Preview: Dear Elena (青春禁忌游戏) by Nine Years Theatre

Nine Years Theatre returns this October for their third and final production of the year. Following the premiere of brand new play First Fleet in July, the company returns to their roots with Dear Elena, with artistic director Nelson Chia adapting a Russian play into Mandarin.

Originally written by Russian playwright Lyudmila Razumovskaya, Dear Elena
Sergeevna, the original play, was first staged at the beginning of 1980s before the
fall of the Soviet Union. The play follows four students as they drop a birthday surprise on their teacher Elena, but the true intention of their visit is unveiled when they attempt to persuade her to hand over the key to the safe where their exam papers are being kept. For the sake of their academic progress, they must falsify their scores, and for the sake of their futures, excuses are made to justify their actions. Elena finds herself in one heck of a predicament when her students begin coercing her, and to stop them from making further mistakes, Elena stands firm and refuses to compromise. Stuck in a deadlock as the night wears on, the students suggest a shockingly deplorable deal as their last resort.

Dear Elena Sergeevna remains one of the most powerful contemporary classics to
date and has been staged around the world with multiple different translations. Starring Nine Years Theatre ensemble member Mia Chee as Elena, along with fellow members Hang Qian Chou, Neo Hai Bin and Timothy Wan, along with guest performer Shu Yi Ching as the students, watch as Nine Years Theatre questions education, morality and values in our contemporary society, and pushes them to their very limits with Dear Elena this October.

Dear Elena plays from 17th to 20th October 2019 at the Drama Centre Black Box. Tickets available from SISTIC

Dear Elena can also be bought with the 9-Fan and Gen-9 membership discounts. New members will be able to purchase a single ticket of Dear Elena at $23, with a 15% discount applied for subsequent ticket purchases. Audience aged between 16 to 25 years old will be able to purchase a single ticket at $18 under the Gen-9 club initiative.