The Birthday Book Launch

This year, the Drama Elective Programme (DEP) Class of 2020 had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the launch of the 2019 edition of The Birthday Book. The book is a publication by The Birthday Collective, which publishes an annual collection of essays responding to a thematic concern that varies from year to year. Each year, the number of writers matches the age of Singapore. The 2019 edition presents 54 responses to the idea of “Narratives Undiscovered and Underway”, where 54 contributors reflect on the narratives of their lives, and pen down the stories that define them, their communities, the causes they champion, and Singapore’s collective future.

During the launch, the Class of 2020 presented a devised dramatic sequence of a reworking of the historical anecdote of William Farquhar killing a crocodile in the Bras Basah river, told from the perspective of the crocodile. The piece combined dialogue and elements of physical theatre. This gave the students a fantastic opportunity to be exposed to new forms and styles of theatre and was a novel experience for our JC1 class. Through the creation of the piece, the class workshopped with DEP instructors in exploring how they can adopt an alternative physicality to represent non-human entities. Overall, the students were proud and grateful to be a part of both a celebration of national identity, and an experience that developed them as performers.

To God be the Glory, The Best Is Yet To Be!

Reuben Goh