Thoughts on Off Centre

This is just a personal entry so this isn't some official or unofficial review on the play.

I don't usually watch plays and I made this an exception due to the theme itself as I went to watch the play with my friend yesterday. I enjoyed the play a lot, the play lasted 1 hour 50 minutes, but I could have easily continued watching it for another 1 or 2 hours. Perhaps it's due to the fact that the theme is close to my heart, yet, without a realistic protrayal of the social situation and connection I could feel with the characters themselves, how would I have been able to enjoy it so.

While watching the show, I dare say a tinge of sadness and pain was felt because I know for myself how true and real the prejudices and the emotional and mental confilcts, and more importantly the struggles and fears that the characters face, for in the 2 characters Vinod and Saloma, I also see in them the cries and faces of some people that I know.

Vinod protrayed just how what depression supposedly is, "anger turned inward." His anger and frustrations, hidden in his fears. The seemingly stable but yet more fragile than the very girl he tried to befriend

Saloma on the other hand outwardly looks mentally and emotionally frail, yet in her, I see the courage and strength that she has deep down. Just like a friend of mine that I know who also suffers from schizophrenia coincidentally.

Emily, Saloma's friend in the play, despite how the character's manner of talking is understandably funny to most public, it brings about a sense of sadness again knowing that people like Emily truly do believe what they say and think. Delusions of grandeur.. bipolar disorder if im not mistaken.

There are several other characters I enjoyed watching in the play, among them would be Vinod's platoon seargant (not the captain mind you) who protrayed just how their fellow peers are also in a state of helplessness themselves, unable to rise against those above them in rank in the army, and not knowing how to truly help people like Vinod.

It thoroughly annoyed my friend and I that some people in the audience were constantly laughing, annoyed in the sense that I feel sad for these people in the audience who despite seeing the play, is clearly completely out of touch and unable to connect with the depth of pain and struggles the characters are going through.

I saw and recognised in the play, the loving yet denial state and lack of understanding parents some mental illness sufferers had to face, the harshness of NS which so often lacks a human heart, the fears and struggles mental illness sufferers go through, the fear and prejudice of the majority public, and the co-dependent but genuine friendship that Vinod and Saloma share. In their friendship, I saw the neediness of both, and in the progress, the abandonment and fearful feelings that Vinod must have felt.

At the end of the play, Saloma sitting there, to me protrayed the aloneness that mental illness sufferers face, and how we could all so easily take the time not to judge and be there with them and that alone could have helped and meant so much to them. We are all too busy as Saloma puts it, too busy with our lives, unable to spend a moment to care. I sat there with my friend watching the audience depart at the end of the play with Saloma sitting there waving goodbye, and I wonder, just how much did the audience truly understand what Vinod and Saloma (and all the other mental illness sufferers out there) had to go through.

Photos from the Off Centre play

All photos belong to and are credited to "The Necessary Stage"

Mislina plays Saloma in Off Centre.

Saloma: My social worker said I must come here. Rose.  She always visit
me.

Melvinder Kanth plays Vinod and Mislina plays Saloma

Saloma [Narrator]: Saloma looked at Vinod and...and smiled.  What else
could she do?
She liked him.  He was crazy.

Mislina plays Saloma

Saloma: Must take.  If not cannot become well.  You take or not Vinod?

Mislina plays Saloma

Saloma: You can go back.  I know you very busy.  Got a lot of work to
do.  So, you can go back.

Alin Mosbit plays Mak (Saloma's mother) and Mislina plays

Saloma
Mak: Saloma, today is Friday.  Today what we do?  Asap rumah kan?  See,
I put that
there OK?  Dengar tak?  Nak dekat Azan.

Mislina plays Saloma and Melvinder Kanth plays Vinod

Vinod: We are friends?

Mr Alvin was very gracious and kind to send me these nice photos of the play itself to post up.

All photos belong to and are credited to "The Necessary Stage"

Straits Times Life! (15th May 2007) and TODAY's (14th May 2007) review of Off Centre

Life! - Life Arts

Off Centre is right on
Adeline Chia, ARTS REPORTER
432 words
15 May 2007
Straits Times
English
(c) 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

OFF CENTRE The Necessary Stage Esplanade Theatre Studio Last Saturday

FIRST performed to rave reviews in 1993, Off Centre by The Necessary Stage (TNS) was lauded as a seminal play highlighting the plight of mental patients.

