Below is the first of 2 scripts, one from Secondary 2/A and another from 2/5.

These scripts are the result of improvisations and research that the students did in the first 6 weeks. They were written in small collaborative groups and pieced together by the facilitator, Ms Noorlinah Mohamed.

 

Secondary 2A: Untitled.

Using shadow play, this performance piece was inspired by the Haw Par Villa pictures and research on Di Yu (18 Levels of Hell in Chinese Mythology).

 

Choral:              White shoes white shoes off to School.

                        Teacher chases you like a fool.

If you fail to bring your book,

Teacher reels you in with a hook

And drowns you in a bloody pool.

White shoes white shoes off to school

Running is of no use.

 

Boy:                 Ma, do I really have to go to school?

 

Ma:                   Yes.

 

Boy:                 But why? All the girls stay home.

 

Mei Mei:            Yah, why can’t I go?

 

Mei Sin:            Me too?

 

Mei Li:              And me?

 

Ma:                   Ah ya, I don’t have so much money to send all of you.

                        Your brother will go first. He is the oldest.

 

Mei Mei:            How about asking Uncle Tao to lend us some money.

 

Mei Li:              He is rich, his daughters and sons all go to school.

 

Ma:                   No good to ask your uncle for money. He has his own family to

support. We need to depend on ourselves. Your brother will do well

and one day will get a good job.

 

Mei Sin:            When will we have money to go to school Ma?

 

Ma:                   Don’t ask so many questions. Go bathe and then help me prepare

breakfast. (Ma leaves scene)

 

The girls:           Ko, what is school like?

 

Boy:                 Terrible. The teacher beats you with a cane if you don’t study hard.

                        Then, he makes you stand on the table with a book on your head and

                        makes you say the multiplication sums over and over again.

                        Sometimes, he writes on the black board and makes you clean it with

the towel. But you must wet it first otherwise the board won’t be clean.

And then for lunch, you sit outside – that is the fun part. You get to

play.

 

Mei Sin:            Don’t you learn anything?

 

Boy:                 Yeah, learn so many things until your brain burst ah.

 

The girls:           Brain burst?

 

Boy:                 Yeah, until your stomach ache ah!

 

The girls:           Stomach ache?

 

Boy:                 Until your eyes pop out.

 

The girls:           Eyes pop out? What are the teachers like?

 

Boy:                 The teachers’ eyes are intimidating. They have long and sharp nails. They

clothes are disheveled all the time. They are as fierce as bears.

 

Girls:                Bears!

 

Boy:                 Told you. School is terrible.

 

Mei Mei:            Cannot be true. I heard school is a good place. You learn a lot of things

to make you clever.

 

Boy:                 Ah ya, I am clever already. I’m your older brother, I know what is the

truth.

 

Mei Mei:            No, cannot be. Liar, liar. I want to go to school.

 

Boy:                 You don’t trust your own brother, is it? Come here, I’ll beat you with

the stick!

 

Ma:                   Ah boy, go to school! Or else I’ll cane you.

 

Boy:                 (sigh) Ok Ok, going.

 

Choral:              White shoes white shoes off to School.

                        Teacher chases you like a fool.

If you fail to bring your book,

Teacher reels you in with a hook

And drowns you in a bloody pool.

White shoes white shoes off to school

Running is of no use.

 

And the Nightmare begins . . .