There’s a new play on the block: Mad Forest.

Mad Forest is based on acclaimed British playwright, Caryl Churchill’s wonderfully written script. The play circles itself around the real-life events, which took place during the Romanian Revolution in 1989. The overbearing and hated dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu was overthrown and later executed. Blood and tears were shed. But were the people really free? The play digs deep into the emotional turmoil and the lives of two families as they struggled for life to be normal amidst all that was going on. It speaks of love, family and human dignity.

Sounds like a politically charged film that finds itself being chucked to the back of your brain almost instantly? Well, listen up and listen good. This is possibly one of those things in life where you go for and it gives you a direction in life or at the very least, gets you thinking; real hard about your life.

Seventeen years down the road, watch 13 fresh young faces from Young & W!LD – a division of W!LD RICE - take over 40 different characters.

This is not just another one of those plays that you should brush off as nothing new or dismiss it as not worth watching. Mad Forest is something so much more. It is something so, powerful that a single meeting with the director has set me thinking and left me hanging in anticipation for the play.

“My first few encounters were all very politically charged, very powerful; socially exciting. SO because of that, I’ve never let go of the idea that theatre is very socially important. It’s much more than just entertainment, that’s kinda what drives me now. It drives shows such as Mad Forest. Theatre has a vital role to play (in society).

(Mad Forest) made me, at that time; it made me grow up, very suddenly. In the 80’s, we were so protected. Now, thanks to the media and TV and the Internet, a lot of what goes on, is no longer hidden.

To see a play like Mad Forest, and to realise that these things just happened - months ago, or in that case, a year ago - it was shocking; that the world was so different, from what we were used to here. You realise that theatre can actually open people’s eyes.

We all (Young & W!LD) sat down and chose the play together. One of the first thing that came up in everyone’s minds was, ‘Oh my god, that’s exactly what’s happening in Burma now.’ It’s shocking to think that from 1989 till now, the world hasn’t changed. How did we let something this horrible, go on, for so long?  

I think Singaporeans should feel as the rest of the world feels; committed to seeing the world change. We shouldn’t be in our little bubble going ‘Oh, as long as Singapore’s fine…’

It’s not a play that’s so political that it can’t be understood… most of the scenes are about families, couples, trying to sort out their relationship – in the midst of a revolution. It’s about human beings and families. I think Caryl Churchill’s genius lie in making a play so political in a very personal way. If you know moms and dads and boyfriends and girlfriends, you’ll understand the show. They use the families to bring you slowly into the background. So, it’s very clever in that way. There’s no wall of like “oh, I don’t know Romania so I’m just blur”.

The challenge is for us to fully understand the script to the fullest extent. The actors have to be the one to step out of their own worlds first to try to embody the Romanian identity and the Romanian experience so the audience can watch the play and get a taste of it. The actors become the ‘guinea pigs’ and if they can successfully achieve it, the audience can share it.

One of the things we got the cast to do was to bring in photographs of the revolution; of Romania, whatever struck them. We made a whole wall – in the rehearsal room – and we just plastered it with these images – the tanks, the dead bodies, the people in the streets – so that everyday they come into the rehearsal, they have a black and white reminder that this is not just ‘play play’, this is not just acting.

Average user rating

   (0 vote)