SINGAPORE – A therapy group for post-war trauma survivors might not sound like musical theatre material, but a new show will use the genre to address the mental health of Singapore’s pioneers who experienced World War II.
Playwright Jonathan Lim, 48, says he was initially “apprehensive” when first approached by Musical Theatre Limited’s co-founder Stella Kon to adapt a novel essentially involving six senior citizens talking to a therapist.
“It doesn’t have the exuberance, the fantastical element or the huge melodramatic level that benefits a mainstream musical,” says Lim, when he read geriatric psychiatrist Kua Ee Heok’s novel titled Listening To Letter From America (2000).
But what drew Lim to the challenge was the dearth of stories around the Japanese Occupation, especially in the musical theatre genre, and the opportunity to write something which “challenges what you think musicals are and what they can do”.
Set in 1980s Singapore, Unforgotten The Musical follows a young Dr Weng, who encounters a sextet of seniors at Kranji Home who are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder related to the Japanese Occupation.
The story was partially inspired by a senior citizen Professor Kua had encountered in 1988, when he was part of the World Health Organisation’s research team for a global study on dementia.
Prof Kua, 74, says: “I met a samsui woman with a cut on her left arm and she told me she was slashed by a Japanese soldier during the war. After that, for every senior who came to the clinic, I would ask him or her, ‘Tell me your war stories.’”
The show’s protagonist – not unlike a young Prof Kua – is a doctor born after the war, hoping to learn more about this generation of Singapore’s war survivors.
Dr Weng will be played by Prof Kua’s real-life son, Timothy Kua, who is making his debut performance in a professional theatre setting.
Although the story is about war, Lim has decided not to turn it into a spectacle the way a musical like Les Miserables depicts a revolutionary period in French history.
Instead, this intimate musical is devoid of big dance numbers or historical re-enactments, and will focus on the act of oral storytelling.
It is designed, Lim says, for audiences to “indulge in this story the same way you would indulge in your grandparent’s stories”.
“These six people represent one bloc at first, but in a very short time, the audience starts to see how vastly different they are psychologically, the types of people they represent and the kind of histories that make them what they are.”
He adds: “We really hope that after watching this show, you will go home and ask (your parents and grandparents) more questions.”
Book It/Unforgotten The Musical
Where: Drama Centre Theatre, 03-01, 100 Victoria Street
When: July 28 to Aug 5, 7.30pm (excluding Sundays and Mondays), with a matinee show on July 29 at 2.30pm
Admission: $45, $60 and $80
Info: www.sistic.com.sg/events/unforgotten0823
