Room On The Broom!

I've just caught Room On The Broom last weekend. A really delightful piece - puppets are brought to life, catchy music and a innocently silly story.

Witch goes for a ride with her cat to slay the dragon, witch picks up some friends along the way, cat get's jealous of her new friends, disaster strikes, cat saves the day, everyone lives happily ever after.

What really impressed me was how they simulated flying on a broomstick, tossing and turning through the air, landing and taking off...without the luxury of special effects and mechanisms! The actors looked like they were having so much fun jumping, wooshing and dancing for an hour!

I haven't seen a lot of children's theatre (although I'm sure my job will introduce me to a lot more), but there is one interesting observable difference in the behaviour between children and adults.

There were a couple of scenes where the actors were looking up in blank space, in the void behind us. Being adults, we know that they were just simulating a scene where they see a witch flying through the sky. But the kids... they all turned around in such earnest and the little gullibles actually thought there was something flying behind us!

Such is the mind of child... malleable and will believe everything you tell them. I have heard that the minds of children are not able to tell the difference between fact and fiction and as yet they are still incapable of independent thought. Sometimes it pains me to learn that the children we have are undergoing such a low quality of education faced in our schools and kindergartens. Let’s face it: the teachers in PAP kindergartens and public schools aren’t what you would call “excellent communicators”. Granted, the syllabus has been tried, tested and replicated with success: no problem with that. But in such a public environment, you don’t know the ideologies, beliefs and culture the teachers are unknowingly spreading to your child. Imagine dragging a piece of tissue across a seemingly clean desk.

It’s observable – look at the behaviour of children between public and private schools, now tell me that there isn’t a difference. Quality of education equals quality in communication. I am ashamed to admit that most of the teachers I have encountered in my life had such a poor command of linguistic skills. They don’t teach kids to stand-up for what they believe in, they don’t teach them to speak-up for their own defence, they teach them to avoid conflict, they teach them to shy away, they teach them, especially, to do as their told and not to question authority. You may think that it’s easier to manage them then, but give them a few years when they gain independent thinking, you loose all their respect. We’re raising generation after generation of sheep. Sheep who lead miserably mediocre lives and do nothing to contribute to the progress of culture, nation and human-kind.

So yes, Room On The Broom – lovely production, it’s over now in Singapore but do catch it if it comes back again!