KR Hall Production: Those Who Can't, Teach #1
If you still haven’t heard about Those Who Can’t, Teach, where have you been?! Kent Ridge Hall Production (KRHP) has been hard at work the past few months (even over vacation) to bring to you a delightful two hour show adapted from the renowned local playwright Haresh Sharma from 1991.
What is Hall Production?
Hall Production is a play put up by Kent Ridge Hall biannually; its creative direction is led by KRX, and they are supported by a team of dedicated committee members. As it alternates yearly with KR’s Dance Production, you may not get the chance to see the next hall production (so you better catch this one! Look out for our giveaway at the end of this article).
What is this year’s production about?
The plot centres around several characters in the fictional Marine Parade Secondary School. The cast consist of Ryan Cheok Ann as Jali, Benson Choo as Raymond, Dadi Santosh Amoghraj as Teck, Karen Lee as Clare, Justin May as Zach, Tai Wei Yang as Lawrence, Lam Weiyi as Sulin, Usy as Kak, Katelyn Joy Chiu as Lim, Sellek Teng as Sabtu and Raelene Chin as Hana.
We (will) watch the female protagonist Sulin, a teacher at MPSS, struggle to nurture her students to the best of her ability. However, as we all know, life is not merely laden with one challenge at a time. She also faces clashes with her colleagues and her mother’s dementia, which has made caring for her difficult. Sulin is initially enthusiastic to raise the standard of education in MPSS, but will her ideals hold in harsh reality?
With mounting debates on the pressures on students today and recent news reports on teachers leaving the education service, Those Who Can’t, Teach offers an appropriate reflection on the multi-fold detriments of the education system. As part of the education system ourselves, perhaps it is timely that we sit down and appreciate the unsung heroes who work tirelessly for our benefit.
In this first instalment of the KRHP series, we look at the unsung heroes of the play and what they do behind the scenes to make the magic happen on stage.
What is the organization like?
The entire KRHP team is divided into a few departments in order to get the show going. The Producers (Han Xin Yi and Jess Qi Yingzi) oversee the production development and all other production aspect. They supervise the five subcommittees that are crucial to the success of the play.
The Directors (Justin May and Tricia Ding) are responsible for the creative direction of the play and for the performance of all the cast. The Business Director (Raelene Chin) spearheads the Business Department (Grace Liu, Constance Seah, Valencia Yeo, Megan Khoo, Firdaus Firlany, Jarel Toh, Kristi Hwang) to oversee the sales, marketing, and promotion of Kent Ridge Hall Production. They are assisted by the Finance Director (Grace Liu) & the Media Director (Firdaus Firlany).
The Sets Design Team (Fionna Chew, Rachael, Claudine Fang, Megan Gwee) is responsible for the beautiful sets on stage - they are involved in the planning, acquiring, maintaining, and executing of the sets so as to make the stage as beautiful as possible. The Props Team (Karen Lee, Charmaine Neo, Ryan Cheok Ann) is responsible for all the items used in the play., including all the tables, chairs and miscellaneous furniture that you see on stage.
The Wardrobe Department (Chloe Choy, Karyn Ooi, Emily Khoo) is responsible for all costume-related matters. They are also responsible in ensuring the beauty of the cast on stage. The Sound Director (Tharshwin Thanaskodi) - the only man in his department - is responsible for all the soundtracks, sound effects and other sounds you hear during the production.The Stage Management (Nat Tan Wei, Nicole Wong, Natalie Mun, Chen Zheying, Fionna Chew, Kuan Jintat, Jeremy Ong, Leng Chay Chye, Lim Kaywee, Rachel Lim, Sam Tan Yi, Zhuang Zijian) are the hands behind all on stage movement that you see. If you keep your eyes peeled, you might even see them on stage in a particular scene.
Zooming in on the team you guys may have interacted with the most: the Business Committee. They have hustled hard to obtain a lot of sponsors for the team. Some of these partners include - Swensens, Kim BBQ, Meiji, The Flower Factory, Foodpanda, Xorex Press and many others. Apart from working with corporate partners, they also secured funding from the National Youth Council & NUSSU Council Funding.
This committee has also been churning out merchandise for sale. Remember their door-to-door sales and the selling out of their cute localized stickers and handmade earrings? Well, you might like to know that most of the sticker designs were hand drawn by Megan from D block and Constance from E block! As for the beautiful pastel-coloured earrings, they were handmade out of clay and dye by all 8 of the committee members. It actually took them around 30 hours to knead the mould and make about 150 pairs of earrings, accomplished through KRHP’s dedication to keep the show LIT (Fir’s choice of word).
What’s one special thing about this year’s Hall Production?
Just to throw in some food for thought, you may have noticed that the title of the play does not read smoothly: Those Who Can’t, Teach. Why the comma? This stems from the famous playwright George Bernard Shaw’s quote:
“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”
This quote suggests that people who are able to do something well can do that thing for a living, while people who are not able to do anything well make a living by teaching. Sounds offensive, doesn’t it? It implies that the field is full of professional failures who succeed nowhere, and bring that same non-performance to the classroom. Maybe you’ve heard this common criticism of teachers and public education in general. Well, to see KRHP’s take on this issue, simply head over to their website to buy your tickets now!
Show Information
Tickets: $25 per ticket (GST inclusive), $22 each for bundles of 4 or more tickets
Venue: Anglo Chinese Junior College Faith Centre for Performing Arts
Opening Night - 23 February 2018 @ 7.30pm
Matinee Show - 24 February 2018 @ 2.00pm
Closing Night - 24 February 2018 @ 7.30pm
Giveaway
If you’re not willing to spend the money, fret not, for KRonicles is *giving away a pair of exclusive VIP tickets with every article posted in this 3-part series on KRHP.*
All you have to do is:
Simply like KRHP’s Facebook page here
Share the page on your Facebook account with a caption of what you’re most looking forward to seeing in the Hall Production
We will pick a winner in the week of each article being published and contact you through your Facebook account, so stay tuned and stay connected!
Special thanks to Raelene and Firdaus for their input in this article. :)