Army Daze

"Army Daze" is a Singaporean film released in 1996. A comedy based on the National Service experience by a group of enlistees in the Singapore Armed Forces, it was one of the earliest top-grossing films then, bringing in some S$1,600,000 at the local box office. Costing Cathay Asia Films just S$700,000 to make, it was also one of the most profitable Singaporean films at that time.

The storyline was based on a play by the same name originally written by Singaporean writer Michael Chiang. Directed by Ong Keng Sen, founder of the theatre group TheatreWorks, it attempts to portray the multi-cultural flavour of Singaporean society with the extensive use of Singlish. Standard English is also heard, along with Malay, Hokkien and Mandarin, amongst other languages. The tagline of the movie, "From Real Blur" (Singlish reference to a mental state of confusion) "to Real Men" also reflects this desire.

Some notable members of the cast included Edward Yong as Malcolm Png, Sheikh Haikel as Johari, and Adrian Lim as the Ah Beng. Other members of the cast include Ahmed Azad, Kevin Verghese, Margaret Chan, Lim Kay Tong and Deanna Yusoff.

Play

Infobox_Play | name = Army Daze (Play)


writer = Michael Chiang
characters = Malcolm Png
Kenny Pereira
Teo Ah Beng
Krishnamoorthy
Johari Salleh

setting = National Service in Singapore

"Army Daze", the play, was first shown in theatre in 1987.

The play made a return to the theatre scene in March 2006 as a production by The Toy Factory theatre ensemble. [ cite news
title = Army Daze makes a comeback to the theatres
publisher = Channel NewsAsia
date = 2006-02-27
url = http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/195381/1/.html ] It opened on 2 March at the Drama Centre and ended on 18 March.

The play was directed by Beatrice Chia and Goh Boon Teck. The cast members were:
*Hossan Leong as "Malcolm Png"
*Robin Goh as "Kenny Pereira"
*Sebastian Tan as "Teo Ah Beng"
*Vernon A as "Krishnamoorthy"
*Sheikh Haikel as "Johari Salleh"
*Selena Tan as "Mrs Png"
*Kumar as " Lathi"
*Emma Yong as "Teo Ah Huay"
*Benjamin Ng as "Corporal Ong"
*Mark Richmond as "Sgt Monteiro"
*Gerald Chew as "Lt Collin Heng"
*Lim Kay Siu as "Mr X"

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0115569|title=Army Daze
* [http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/96/0927/feat1.html Laugh -- That's an Order] Asiaweek.com article