Photo: Joel Lim @ Calibre Pictures

Fresh from its successful re-staging of Faith Ng’s Normal, Checkpoint Theatre continues its 15^th anniversary celebrations with Frago, a new play by associate artist Lucas Ho. 

Inspired by his reservist experiences, and billed as “a timely look at [an] intergral rite of passage for Singaporean men and the forging of bonds between those not bound by blood,” I caught up with Lucas to find out more about the play.

What inspired you to write the play? Was there a specific incident that happened in your life that compelled you to write it?

There wasn’t a specific incident that led to my writing of the play. But as I returned for reservist year after year, I observed some changes and shifts that men in my unit were undergoing as they began to make their way through their 20s into their 30s.  Some were getting married and settling down; some were contemplating career changes and further studies; and some were simply trundling along. I was fascinated by the different ways in which each of them grappled with adulthood and manhood.

Other playwrights such as Michael Chiang and Chong Tze Chien have also set their plays within the context of National Service to explore societal issues. What is it about the military context that makes it a fertile ground to explore such issues?

Tze Chien’s Charged used national service to examine uncomfortable truths about race relations in Singapore, while Michael Chiang’s Army Daze focused on enlistment as a rite of passage, and the confounding and absurd ways boys stumble into manhood. I love both plays dearly, and I think what drew them to write about national service is that it gathers men with apparently very little in common in the same space. And then these men have to go through some very intense experiences together, which brings certain things into sharper focus: their values systems, their long-held beliefs, their fears and their joys. And those things can greatly cleave people together or apart.

What happens when those men—who have had these very intense shared experiences —are made to come together and re-live them over and over again? How does age lead them to perceive their youth? How does their perception of each other shift? Those were things I was interested to explore. Frago is focused on the reservist experience. Reservists essentially do exactly what the full-time NSmen have to do in terms of physical activities and operational exercises, but in a very compressed amount of time every year, over a period of 10 years.

Are you very involved with the rehearsal process? Having watched the actors bring your script to life, has it made you see your own reservist experience in a different light?

We only just started rehearsals, but Huzir has requested that I be present especially during the early phases to serve as a “technical advisor” to the cast because the play is set specifically within an armoured infantry unit. After listening to the actors at our first table read, I found myself wishing that my reservist mates and I could have had deeper conversations, instead of skirting around talking about the things that truly mattered to us.

What advice would you give to someone who is about to enlist, or about to go through reservist for the first time?

NS is a rare opportunity to meet people you normally wouldn’t, beyond your socio-economic circle. So seek to get to know and understand those around you as much as possible. In this day and age, we really do need to listen to each other more, and if men put aside the anger and frustration so often associated with NS, we can pave the way for a more empathetic version of ourselves.