Introduction

It is a tradition since 2010 for Raffles Hall to annually stage an original musical created and performed by students of this National University of Singapore hall of residence. Unfortunately when the time came to write and perform a new musical in 2020, COVID-19 struck. Theatres were closed, no rehearsals were allowed because of restriction in group size, and the  compulsory wearing of masks and social distancing made musical rehearsals almost impossible. No theatres, no rehearsals, and no audiences meant ... no show :(  But luckily the musical theatre team had a spark of genius, and decided to make a movie musical!

Plot Summary

Rekindle is about a small group of rebels trying to evade the brutally oppressive authoritarian regime referred to as the Imperium, that banned all the arts, especially music. Alex is a singer covertly singing in a secret nightclub where she meets Edwin who has been given a pass to enter and it is his first visit to this underground club. He is immediately attracted to the singer Alex, and after her song, he offers to buy her a drink which she accepts. This is the start of a romantic love story that will travel along a tortuous route of twists and turns. It emerges that Edwin is a nephew of Imperium’s dictator and is acting as a spy for his uncle William. But because he is in love with Alex, he helps her enter Imperium’s highly guarded computer network to send an internet message to trigger a massive rebellion. Will it succeed?

Underlying Message

Rekindle is like George Orwell’s 1984, a story to warn the current digital generation that an obsessional tyrant who wants to perpetuate his authority will go to any lengths to sterilize the minds of the people. Real life examples spring to mind. Maybe Rekindle is pointing fingers at the autocratic way in which rules and regulations have recently been instituted with the onset of COVID-19. Examples like the closure of all theatres, libraries, art galleries have actually suppressed the arts. Or is Rekindle referring to past dictators like China's Mao Zedong who banned or stifled all the arts and literature that did not conform to his interpretation of socialism? Even in Singapore, not that long ago, we banned long hair, bell bottom trousers, and songs like “Puff the Magic Dragon” and the Beatles' “Yellow Submarine”. Our schools suppressed the performance of rock music, and our government did something to the political opposition that we cannot mention. So should we look at Rekindle as a spoof of dictators past and present? Is it “rekindling” our fading memories of censorship and repression?

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The Team