Playhouse 2013
Published: 18 Jan 2014
A History
An indelible hallmark of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, the annual Playhouse has long been an integral component of the arts scene at the School since its inception during its years as King Edward VII College of Medicine. Many professors, researchers and clinical educators took part in Playhouse during their medical school days. From its humble beginnings, the simple short 30-minute skits that characterised Playhouse in the early years have gradually evolved into large-scale, mesmerising productions featuring dance, elaborate props and music. This year was no exception and as always, the audience was left captivated and regaled by the efforts of all five batches of medical students.
M1 Production: Cardiac Arrest
Not suitable for the faint at heart, what the audience witnessed was gruesome to say the least! Respectable inspector Jones and his flirtatious sidekick, Constable Rhoades, attempted to crack a case so baffling that even Mata Mata cannot solve, meeting some odd yet riveting character along the way in the outskirts of Scotland Yard and beyond.
M2 Production: The Toilet Monologues
People are usually only appreciative of public toilets when they are in dire need of self-relief. For the most part, however, the honourable toilet goes unnoticed. People carry out rather personal activities in this shared communal space, and sometimes, just sometimes, the line between what is public and private gets a little blurred.
Set in modern-day Singapore, the skit involves around the lives of four characters – Andy, Simin, Ah Teck and Mdm Lim (a rather loud toilet aunty) who frequent a certain MRT toilet. Despite their distinctive personalities, they shared one thing in common: they are looking for something which they have lost. Their private life was slowly revealed as they embarked on their searches, and realised that they are not so private after all.
M3 Production: Saundra
Saundra is a girl with a rare condition that bizarrely affects her behavior and mannerisms, to the chagrin of her family and friends. The audience was entwined into the life of Saundra through the skit about her struggles and thoughts.
M4 Production: That’s What She Said
After a chance encounter at the Punchline Comedy Club, journalist and art critic April is hooked and becomes a regular. Her life is forever changed when she was invited to go on stage. April goes through a roller coaster ride and experience life’s many pleasures and letdowns.
M5 Production: Residency Evil
It is the year 2014.
A Doctor dissatisfied with the system that brought him up, begrudgingly drags himself to work. A brilliant Chinese medical student wears his heart on his sleeve, ready to face the challenges ahead of him with a spring in his step. A manipulative and ruthlessly efficient reporter braces herself for the biggest scoop she has ever laid her hands on. An old man cursed with Dementia is left behind by his loved ones and thrusted into chaos.
Meanwhile…Exercise Queenfisher is underway at the National General Hospital, the island’s sole health benefactor. What appears to be an emergency simulation turns out to be something sinister…
Four individuals trapped in a medical officers’ room, surrounded by impending doom, an entire healthcare system fraught with ruin, literally eaten from the inside, and a whole lot of carnivorous, hungry abominations. This is a story about trust, love, the meaning of happiness and … wait no scratch that. This is a story about zombies.
