Your midsummer night's dream

Yesterday, I attended my first Penang Free School play in almost 50 years. Yes, it has been 47 years since I last watched Lady General Hwa Mu Lan which was staged by the school's Music and Drama Society at the SGGS Hall in 1971. Interestingly, I had caught up unexpectedly with the star of LGHML, my fellow schoolmate Lee Peh Lan, at a dinner at The Old Frees' Association just a few hours before the show. Somehow, the lady sitting at the same table as I looked familiar and suddenly it dawned on me that it was her. What a coincidence!

Anyway, I am digressing. After the dinner was over, I sped over to the Pinhorn Hall which was already filled with people. Mostly the schoolboys and schoolgirls themselves. But there was quite a number of Old Frees too. I found my way to the second row of the audience. No way was I going to sit at the back if I was going to enjoy the evening. Soon after eight o'clock, the hall lights darkened and the arrival of an Indian wedding procession marked the start of Your Midsummer Night's Dream.

Your Midsummer Night's Dream? Not....A Midsummer Night's Dream? Yes, the title of the play was Your Midsummer Night's Dream. Purposely retitled to reflect the MAD Society's adaptation and reinterpretation of the original William Shakespeare play that was laced with a huge dose of Malaysian elements and themes. Like, for example, the setting was unmistakably Malaysian. A Malaysian forest, without a doubt. With a Malaysian entertainment thrown into the works comprising an Indian dance and a Malay dance, and after which the appearance of a Chinese lion dance could not surprise me anymore. But all the characters remained Shakespearean to the core: Hermia, Lysander, Helena, Demetrius, Titania, Oberon, Puck and the whole lot of others.

Actually, I attended the play with an open mind, not knowing what to expect but like everybody else in the hall, we were mesmerised by the whole show. The boys and girls had put in such a lot of effort to rehearse and they pulled it off quite successfully. And where they could not fill in the roles themselves, they had lots of help from the Convent Green Lane Primary School and the Greenapple Ballet Academy. Maybe also from one or two other dance schools which escaped my notice. And definitely, the lion dance couldn't have been performed by the boys themselves, or could they?

Myself with Cheng hin. He never taught me in school
but he gets my respect for his utmost dedication to the
Music and Drama Society.

I must also comment that the MAD Society had welcomed back an old teacher Cheng Hin -- he must be in his eighties, surely -- to be their Artistic Director for this play. The play surely must belong to him. Cheng Hin has long been associated with the Free School's Music and Drama Society, and this return to the stage remains the highest recognition and honour given to him. (During the School's Bicentenary in 2016, he had wanted to present a play, the Caucasian Chalk Circle, to mark the occasion but there was simply no opportunity to slot it into the celebration.)

The night ended with a raucous rendition of the School Rally which was performed by the School Band. What moved me was the moment the whole hall stood up to sing without any inhibition. All around me, encircled by present Frees and Old Frees alike, we sung with gusto the old School Rally. Video and pictures appear below.