know about. An instant epic and a classic, this was a true five-star experience.

[Alissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only regret that I don't know enough about Singapore's history to fully appreciate everything in this play (I don't even interact frequently with Singaporeans for work, which I have to explain every time I say that I'm employed here, simply because everyone's first question is something like "So you can speak Singaporean lah?"); but at the same time, I found it a nice amuse-bouche to dip your toes into Singapore's past.

(Ah, scratch that, my other regret is not having seen the actual play last year.)

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wasn't able to catch the play but this is the next best thing. The brilliance of the play still comes through in the text, as we follow the occupants of a hotel room over a century that parallels Singapore's changes. Highly recommended.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

History of Singapore condensed in a play. Creative and engaging.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite play now