It has been revived by playwright Haresh Sharma this year to mark two milestones: the company's 20th anniversary, and the introduction of the play into the GCE O-level Literature syllabus.

Fourteen years on and with so many expectations riding on its back, this powerful work shows its 1990s vintage but remains fresh and compelling.

On one level, the story is a timeless one about the complex relationship between two sensitive individuals. Vinod (played by a mercurial Melvinder Kanth) is a straight-A junior college student and school debater who suffers from depression.

He meets Saloma (played sensitively and with much pathos by Mislina Mustaffa), a schizophrenic girl who graduated from a vocational institute.

And by sheer craft and sensitivity, the script is a gem which tackles serious issues with liberal doses of humour. Vinod's suggestion for a slow suicide, for instance, is to 'stay in Singapore'.

The darker elements haven't lost their ability to shock and to move either.

The way in which a clothes hanger featured in a brutal, humiliating episode during Vinod's national service and in the fate of mental patient Emily Gan (played superbly by Josephine Tan) drew gasps from the audience.

There were also aspects of the play which were quaintly dated, although not alienating. Set in a time when batik T-shirts were in fashion, and before mobile phones were ubiquitous, the two friends chat over their land lines, sing to Boyz II Men and make radio dedications to each other over Class 95.

In a way, it was apt that director Alvin Tan kept these references, as a kind of a retrospective gesture to the company's performance history.

Off Centre still strikes a raw chord 14 years after it was first staged. Some of the reasons for Vinod and Saloma's breakdowns continue to sound familiar: a high-pressure society and uncomprehending and defensive family members.

It remains one of the play's piquant ironies that its relevance partially hangs upon malaises it seeks to address. The day that mental patients are treated with respect and sympathy is
the day of Off Centre's expiry date. That day may be a long time coming, even as Vinod and Saloma become familiar characters among O-level students.

chiahta@sph.com.sg

TODAY's review

Still Off after all these years

260 words
14 May 2007
TODAY (Singapore)
English
(c) 2007. MediaCorp Press Ltd.

IT SHOCKED 14 years ago, but the re-staged play Off Centre seems a tad
mild in today's context.

You can pick out what could have been taken as shocking for local theatre in 1993. Vinod, who suffers from depression, rants about God to Saloma, his schizophrenic girlfriend. He speaks of how Singaporeans avert their attention from what they are uncomfortable with - in this case, the idea of mental patients and their ability to live, and love.

The play sparked controversy when it was first staged due to what was deemed irreverent handling of a sensitive subject matter. The Ministry of Health, which commissioned it, took away its $30,000 funding after Haresh Sharma's script didn't suit their guidelines.

But this restaging reminds us of how much has changed since the early 90s; local plays now teem with such references to the Singapore psyche, mixing critique with humour in the way that Sharma did contentiously all those years ago.

Both Sharma and director Alvin Tan have chosen not to tamper with the original play so the references remain, from the use of Boyz II Men's End Of The Road, to the denim jeans and bandannas that served as fashion for NUS undergrads then.

It would have been interesting to see the play updated for our times, but its adamant retro-ness does underscore the fact that despite the years that have passed, some things remain the same. Off Centre is on until May 20, at the Esplanade Studio Theatre.

What we can do to fight stigma and help those who are mentally ill

My below are my own thoughts and suggestions on how we can help fight stigma and to better reach out to those who are mentally ill or grieving.


1) The first and foremost is to understand and educate ourselves on what mental illness is about. What it means to those who go through mental illness.
That however as I mentioned in my previous posts isn't enough.

2) Reach out to those going through mental illness. Don't judge. Learn what it means to truly listen and empathise. Offer them the gift of your listening and understanding. Don't try to fix them or offer advice. Simply listen to them and understand.

Practice makes perfect.

"The way of being with another person which is termed empathic means temporarily living in their life, moving about in it delicately without making judgments.... To be with another in this way means that for the time being you lay aside the views and values you hold for yourself in order to enter the other's world without prejudice...a complex, demanding, strong, yet subtle and gentle way of being."
Carl Rogers

3) Learn what it means to truly listen. Practise how to listen.

Reassuring someone isn't the same as listening.

4) With every opportunity possible, do what we can to help speak out against the stigma against mental illness sufferers. Many mental illness sufferers are afraid to voice out their condition, you'll be surprised who may admit to you they are going through such a condition or know of someone close to them who does if you speak out and show acceptance for them.

