"Not Children" & "Born Innocent"
"Youth" seems to be the theme of Raffles Players' offerings for our annual doublebill.
"Born Innocent" was written by Oon Jit Fong and first staged in 1994 for Drama Feste, representing Buckley house. It's an ensemble piece reflecting how three less fortunate youngsters faced up to life's inequalities. Rahul Ahluwalia plays Jack, a boy born without arms. Jack compensated by focusing on what his legs can do. Anish Kumar Hazra is Billy, who isn't very bright. Billy would be happy with any job he could find, if only his own father could stand the sight of him. Muhammad Nabil Muhamed plays Peter, a blind lad.
Stories about the handicapped are in abundance, and the cast and crew in the production must really work at making us believe that they do care. Teacher director Ms Quah decided to re-cycle the ladders used in an earlier SYF and made the sets work harder this time. The ladders became mountains, morphed into windows, fell like dominoes to crush poor Peter, and rose as platforms for ensemble to voice their reflections. Attention was also paid to explore the stage space to the maximum: height, depth, width were not ignored. Within these were also symbolic movements, moments taken from reality, and space was transformed quickly but clearly. The choice of music too was spare but achieved the drama necessary.
The ensemble is made up of seniors, and their maturity shone (kudos to Julius Foo's training). Each actor had snippets of short but important lines, and each made the most of their two seconds of speeches. Yet, everyone played as part of the bigger picture.
In the end, Billy, Jack and Peter found there were walls that they simply could not overcome. But the production certainly showed that, even within the confines of a small stage, a little ingenuity could pack the space with a universe of ideas.
"Not Children" was originally written by Wong Chen Seong and first staged in 1999 for Drama Feste, representing Buckley house. Seeing so many enthusiastic juniors wanting to play a part, Ms Quah decided to expand the roles to allow as many to participate as possible. Mr Fong brainstormed with the Players to explore ways to make a story about a violent rebellion of youths as they destroy a rigid system created by village elders. Student director Cheng Yi worked closely with Mr Fong to re-mould "Not Children" into a cautionary tale of outsiders wrecking havoc on a society with their good intentions and ignorance.
Once the script was expanded to include a meddling teacher and his two students from the neighbouring city, Cheng Yi got to work with the inexperienced but enthusiastic cast. Soman Singh from Presbyterian High plays the pivotal role of Daughter, as she fought her parents' wishes to marry her into a loveless marriage. S R Sibi and Leow Yao Guang had lots of fun playing the devil's advocate, egging her on with their righteous city folk slogans about women's liberation while snubbing the villagers' way of life. Ng Shi Yang, though young, has put on his most serious face to pull off a believable village elder. Paul Tern showed enough self-doubt to make us forgive the Man, who unwittingly brought on the destruction with a simple desire to learn from the villagers.
Was our decision to involve the juniors justified? The audience was appreciative, and the tickets sold very well thanks to the tireless efforts of Ms Sim. At the end of the day, the cast and crew had their first taste of a big production. The moments when they got the audience to laugh or gasp with them, and the experience will surely stay with them and be an endless source of inspiration and encouragement for greater stuff in their future.
For what's left to remind us when youth and innocence are lost? We still have the memories that we'd tried, and all the lessons that made us wiser along the way.
Otto Fong
