My drama club friend and I are currently gearing up to stage our own school production of Lord of the Flies in Singlish, so we seized the opportunity to visit the KC Arts Centre to catch Sight Lines’ take on the classic William Golding novel for some research.
Directed by the award-winning Chong Tze Chien and adapted by Nigel Williams, this two and a half hour show was exactly the kind of inspiration we needed.
From a technical standpoint, the entire performance felt incredibly visceral.
The lights and music draw you right into the play, making it feel like you are actually stranded on that tropical island with the boys. The sound design was exceptionally cool, especially the terrifying noise of the beast growling in the background.
I was also really impressed by the minimal props. Aside from the main set featuring topsy turvy chairs that doubled as a forest backdrop and a random fake pig, there was hardly anything else on stage.
As a drama student, I know that stripping away props forces the cast to rely on pure acting skill to sell the story, and they delivered.
The hardworking six person cast had a massive job, and watching their character work was great learning for us.
Shrey Bhargava anchored the show perfectly as Ralph. He brought this sunny, popular boy energy to the role but also showed the struggles of being an elected leader trying to hold things together. My friend and I absolutely loved his acting right after the rescue ship left the island. He executed a really brilliant tonal shift, going from someone who was just hanging out in Jack’s group to a guy completely obsessed with restoring order.
From my review title, it it clear that Andrew Marko was our standout favourite as Piggy. He totally nailed that sensible bureaucrat vibe, showing how Piggy relies heavily on rules and paperwork to cope with the chaos. Give this Piggy actor an award already!
Jamil Schulze was also insane as Simon. He kept switching back and forth between playing Simon and one of the littluns, which is such a cool acting challenge because the two characters are polar opposites in energy.
As the six actors were constantly multitasking as an ensemble to play all the boys from the evacuation flight, the show ran on pure, high octane energy. It is a huge task, and while keeping track of the rotating roster of secondary characters keeps you on your toes, it really highlights the cast’s incredible versatility.
Salif Hardie was fierce as the choir prefect Jack. He went all out to portray a commanding schoolyard bully, bringing intense glowering threats and primal energy to the stage that left a huge impression on us. The actors poured so much physical and vocal energy into the performance that you could really feel their total commitment to the intense theatrics. We have a lot to learn from them.
I also really appreciated how they handled the bigger moments.
Even Simon’s death, which is such a huge emotional beat in the story, was staged in a really interesting way that made you think. The cast crowded around him and the lighting focused in, it felt more symbolic and haunting than just violent.
Overall, the production shows how powerful live theatre can be when strong performances are combined with effective lighting, sound and staging. Watching it definitely gave my friend and me plenty of inspiration as we prepare for our own school version of Lord of the Flies.
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