Kho Yong Xiang

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 journeyin...

Over the 2 weekends of August 2025, I joined the first Playback Theatre Core Training, led by Michael Cheng. I revisited the basics of the applied theatre form, Playback Theatre. The course was under Singapore Drama Educators' Association, its first as the affiliate school of Centre for Playback Theatre. Pictures from our mini showcase on Day 3 which we had titled, "The More We Get Together". Permission has been sought from the Teller and the actors involved, please do not circulate the pictures further. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Singapore Drama Educators Association (@sdeaofficial) The first batch who completed the Playback Theatre Core Training. BACKGROUND Playback Theatre is an applied theatre form where audience members are invited to share their personal stories. The Playback Theatre troop would then reenact the story through improvisation and spontaneity. Usually the performances are done wit...

Beyond Social Services' The Community Theatre presents its latest offering, The Block Party , at the Esplanade's Theatre Studios as part of M1's Peer Pleasure Youth Theatre Festival. Image retrieved from Artswok Collaborative Facebook page. Unlike The Community Theatre 's previous Forum Theatre piece, Sayang , this new devised piece showcases stronger plot devices that differ from Sayang 's more naturalistic approach. Directed by Rizman Putra, The Block Party carries the youths' stories through songs, dance and carefully thought out metaphors. The grievances of the rental flats' void decks were presented alongside a break-dancing Flat. The plight of living in a tent was shared during a seemingly innocent "dramatic math" lesson. And the helplessness residents are made to embody to justify their access to various assistance schemes was presented through a re-written H-E-L-P rendition of the renown Hi-5 tune, L-O-V-E. This is the beauty ...

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 li...

I also went to watch The Community Theatre's  Sayang , a piece by youths from rental flats that Beyond Social Services serve. As a Forum Theatre piece,  Sayang  is obviously void of a happy ending. Jamil's life is upside down. His mother has passed on and his father works late hours to support them. He is always told to take care of his younger sister which leaves him little time to embrace his youth. As Jamil flirts with the fringes of the law in attempt to reclaim some freedom, he catches his father with a new woman. How will life get any better? And that is the challenge posed to the residents of Jalan Bukit Merah. In a multipurpose hall set up to be a theatre, audience members were invited up to become the show's characters and enact their proposed solutions. As people performed what they thought and discussed what they saw, a conversation started. How should Jamil's father be speaking to his son? How should people around them (neighbours, the social worke...