An eventful evening

This evening, I found myself back in an unfamiliar territory for a play, staged by SMU's theatrical production house - Stageit! .. titled Lao Jiu aka 9th born. Performance was staged at Jubilee Hall on the 3rd floor of Raffles Hotel, as you can tell from the location itself the place looks grand and exudes of old colonial furnishings.

The play sets itself in the 80s describing a boy, the only son amongst his 8 elder sisters who gets an a rare opportunity to score for a scholarship. He undertakes pressure from every member of his family (total of 18) to bring "pride and glory" to the family name since paper qualifications is perceived to bring in wealth and success.. even till modern day

However his true passion lies in puppetry, a hobby he inherited from his dad's pal. Sad to speak, traditional art and culture is a dying fad and one can barely earn a living out of, as such, lao jiu found himself torn between societal conformity and his passion for puppetry.

A particular highlight came in the part when he described those who abide by the social norm to focus and excel only in paper qualifications as puppets manipulated by the society - to study , to graduate as society's elite workhorse.

The dilemma faced by Lao Jiu seems so true and evident in each and everyone of us, be it a student blindly aiming for that straight set of 'A's .. or one who has ventured into working society, dreadful of the repetitive and mundane kind of lifestyle.