In commemoration of DSA’s 10th anniversary, we staged a full-length play entitled “Natural” at the Victoria Theatre on 16 Dec 2006.
It was the biggest show that the drama group has undertaken and was an intense and very fulfilling process. We all learned a lot and are very grateful that many who came to watch us were very touched by the work.
About Natural
Natural is a play about and performed by people with Down Syndrome. Using confessional theatre, devising, interviews, multimedia, song and poetry, it will lend insight into a fascinating, beautiful world that exists at a pace and rhythm of its own. We live in a world that exists in accordance to a defined logic and play by the rules of social norms. Anything that falls outside of these boundaries has the potential to make us uncomfortable, because it’s not ‘natural’. Natural takes an honest peek into an aspect of life that will challenge us to reflect upon our own.
Creative Team of Natural
Director: Jean Ng
Assistant Director: Julius Foo
Playwright: Natalie Hennedige
Choreographers: Kavitha Krishnan & Shawn Lau
Sound Design/Music: Darren Ng
Lighting Design: Lim Woan Wen
Set Design: Sebastian Zeng
Multimedia Design: Mathilda D’Silva
Costume Design: Betty Png
Production Stage Manager: Grace Low
A Review of Natural
EMBRACING THE DOWN SYNDROME CHILD WITH LOVE
By Peter H L Lim
January 11 2007
At a loss for words.
That is an affliction that is usually transient. It has hit most of us, this kind of situation: I have just been told something totally unexpected, how do I respond?
Desperately, my mind searches for the appropriate words.
But the mind works wonders and the words come – though not always the most appropriate – and I say them. But the couple of seconds taken to search for words seem like an eternity.
There was one such occasion in the US when that seeming eternity felt, oh so painfully extended and excruciating.
I was on the West Coast in the US. Excitedly, I telephoned very dear friends from Singapore who were then living on the American eastern seaboard. Their first-born was due that week, a child they had been longing for for years.
I got through to the mother, who was in a maternity ward. I learnt that the baby had arrived and that she was a girl.
I gushed: ‘Hey, that’s great! How’s the little princess? As lovely as her mother, I’m sure!’
There was a silence from the mother. Then she said, her voice soft and calm: ‘She has Down’s syndrome.’
I did not know what to say. But I did know that I should not say something really dumb like: ‘Oh, I’m sorry…’
When I recovered from the loss for words, my friend and I talked about Down’s syndrome. She summarised for me what she had already learnt about people to whom nature has given that extra chromosome No 21.
When I arrived at the city where my friends were, I met the baby and her parents.
She was a lovely girl and she did not have any of the features that distinguish people with Down’s syndrome.‘
Not yet,’ her mother said. Both parents had yet to find peace of mind.
But they had started preparing to provide for their daughter’s additional needs during childhood and beyond.
Their acceptance of and their love for their child inspired me.
The parents had to try especially hard and make innumerable sacrifices to bring up their daughter.
She is now a young adult, still under loving parental care but very much with a mind of her own.
She is a talented writer, a published author and a role model. She goes to work too, like people generally do.
Isn’t that ‘normal’, natural?
Natural was the title of a play by the Down Syndrome Association (Singapore) last month. The play rounded off the association’s year-long 10th anniversary celebrations.
It starred 41 people with Down’s syndrome. Performing with them were relatives and professional artistes.
The story was about the lives of people with a genetic condition that makes life a lot more difficult for them than for most others.
For people with special needs, whether caused by Down’s syndrome or something else like injury, today’s medical and other forms of digital technology is a tremendous help.
At the pinnacle of our daydreams is the Bionic Man, made whole and almost superhuman by technology.
But the play Natural, which touched me deeply, highlighted for me that the greatest enabler – past, present and future – is still the caring, fellow human being.
Whether it is the person with eyesight who runs alongside a blind marathoner or those without Down’s syndrome who worked with those with it to produce one of the best shows I watched last year.
That, to me, is truly natural. And we can also call it Grace with a capital G.
The writer is the former editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holdings’ English and Malay Newspapers Division.
