Kho Yong Xiang

I was an assistant drama practitioner for the Theatre Arts Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) for Grade 2 - 5 pupils (aged 7-10) at the German European School, Singapore (GESS). Under the direction of Johnny Gillett (aka. The Journey Man), our team put together a musical, The Hound of Music . The team and the children having a sit-down session after a technical rehearsal. LEARNING POINTS My time with Manzadaba and GESS was a new environment for me in terms of working with young children from an international background - some more eloquent in German than English. The nature of it being a Theatre Arts CCA also gave the children free reign of choosing what they wanted to work on. While exciting, that also challenges us on what we accepted and what we compromised. The energy of the children was way higher with them constantly running about, lying on floors and doing gymnastics in the middle of class! It was a challenge and I learned a lot from observing how Johnny managed the cla...

As in my New Year commitment to continue to engage with the arts, I had my February hit of theatre, Dream Academy's  Detention Katong . With its catchy slogan about "Bad Girls Who Do Good", I was expecting a "Gossip-Girl-esque", "Mean-Girls-inspired", "Legally-Blonde-empowering" kind of all-girl feel-good musical comedy. Sadly, it came up short. The premise is simple. Amanda Chin (played by Valerie Choo) is a straight-lace student who has decided to become naughty and join detention overnight after catching her mother on a date with a secret someone. Her mischievous endeavours peak when they are published on the online portal, "Spotted" and spread like wildfire throughout her school. Despite the seemingly straight-forward plot and a strong opening number, the plot becomes sluggishly and disappointingly lacklustre. It is uncertain if this is because of  Detention Katong 's ambitious script that clumsily weaved toget...