The Class Room is no surprise to those who have attended Drama Box's The Lesson. Conceptualised by theatre practitioners: Jean Ng, Li Xie and Kok Heng Leun - and facilitated by the latter two - the experiential piece thrives off the inevitable drama of thrusting its audience members into a mess.
The Class Room is more akin to a simulation game with a set of rules and an outcome in mind. Taking on the role of social workers rolling out a new pilot initiative known as, A Better Life, audience members have been enlisted to review the conditions of this new assistance scheme. In providing $800 to 300 households, the initiative holds these targeted beneficiaries - teenagers, elderly and single parents of rental blocks - accountable to 4 conditions: no pregnancy; no new debts; no crime and no committing suicide. Failing which, the beneficiaries would have to pay back whatever aid they have been given.
Image retrieved from Artswok Collaborative Facebook page.
After listening to audio profiles of the 3 groups of residents, audience members were led through a process to unpack what they have been presented. First, we were asked to stand with the condition we believed most in or thought was the fairest. And then, we stood with the condition we thought should be scrapped. It was only then it was revealed that the residents have requested to remove one of the conditions to raise their chances of adhering to these conditions laid out in the initiative.
During my session, in a move predicted and encouraged by the facilitators, a group of seven audience members also moved aside to deliberate on a new plan to overhaul the current pilot. They suggested a strike off system and advocated for conditions that could be tailored to individual beneficiaries' circumstances.
Unfortunately, their proposal fell through by a small margin and we reverted to having to choose a condition to revoke. When we failed once again to secure an 80% consensus (34 audience members that afternoon), an audience member had to call a resident to apologise for the failure to remove a condition.
Much like The Lesson, The Class Room provided a dialogic space for the members of the audience to air their views and re-examine their own value systems. The gulf of our experiences and understanding manifested as the session drew on. With some of the younger audiences - a group of secondary school students - sweeping assumptions about the people they were serving were made. Would making such a condition about suicide push people over the edge instead? Are elderly folk really incapable of crime?
Apprehension among the older crowd was present as well, with them questioning the finer details - such as, if there would be other assistance schemes available. It became clear that playing social worker was not an easy task. While the facilitators highlighted audiences' assumptions and assumed ideal conditions in cases of uncertain technicality, one can't help but wonder if The Class Room had been too stilted to make way for more empathetic, informed and grounded responses.
Despite the initial confusion about the task at hand and the stakes involved, the intention of The Class Room's voting mechanism crystalises in the end. It was a reminder to audience members about the power they hold as an individual and as a collective if rallied together; An exercise for when the time comes. As Li Xie shares in the M1 Peer Pleasure programme, "We can either be part of the problem, the consequences or the solution. We do have a choice."
Performance attended: 1 August, 2.30pm