5) Naturally, don't join in the bandwagon on calling mental illness sufferers as "siao", "psycho" or "crazy." It's rude, discriminating, insensitive and downright unkind.

Don't call those people who self-harm as attention seeking. Most people don't realise that self-mutilation for instance may be the person's way of coping, however dysfunctional others may see it.

And don't call those people who are considering, or attempted or commited suicide as "cowards."
Don't judge.

The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid. ~Author Unknown

6) Have faith in them. Believe in them. Help them and help yourself understand that it is going to take time for them to recover, but they will (recover). Whatever they're going through, "It will pass in time." The important thing is, you must believe it yourself in your belief in them

"Treat a man as he appears to be and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he already were and what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

7) When they are slow in their recovery or in their signs of progress, or those who are grieving be patient with them. Don't rush them. Don't try to set datelines in saying/thinking that they have grieve/depressed enough. Let them move at their own pace.

Any frustration at their lack of progress stems from our own impatience. Work on our impatience instead and learn to be patient. Be patient with ourselves and be patient with them. Encourage them, don't give up on them.

"Patience makes lighter what sorrow may not heal." - Horace

8) There is a stigma against the male gender on that men shouldn't cry. If people are in pain and they wish to cry, let them, don't deny them that, male or female. The ability to cry is part of what makes us human

"But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer." - Victor E. Franklin

9) Don't say things like "they shouldn't feel this way."
Acknowledge their feelings. Do not invalidate their feelings.

Feelings are facts to the person experiencing them.

10) Don't give up. We are human beings, flawed in our own ways. We may make mistakes everyday in our effort to combat stigma or in reaching out to others. What matters is that we continue to learn from the mistakes we make.

Understanding and the art of listening can be learnt and acquired.

With every mistake, humility can be acquired. And with humility, the better understanding and empathy we can extend to others.

Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle - Plato

Off Centre Post Event Talk – About Schizophrenia

This event and news is taken from SilverRibbonSingapore's website at
http://www.silverribbonsingapore.com/news.htm


Off Centre Post Event Talk – About Schizophrenia
22 May 2007
Institute of Mental Health
Lecture Hall
Free Admission
*First-come-first serve basis.
To register at info@silverribbonsingapore.com

Join the following speakers to understand more about Schizophrenia!

Dr Lim Choon Guan
Psychiatrist, Institute of Mental Health

Mr Alvin Tan
Founder/Artistic Director, The Necessary Stage

Mr Haresh Sharma
Resident Playwright, The Necessary Stage

Mr Harris Ng
President, Association for The Open Mind

Dr Rita Goh
Founder, Aspiron Services

Problems mental illness sufferers face

Brief thoughts.


Stigma being the most obvious and main problem that mental illness sufferers face, there is a list of other issues and obstacles that they have to overcome, which includes but not limited to,

a) Fear of ending up in hospital or IMH. The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) or formerly known as Woodbridge Hospital, carries with it its own stigma.

b) Medication and treatment. Its' costs and the amount of medication they have to take.

c) Suicide. Voicing out their suicidal thoughts.

d) Denial from family, love ones and friends

My own brief thoughts and opinions based on the observations I notice of the above points.

a) I feel that most mental illness sufferers are finding it difficult to accept that they are mentally ill. It is even harder when one realises they may at some point end up in IMH if they are not coping for IMH carries a stigma of being a hospital for the "insane". Naturally that's not necessarily true, yet the perception is there. The fear of hospitals/IMH is very real.

b) Medication for the mentally ill do not come cheap. And unlike a flu or a cough, the medication has to be taken for a minimum of a couple of weeks and for some, it may last a life time. A mental illness is a serious illness that takes a toll on the financial status of the individual. It takes a very severe toll on the financial status of those who's trying to pay off their treatment bills alone. This sometimes results in working adults who's suffering from mental illnesses fearing of losing their job as they would not be able to support their family or pay off their treatment and medication bills, and find themselves having this added to their stress and unable to cope well when they need a break.

For those who are seeking a job, the mental illness stigma prevents them from finding a job easily and often, this also may mean that they have an extra personal reason not to continue with medication thus hindering their recovery.

Another point to note, taking the medication itself is already awful as it is. Imagine having to take several pills everyday for an unknown period of time. It is nothing short of distressing for some of them.

c) The suicide stigma adds further havoc to the lives of those mentally ill. Mental illnesses may result in suicidal thoughts and when those who are on the brink of ending their life is crying out internally for help, they often find themselves facing judgemental words from others, thus finding their pleas for help ignored, judged or invalidated.

