REVIEW: When the Cloud Catches Colours — A Tender Portrait of Queer Resilience Across Generations

©️Photo courtesy of Drama Box. The production was first staged in 2023 by Drama Box in Singapore.

When the Cloud Catches Colours, written and directed by Chng Yi Kai, is a verbatim theatre that tenderly explores queer ageing, belonging, and the shifting notion of safety within Singapore’s LGBTQ+ community. Presented at the Barbican's Pit Theatre as part of Queer East Festival, the production invites audiences to sit with uncertainty, to recognise the delicate yet enduring threads that connect queer lives across generations.

Inspired by interviews with older queer individuals, the play follows Qing and E, two Singaporeans in their fifties facing the quiet devastations of loneliness, caregiving, and family estrangement. Against the historical backdrop of Section 377A — a colonial-era law that criminalized male homosexuality until its repeal in 2022, this piece asks urgent and universal questions: What does safety truly mean? What happens after decades spent on the margins, especially when legal change does not immediately erase cultural and familial barriers.

The set, designed by Lim Wei Ling, beautifully extends the play’s central metaphor. Translucent cloth spreads across the stage like drifting clouds, constantly reshaped into shelters that appear fragile but are endlessly rebuilt, an echo of queer resilience across generations. Behind these hazy veils, vibrant colours and something unmistakably authentic seem to shimmer, suggesting that even within structures that appear insubstantial, real warmth and life persist.

Language itself becomes part of the play’s texture. Dialogue flows naturally between English, Mandarin, Singaporean Hokkien, and Cantonese, reflecting not only Singapore’s linguistic diversity but also the deeply personal layers of the characters' identities. Switching between tongues feels less like translation and more like breathing, a rhythmic back-and-forth that heightens the intimacy of each memory shared.

Subtle cultural references, such as the inclusion of classic pop songs by Danny Chan, deepen the emotional resonance. For audiences who recognise them, they offer a coded comfort, a quiet moment of connection, like a cloud brushing against another in silent recognition.

Though the structure leans heavily on monologues, occasionally causing the narrative momentum to falter, the emotional clarity remains striking. E’s weary defiance as she navigates a home that simultaneously shelters and wounds her; Qing’s aching solitude as he tries to rebuild a sense of belonging after profound loss, these moments accumulate like soft raindrops, gradually soaking the audience in empathy.

Like the clouds it evokes, the play shifts, dissipates, and reforms. Yet by the end,When the Cloud Catches Colours leaves a lingering warmth: a reminder that even in precarious spaces, communities are built, rebuilt, and reimagined. One cloud nudges another. One soul stirs another awake.

©️Photo courtesy of Drama Box. The production was first staged in 2023 by Drama Box in Singapore.

©️Photo courtesy of Drama Box. The production was first staged in 2023 by Drama Box in Singapore.

©️Photo courtesy of Drama Box. The production was first staged in 2023 by Drama Box in Singapore.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Cast

E - Judy Ngo
Qing - Julius Foo

Creative team

Playwright and Director: Chng Yi Kai
Executive Producer(UK): Sarah Tang
Dramaturg: Kok Heng Leun
Set Designer: Lim Wei Ling
Lighting Designer: Genevieve Peck
Sound Designer: Hee Su Hui
Production Stage Manager: Celestine Wong
Stage Assistant: Ho Yan Xi
Surtitles Operator: Lynn Chia
Transcriber (Interviews): Cheng Xin Rui
Surtitles Translator: Hang Qian Chou
Fundraising Assistant: Lye Wai Leng
Publicity Assistant: Claire Lee Hui Min
Admin Assistant: Ling Lin

Perfomance:
Thu 24—Sat 26 Apr 2025, Queer East Festival

Address:
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS