Review: Those Who Can’t, Teach

It was a Saturday Night. On most nights, I will be at the boyfriend’s house either mugging or discussing philosophical matters like “Why do we work so hard for money?” Other nights, we would be watching movies. But I decided that on the 10th March, that we should be doing something different. Something which could potentially be more fulfilling, such as watching a graduating piece performed by the final year NAFA students.

Of course, through their very well-executed publicity plan, I already knew that they were putting up Haresh Sharma’s Those Who Can’t Teach , and I’ve watched the play being staged as part of the Theatre Festival in 2010. If I had to put it into one sentence on the essence of the play, I would say that it is a play that discusses issues pertaining to the education system in Singapore and stereotypical perception held against teachers and those without the “paper qualification”.

The script, the direction and the actors were so effective, that I remembered shedding buckets of tears at the end of the play. The themes and issues raised were touching and so relatable to me, as a teacher, a former students and maybe a “to-be” parent.

So with such a good script in hand, one might ask “What could possibly go wrong with this school production?” I say, good script will require good execution by both the director and actors, because not so far back in the past, I watched another play written by an equally prolific writer, Alfian Saat called Homesick and it was staged by my former club, Poly Stage Factor, and I think it is suffice to say that it makes me think twice about going for a school production again.

So you see, I had my reservation about going at first. That was until I saw the name of their director… Those Who Can’t, Teach- Written by Haresh Sharma and Directed by JONATHAN LIM!

I’ve worked with the man before in three productions, namely, Family, written by Leow Puay Thin, Unlike Some People, an adaptation of Edward Albee’s Lady from Debuque and Key Thuan Chye’s Swordfish + Concubine: The Fall of Singapura. He comes across as this very angry and scary director that makes me want to shit in my pants, sometimes. There are also other days that I get a glimpse to his tender side, that caring director person that always makes me cry at the end of rehearsals. But at the end of the day, he is a fucking (please mind the language) brilliant director whom I am proud and honoured to have worked with. And I know, that no matter how hopeless a student actor is, Jonathan will be there to pull his roots out and nurture him into an actor who at least has the ability to think critically.

And watching these students bringing the scripts to life, I’m glad that I made the effort to watch it. The set was made of simple everyday equipment- sofas, students’ tables and a computer. Nothing extravagant, nothing abstract about it. Everything is very straightforward and non-distracting. And so were the lightings and sound. Focus was given more towards the actors’ lines and the issues discussed within the script.

There were also some flashbacks that was made identifiable with the use of a projector indicating the dates those flashbacks occurred. Subtitles were always readily projected onto the screen when dialogues are spoken in other languages.

And guess what? The audience are made up of aunties, uncles and children and where the punch lines matters, you can hear the audience laughs at the appropriate moments which clearly indicate that the audience follows through the journey of the characters in script. Nothing too “cheam” for them! And for a performance that entertained and at the same time tickled your intellectual capabilities with relatable issues such as education system in Singapore, I paid relatively low price for it. Ten dollars to be exact.

This performance clearly shows that Arts and theatres can be made accessible to anyone and everyone in Singapore, regardless of age, race and most importantly level of affluence. Kudos to Jonathan and the casts. And kudos to Nanyang Fine Arts Academy for bringing Arts closer to the people.