Having a go at directing plays centred around healthcare themes
Published: 30 Jan 2020
Year 2 NUS Medicine student, Yap Shi Jed, recently directed two plays put up at the NUS University Cultural Centre as part of his hall production on 17 and 18 January 2020. The plays titled ‘Don’t Know, Don’t Care’ and ‘Don’t Forget to Remember Me’ are written by local playwright Haresh Sharma and reflect societal attitudes towards the elderly and loved ones with dementia. The plays drew a total of more than 600 people.
The first play, ‘Don’t Know, Don’t Care’ looked at a multi-generational family trying to deal with a grandfather’s terminal illness. The family members adopted a ‘don’t-know, don’t-care’ attitude, leaving the care-giving for their grandfather to strangers. Eventually, all the family members realised that they have to chip in and that their family bond was what ultimately hold them together. The play highlighted the invaluable lessons such as appreciating the unique viewpoints of every family member from a different generation.
On the other hand, ‘Don’t Forget to Remember Me’ presented the story of a daughter’s battle with her mother’s dementia. It is a touching social commentary that shows how people with dementia are often misunderstood and set the audience thinking about questions such as “How do you love someone who drives you crazy?” and “How do you love someone who may not even recognize you?”.
“A relationship shouldn’t start when someone is dying, it should start when they are living.” – Yap Shi Jed, Phase II NUS Medicine student
When asked about how the experience of directing the plays has helped Shi Jed in his journey as a medical student, he said that, “As a medical student, I mainly know of things from the patient’s perspective… However, after engaging people from the Alzheimer’s Disease Association, we learned a lot more about things from the caregiver’s perspective, something that we do not think about as often.”
He added that it was through the preparation for the production that he learnt about alternative perspectives and how it similarly takes a lot for caregivers to be able to accept their situation and come to terms with it, and adapt.
