The Crucible

What is going to be the next big thing? This tantalising question drives everyone from investors to pop-culture disciples, and there’s something undeniably exciting about gambling on that risky start-up company or witnessing the birth of a superstar. Maybe we enjoy soaking in the anticipation, being there from the very beginning or feeling like we had a role in the newfound success, but whatever the cause, we can’t help but scan the horizon.

Singapore Repertory Theatre keeps its gaze firmly focused on the future with The Young Co., its two-year theatre programme for 17- to 25-year olds. Members of the company are selected from open auditions held annually, and the SRT name draws in hordes of hopeful thespians. Only 20 are selected in a process that most admit is nerve-wracking. Nikko Aw, a student in her second year of the programme, remembers her excitement upon being accepted: ‘I was really happy when I got in. I was thinking: Oh my god, I’m in SRT!’ The young actors then embark on a training scheme that provides an introduction to the basics of drama theory, bolstered with actual stage experience.

Daniel Jenkins, an SRT regular best known for his role in The Pillowman and his one-man show Defending the Caveman, leads the programme this year; other SRT veterans, Young Co. alumni and touring actors also call in to offer advice. Ethan Hawke and Sam Mendes spoke with the group in March while in town for the transatlantic touring show The Bridge Project.

Members have the chance to build on their theatrical knowledge by contributing to SRT shows, be it by working backstage or playing one of the smaller roles. If you saw Much Ado About Nothing in business. There are quite a few actors who work professionally, local actors, who started in the Young Co. Often they go on and train elsewhere, but it gives them that confidence and boost to realise this is what they want to do,’ Jenkins says. Past Young Co. grads actively involved in the Singapore theatre scene include Josephine Tan, Brendon Fernandez, Julie Wee, Adelina Ong and Mariel Reyes.

Daniel Jenkins

Each year the actors-in-training cut their teeth on a full-length production. Last year’s show, Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, allowed the group to showcase the fruits of their language focused labours, while this year they must master the dark and suspenseful drama of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Even though the action is based on the 1692 Salem witch trials, Jenkins sees the play as echoing the hysteria and paranoia sparked by recent events. ‘Certainly with all this – not to get too wanky and political – terrorism going on in the world today, [The Crucible] still has relevance. People are scared of their neighbours, and don’t trust the people they don’t know well. Anyone who is slightly different…is evil or dodgy.’

In addition to the text’s enduring significance, Jenkins argues this production offers more than the average amateur staging. ‘The cast are not professional actors, but we approach the production in a completely professional way…bearing in mind that we want them to move on to be pro actors, this is as close as one can get.’ What’s perhaps an even bigger draw is that the audience gets to revel in the voyeuristic thrill of seeing young actors perform at the start of their careers, wondering who out of the eager bunch may become a well-known face.

As their two years in The Young Co. come to a close, the three students who have nabbed the lead roles in the production – Aw (Abigail Williams), Rishi Budhrani (John Proctor) and Olivia Rummel (Elizabeth Proctor) – make plans for the future. The three are making varying levels of commitment to acting, but for all three, the stage figures in their gameplan. Aw heads off to Switzerland next year to study hospitality, steered away from studying theatre by parents who know how challenging it can be to make a living as an actor, but she still hopes to get involved in the local scene when she returns to Singapore. Budhrani will not continue formal training but plans to keep learning on the job, hoping that Singapore will be seeing him on stage frequently in the coming years. Rummel, on the other hand, is about to begin a drama course at LaSalle College of the Arts and is putting all of her eggs in the theatre basket. ‘I really want to pursue acting. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t. I would work at McDonald’s or something.’

The Crucible will provide the first clues to their future in the biz. Jenkins articulates the potential of the performance, saying: ‘People will come, hopefully [laughs], and see it and enjoy it, hopefully, and see good young talent and say: “They’re good; we can use them in this, that or the other.”’ For Aw, Budhrani and Rummel, the opportunity offered by The Young Co. could provide them with a future that’s bright indeed.

The Crucible runs from 12 to 15 Aug at the DBS Arts Centre