A Coming-of-age for University Playwrights

Now that I’ve graduated, there remain only a few things that I pay attention to in NUS. One of those few things is Dramafest. Dramafest is a annual stage production of six short plays. Amidst the perennial hall politics and the pettiness of NUS student associations, Dramafest is admirable in a few ways. It tries to transcend the rivalry between the halls by having the actors, writers and directors of each play to come from different halls. Its minimalist format and short play sections means that talent can really shine where it ought to and not be burdened by competing ambitions and interests within a single hall.

The short history of Dramafest is that it started in 2007 under the vision of a certain Eusoffian Joe Chung. Somehow he had the clout to draw in two other halls, King Edward VII and Kent Ridge Hall, and Dramafest was born. The 2008 vintage, “Confessions” was an especially good year with Laremy Lee writing two of the scripts (and a third didn’t make it because CFA fuddled around with it), and I had the privilege of recording down a review on my personal blog. Since 2009, “Twisted Fairytales” was disappointing, I will be glad to say that the 2010 iteration is better. Here’s a play-by-play (pun not intended) review of Dramafest 2010 “Hues and Shades”.