There are often very few people who can remain calm and level-headed and yet treat it seriously when listening to the suicidical thoughts and words of those who's feeling helpless and hopeless. This means that those mental illness sufferers who have suicidal thoughts have precious few people if any at all to turn to.

Also, the fact that their doctors (be they psychologists or counselors) are required to breach the term of confidentality if there's a serious danger of the client posing a threat to themselves, mental illness sufferers, especially the younger ones, find themselves afraid of the possibility of their parents finding out.

Nobody wishes to see a suicide note of someone we care and love and knowing that the person has departed from our lives. Yet, it is a sad fact that that's what happened to too many people.

More can be done and should be done to understand how we can help them.

d) Due to a lack of understanding, some mental illness sufferers find themselves in a situation where their parents or love ones do not acknowledge the fact that they are going through a problem. They believe that the mental illness sufferer is actually fine and that there's nothing wrong with them. This effectively in my view shuts down an avenue of support for the mental illness sufferer and creates another front where the individual has to cope with.

At the end of the day, too few have champion the cause, and even fewer still have stood up who have recovered from it themselves

It is very limiting to maintain the status quo. For years countries all over have tried to fight stigma by educating the public through various ways. Yet progress has been painfully slow. I see plenty of workshops educating the public on mental education, I see no workshops dedicated to working on fighting stigma.

My opinion is that the status quo simply maintains the position of "we have the help you need, come to us and we'll see to it that you get treated." That is not a proactive stance.

Simply knowing a brief understanding of what mental illness constitutes is not sufficient to fight stigma.

What can we do more to help?

Best/Worst things to say to someone who is depressed

A list of the best/worst things to say to someone who is depressed.
http://www.thewellspring.com/Journal/JWT/worstbestdepressed.html

I would say that the list applies to all those who has to go through mental illnesses, grief or just feeling plain down.

Push for mental-health 'parity' continues

United Press International®
News. Analysis. Insight.™
Health Business - Briefing
Published: May 2, 2007 at 7:48 PM

Push for mental-health 'parity' continues

WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- Mental-health parity advocates set up
camp at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday to demand equal insurance coverage for
mental illness.

After an outdoor news conference with Reps. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.,
and Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., sponsors of a bill that would require health
insurers to cover mental illness in the same way as physical illness,
advocates set up a headquarters in a Senate office building from which
they organized lobbying visits and phone calls.

The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act would
prohibit insurers from imposing higher co-payments and deductibles on
beneficiaries for mental healthcare.

The bill is named after the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota who
was the bill's original sponsor.

"This is a public health crisis that in some way impacts every family
in America. It's time to break down the barriers to good mental health
and addiction treatment," Kennedy said.

Study guide for local play (Off Centre)

Mr Alvin is kind enough to forward this article to me.

Life! Arts
The Straits Times
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Pg 12

Study guide for local play

A former lead actor in the play Off Centre, which is a GCE O-level
literature text, has written a guidebook to it

Adeline Chia
ARTS REPORTER

YOU could say Abdulattif Abdullah is the perfect man for the job.

The 39-year old English and literature head in Bukit Batok Secondary
School, who played lead character Vinod in Off Centre when it was first
staged in 1993, has written a student’s guidebook to the play.

He had married a fellow cast member, Sakinah Dollah, who played the
female lead, the following year. The study guide was written because
the work by playwright Haresh Sharma of The Necessary Stage (TNS) has
been selected as a GCE O-level literature text this year.

The seminal work about mental illness is the first Singaporean play to
become an O-level text. Not all schools have to study it as they can
use another play on the syllabus, but 13 schools are doing so this
year.

The play is about the friendship between Vinod, a top debater in school
who has a mental breakdown, and a 19-year old, schizophrenic called
Saloma. It is best remembered for bringing the plight of mental
patients to the public’s attention.

For the past six months, Abdulattif and colleague Ruth Tan, 28, have
been writing a 40-page guidebook, which includes sections on
characterization, plot, themes and sample essays.

“It has a lot more details than your typical Cliff Notes
guidebook,” he
says. They are still looking for a publisher but hope to have the book
ready by July in time for the school exams in September.

He says his involvement in the play more than a decade ago gave him
unique insights.

