Do Not Disturb – Teacher’s Day

Publicity photo for “Teacher’s Day”

I caught 2 of the four plays staged as part of the Do Not Disturb (DND) stage version last night – “Brunch” and “Teacher’s Day”. There were several reasons why I was looking forward to the production. K Rajagopal – a friend and filmmaker was in one of the plays, I was also interested to see how the director, writer and actors pull off the premise – an older, younger homosexual relationship.

Most relevantly, it was for “work” – like DND (both the stage and miniseries version) the stories were set in a single hotel room, and that is similar to ‘Threshold’ – the next short film I’m working on. In fact, when the Art team was doing research on local productions set in hotel rooms, some of their references came from the set built for the miniseries 3 years ago, directed by Kelvin Tong.

Unlike the miniseries however, this stage version had different stories and writers, the set was pared down to the centerpiece of a hotel room – the queen sized bed. (Rotatable in fact, which adds to the kink)

I was actually quite pleasantly surprised. Even though I was there mainly for one, both plays were enjoyable. The structure of the first piece ‘Brunch’ kept the piece engaging. The premise and boldness in the staging of the second kept me glued to my seat.

Of course, as with short plays, things are compressed “instant”-ised, whetting the appetite and leaving the audience desiring more – not necessarily something bad though. There was so much potential for development in ‘Teacher’s Day’, but the instant format of the show was helped by Kaylene Tan’s signature staccato-ed succinct poetry and potent imagery – a road covered with the sickly sweet frangipanis, this is one image that’s going to stick for some time.

Director Kheng Hua mentioned during the post show dialogue that it was her intention not to show the younger boy as the “victim” but an accomplice and willing party in the relationship – a wise and matured choice. Could still sense the audiences shifting a tad uncomfortably in their seats when the two characters shared a kiss, or a graphic aural sex scene.

Tickets were steep though, but the house was filled. I wish more people could be allowed to have the opportunity to watch these plays – was an evening well spent.

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