Over the May Day weekend, I attended a 3-day Level 2 Playback course on Scenes, the long form within Playback Theatre. The course was led by Principal Trainer, Michael Cheng, and Assistant Trainer, Renee Chua, under the SDEA CET – School of Playback Theatre, an affiliated school with the Centre for Playback Theatre.
BACKGROUND
Playback Theatre is an applied theatre form where audience members are invited to share their personal stories. The Playback Theatre team would then reenact the story through improvisation and spontaneity. This course builds on my prior Core Training in 2025.
Scenes (also known as, Stories) is one of the long forms within a Playback Theatre performance where audience members are invited to share a longer story with personal significance. Classically, Scenes make up the latter half of the playback performance and is where the community dialogue and sharing deepens.
LEARNING POINTS
One of the greater learning points has been about the value of journeying together in a Playback team / group. Up until the lead up to "In Between" (2026), my practice with Playback had been through the gracious open-rehearsals and jams by various Playback groups in Singapore. However, as we explored and developed a poetry/language with chairs, cloth and subtext, I saw the importance of cultivating a group vocabulary or aesthetic. I've been thinking that this would lead to more nuanced offers on stage especially with trickier stories. But also, I wondered if it would give more reassurance for the Playbackers with less experience in performing.
We were very fortunate to be joined by Playbackers from around Asia, 1 from Thailand and another from India. I was lucky to have shared the stage with them for some re-enactments. In the room with other new faces, I thought the different backgrounds and experiences also brought a fresh perspectives and richer offers. I look forward to other opportunities to be able to expand my practice in collaboration with other creatives from different backgrounds.
APPENDICES: COURSE SCHEDULE
Date | Time | Module(s) | Venue |
1 May 2026 (Fri) | 9.30am - 5.30pm | Foundations of Scenes
Ensemble warm-up and review of Playback forms. Mapping teller narratives: arcs, turning points, emotional beats. Micro-Scenes: practising short fragments to sharpen timing and transitions. Reflection on how Scenes serve tellers and audiences.
| Goodman Arts Centre |
2 May 2026 (Sat)
| 9.30am - 5.30pm | Crafting and Sustaining Scenes Characterisation and ensemble collaboration. Weaving abstraction/poetry with naturalistic enactment. Uncast actor choices and interventions.
| Goodman Arts Centre |
3 May 2026 (Sun) | 9.30am - 5.30pm
| Integration Advanced scene work: pacing, shifts, resolution. Holding complexity and multiple characters. Ethics and care in long-form storytelling.
| Goodman Arts Centre |
*Includes lunch break