Together with Sharma and TNS artistic director Alvin Tan, he spent
months researching and interviewing mental patients and working out the
roles in workshops.

Also, having played Vinod gave him a deeper understanding of the
character’s motivations which he hopes to share with students.

“If anything else, I can talk to my wife about it,” he says with a
laugh. He has three children with Sakina, 34, who now runs a
pre-school.

Off Centre joins two other Singaporean texts in the O-level curriculum.
They are Heartland, a novel written in 1999 by lawyer Darren Shiau,
and Island Voices, a 2007 anthology of Singapore short stories
commissioned by the Education Ministry.

The ministry said the play was included because it satisfied the
criteria for literature texts, which include To Kill A Mockingbird by
Harper Lee and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

“Off Centre explores a wider range of themes such as marginalisation,
friendship, and societal and familial pressures. The play has good
characterisation, dramatic potential and accessibility,” said a
ministry spokesman.

The play has been restaged thrice since its debut in 1993. The most
recent revival was in Malay, called Otak Tak Centre in Kuala Lumpur two
years ago.

Over the past 14 years, Off Centre has also been made into an
experimental feature film and adapted into a television movie, both
with the same title. It has also been given a full reading in Britain
and taught at the International Islamic University Malaysia in Kuala
Lumpur.

Sharma, 41, has been giving talks to teachers since it was announced
the play would become a school text, and even had a webchat with
students on it.

“I feel like a mini-literary celebrity,” he jokes.

And for an entire generation of students who had missed the first run,
TNS is restaging the play this month.

Alvin Tan, 44, who directs the play, says Off Centre remains relevant
today because prejudice against mental health patients still exists.

“I still hear of people whose salaries get halved because employers
think that if you have mental health issues, you’re not so
productive,” he says.

He adds that Off Centre is also a timeless play about human
relationships, such as the friendship between the lead characters Vinod
and Saloma.

Playing Vinod this time is Melvinder Kanth, 34, an actor and
documentary film-maker. Saloma is played by Mislina Mustaffa, 36.

And reprising her 1993 role as Saloma’s mother is actress Alin
Mosbit, 33.

Alin says she is now closer to the actual age of her character, who is
in her late 40s. In the first Off Centre production, she was only 19.

She adds: “The character is more curt and much harsher – she has a
darker streak this time.”

chiahta@sph.com.sg

Off Centre will be staged at the Esplanade Theatre Studio from May 9
to 20 with 3pm shows on May 9, 12 and 13, and from May 16 to 20; 8pm
shows on May 9 to 12, May 18 and 19.

Tickets at $30 from Sistic (www.sistic.com.sg, tel: 6348-5555).

Mediacorp's Radio Interview with Off Centre's director Alvin Tan

An interview done by Mediacorp Radio with Off centre's (refer to the last blog entry for more information) director Alvin Tan about their journey and research that went into this play.

Read the interview here
http://www.rsi.sg/english/artsarena/view/20070426170427/1/.html


My thoughts.

I had the opportunity and privilege to hear and speak to Mr Alvin personally a couple of days ago spoke about his own experiences and story regarding his brother and his family. I won't go into details but it was heartwarming to hear from him his brother's route to recovery and will to live, as well as the support and patience his brother has received from their parents. I could see that it couldn't have been easy all these while for their family and I truly wish them well and hope that the play would help spread more awareness of mental illness.

Thank you Mr Alvin for sharing with me.

Off Centre

Off Centre



First staged in 1993 to critical acclaim, Off Centre is recognised as a
landmark play in the history of Singapore theatre, best remembered for
bringing mental illness and its patients’ plight to the attention of
the media and general public in Singapore. The play traces the
friendship of Saloma and Vinod and the hurdles they have to overcome,
including social stigmas, prejudices and personal conflicts.


Off Centre has also been selected by the Ministry of Education as the
first Singapore play to be offered as a GCE ‘O’ Level literature text
from 2007, and has been republished by The Necessary Stage.


9, 12 – 13, 16 – 20 May 2007, 3pm
9 – 12 May, 18 – 19 May 2007, 8pm

$30 | $21* (Excludes $2 SISTIC ticketing fee)
* Concessions for students, NSF & senior citizens

Get your tickets from 1 Mar 2007 at all SISTIC authorised agents,
online at www.sistic.com or via the SISTIC hotline at 6348 5555.

For more information or for school and corporate bookings, please
contact us at Tel: 6440 8115 or email: admin@necessary.org