Mdm Wong dreams in “Don’t Forget to Remember Me”
by Yap Shi Jed
Phase II NUS Medical Student
When I had first decided to be part of the King Edward VII (KEVII) Hall’s community, I told myself that I would try something new, something I would never be able to get to do outside of school. I wanted to give acting a shot and got a spot as on the cast in last year’s KEVII HallPlay 19/20 production.
Grandpa collapses in “Don’t Know, Don’t Care”.
I was approached to take over as the Director in my second year. To be honest, I was very hesitant to do so as I was nowhere near the artistry of the previous director, but he, together with the rest of the committee, gave me their support and the confidence to lead it.
I did not start out knowing that I wanted to highlight themes relating to dementia, or palliative care. Rather, I simply did some research into what the local arts scene had to offer. While I was flipping through scripts found in the library, I chanced upon these two works in an anthology by Singapore playwright Mr Haresh Sharma. Perhaps it was my background as a medical student, or a prior attachment in the dementia ward at St. Andrew’s Community Hospital, that allowed me to relate to aspects of the script.
When I first started directing, I felt like I was thrown into the deep end of the pool. I had to rely on whatever I had gone through in rehearsals with the previous director to guide the cast members. All the cast members I had this year were freshmen, whom at first glance but seem less experienced than seniors who had been in Hallplay for a couple of years. But this turned out to the best thing for me when it came to directing: I loved working with the freshmen, and enjoyed watching them grow! They are a ridiculously rowdy bunch of people with great chemistry together trying to hanker them down to serious work gave me the occasional headache. But boisterous as they were, everyone put in time and effort, despite busy schedules. Being able to watch us grow as actors and friends also kept me going.
Grandpa and Mother reconcile in “Don’t Know, Don’t Care”.
In our plays, we portrayed the vulnerabilities of the caregiver and also examined the varying attitudes of family members’ towards taking care of the elderly who are terminally ill.
Cast of ‘Don’t Know, Don’t Care’ and ‘Don’t Forget to Remember Me’
Since we were portraying elderly people with dementia as well as terminal illnesses, I wanted it to be as accurate as possible and hence wanted the cast to interact with those who were affected.
One of the highlights this year was our partnership with the Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA). Not only did the staff at ADA hold a talk for us, they also went the extra mile to organise a volunteering session for the cast, to befriend patients with dementia and their caregivers.
Many of us have this preconception that all caregivers are capable and completely functional. But the reality may be far from that. Sometimes, caregivers start out just as lost as the people they care for and it takes a lot from them to come to terms with their situations. Speaking to the caregivers really helped put things in perspective for me and taught me a lot about putting myself in the shoes of others.
Just as the characters in “Don’t Know, Don’t Care” and “Don’t Forget to Remember Me” made their generation gaps smaller, I hope our audience are able do the same for themselves.