Before I begin, I have to say this – we have a great education system. It does what an education system is supposed to do – educate. It gives our children advanced (not basic) literacy and numeracy skills, along with functional knowledge and reasoning skills. But it’s not perfect, and it can be over-lauded to a nauseating extent.
So it’s refreshing to see a take on our education system that pulls fewer punches. Secondary illustrates the education system’s flaws in a way that shows the emotional impact of such a system – both subtle and overt, short-term and long-term, on teachers and students. I wrote a TV series about a secondary school before and I do private tutoring, so for me, this is quite a personal topic.
Secondary: The Musical (referred to as Secondary for the rest of this review) is a musical that centres around a fictional secondary school in Singapore. It follows the journey of an idealistic Literature teacher, who teaches the academically weakest class in the school. But she finds there are insidious challenges as a teacher than she had expected which puts her ideals to the test.
Director: Huzir Sulaiman
Writer: weish (Chew Wei Shan)
Music and Lyrics: weish (Chew Wei Shan)
Cast:
- Genevieve Tan (Lilin)
- Tricia Tan (Ming)
- Krish Natarajan (Reyansh)
- Shahid Nasheer (Omar)
- Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai (Mandy)
- Teoh Jun Vinh (Charlie)
- Ethel Yap (Empathy, Geraldine, Jas, Mel)
- Nadya Zaheer (Humour, Nadrah, Welfare, Amira, Cik Sya)
- Adeeb Fazah (Panic, Adi, Principal, Vincent)
- Tiara Yap (Cynicism, Xiao Ting, Irene)
- Joshua Lim (Optimism, Yao Zhuan, Dean, James)
- Audrey Luo (Discipline, Rong Rong, Vice-Principal, Hui Ling)
Charlie the Maths teacher steals the show
Charlie (Teoh Jun Vinh) shines in every scene he’s in, with spot-on comic timing and a likeable demeanour that gives colour to what is usually a bland stereotype (sorry Maths teachers!). While he’s ostensibly presented as comic relief and a sounding board for Lilin (Genevieve Tan), what impressed me was that he showed character growth over the story. Lilin’s idealism actually rubs off on him, and the seemingly unemotional Charlie becomes a little less unemotional by the conclusion. To have what seemed like the comic relief actually have a change of heart was what won me over regarding Lilin’s idealism, more so than anything the central character had done.
Mandy’s philosophy resonates
While I was entertained by Charlie, the character I truly resonated with was Mandy (Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai). Driven and competent, with a firm eye on the big picture, Mandy felt the most relatable amongst the teachers. It helped that the actress brought a touch of class to the character, and her costumes were simple, but striking. Alas, every story needs conflict, and I couldn’t but feel – what would have happened if Lilin (Genevieve Tan) didn’t have to clash with Mandy?
Ambitious musical numbers
I’m not the best person to comment on music (as I’ve mentioned before). But I liked how the different musical styles were experimented with, giving us a variety of musical numbers that mostly fit the characters who sung them. From the third song onwards, the song genres vary quite wildly, making it rather entertaining.
Sharp, snappy dialogue
I can only imagine how much workshopping went into the dialogue, especially the banter between the main characters. The lines are full of memorable quotes and punchy quips, with a particularly memorable monologue by Charlie that ends up being a well designed setup for a hilarious joke. And the more literary references (the main character is a Literature teacher, after all), are enjoyable Easter eggs for the audience to catch.
Calling out the atrocious MOE English teachers exist
It’s a truth that somehow, our education system allows atrocious English teachers to exist. To see that truth being depicted in the scenes with the teacher meetings, what with the mangling of pronunciation and relying on other languages as a crutch from English teachers, truly resonated with me.
I’ve encountered MOE English teachers who are pedantic grammar Nazis but can’t actually deliver written work, those who deduct marks because they don’t know the meaning of a particular word, and those who speak with horrendously pretentious slangs but can’t write a coherent email to save their lives. It’s absolute bullshit that people who can’t use English are allowed to teach English, and it only plays into the trope that those who can’t do, teach. Yes, English can be subjective – but context, audience awareness, and a decent vocabulary are not.
The worst part is that these teachers are the ones who flourish. What they lack in linguistic skills, they make up for in political savvy. And in the end, who suffers? The students, who then go on to have misconceptions about English as an adults.
Anyway, back to the review. This scene irritated the hell out of me, because of its sheer authenticity. Props to Secondary for showcasing this. Props.
Narrative felt like it needed more closure
While we do find out the fates of all the characters (and one character’s decision is left unrevealed), it felt like the musical hadn’t finished telling its story by the end. I don’t mean that it needed to reveal every single detail of every single character, but that the point it was trying to make felt incomplete. Perhaps because the show deals with youths, so a more optimistic and traditional ending would have been more fitting (and comforting). Still, structure-wise, the ending felt rather abrupt.
Raising difficult questions also necessitates difficult answers
Secondary asks the hard questions about the education system, revealing that some aspects of need it need work. But in calling out the bullshit, it’s only reasonable that one provides a response, a suggested solution. That’s where I felt the musical left me wanting – that it didn’t provide its opinion on how to solve these problems. Maybe it’s a topic that only those in the system can discuss with any effect, since it’s hard to effect change from the outside. Nevertheless, I wanted to know what alternatives the musical would have suggested, without taking away the advantages of our education system.
While Secondary: The Musical may not have the panacea to our education system’s flaws, it does call out the bullshit inherent in the system. With relatable characters and memorable messages, Secondary is one of those few musicals that can speak to so many on multiple levels. And I, for one, hope that this will help our education system – as good as it is, I have to emphasise again – to better itself for the students it serves.
Score: 7/10
Secondary: The Musical ran from 19 – 28 Apr 2024.
This is an original article on marcusgohmarcusgoh.com.
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