The Lonesome Death of Eng Bunker
By Tobi Poster-Su
"I’m just trying to figure something out."
The Omnibus Theatre, September 2024
Presented by Wattle and Daub Figure Theatre with Kakilang
On January 17th 1874, Eng Bunker woke to discover his brother Chang was dead. The twin brothers, Siamese immigrants and entertainers who had carved out an uneasy space in the rotten heart of the American dream, were conjoined by a band of cartilage and shared a liver. This is the story of Eng’s final hours; alone for the first time in his life.
Using puppetry, music and striptease, this is a gothic horror about siblinghood, diaspora and the brutal cost of assimilation; about being entirely alone in the universe, and about waking up chained to a dead body.
Writer/Performer: Tobi Poster-Su
Director: Iskandar Sharazuddin
Associate Director: Rebecca Goh
Set and Costume Designer: Erin Guan
Set and Costume Design Assistant: Janne Legaspi
Lighting Designer: Cheng Keng
Sound Designer and Composer: AJ Turner
Composer: Tom Poster
Movement Director: Jasmine Chiu
Puppet Designer and Maker: Aya Nakamura
Puppet Maker: Kayla Teodoro
Puppet Making Assistant: Jennifer Dingwall
Assistant Puppet Maker: Bok Li and Katya Markson-Matthews
Stage Manager: Vivi Wei
Production Manager: Brent Tan
Producer: Natalie Chan
Reviews and Feedback
“⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Needless to say, this is puppetry at the top of its game… This is a show about bodies – both delightful and terrifying. There was much discussion around Body Horror in the post show talk – but I would argue that terror and tenderness are held in equal regard here. While the show is not disabled-led, the queer lens of the body upholds respect for the disabled characters in a truly mesmeric way. The team challenges dehumanisation by humanising the objects around them. Whether it’s the fetishization of the Asian body, or the abjection of the Disabled body, or the ownership of bodies, Poster-Su takes the problematised body and explodes it. The visible humanity in the research pays off expertly. I think the commitment is palpable and the whole thing is a triumph.”
— George Collins for A Younger Theatre
“⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ghoulishly grotesque, cheekily funny and exquisitely designed, this story of sibling loss is also a visceral, deeply investigative contemplation of identity, colonialisation and the horrific cost of assimilation. This is a PhD-level contemplation of deeply serious issues. It’s an exploration of identity, normality, dehumanisation, prejudice, nature and nurture, commodification: and the audience are at the core of it.”
“⭐⭐⭐⭐ The 60 minutes solo performance is provocative and raunchy in an absurd way, weird and quirky, and a bizarre, fun and amusing entertainment… The mix of puppetry and variety show format is catalyst to the exploration of the serious themes of sibling loss and being isolated, assimilation of eastern beings into western culture, racism and racial oppression, and the dehumanising act of commodifying and commercialising human trade.”
“⭐⭐⭐⭐ Across an enchanting 60 minutes, writer and performer Tobi Poster-Su is at one with his puppets, bringing each figure — no matter how big or small — to life with a thrumming heartbeat. From the smallest tea bag to the largest human-like puppet, Poster-Su takes an extraordinarily creative approach to embodying the aching sorrow Eng feels for his deceased brother.
Gory, morbidly witty, and hauntingly compelling, The Lonesome Death of Eng Bunker is a captivating confrontation of identity, the immigrant experience, and loss, steered by a remarkably skilled puppeteer.”