How I Learned To Drive

Growing up in rural Maryland during the 1960s with a large extended family bearing thin, penetrable personal boundaries and nonchalance, Li’l Bit finds solace in her Uncle Peck, the only person kind and supportive of her college ambitions. When she turns eleven, the same Uncle Peck gives her a personal driving lesson, an opportunity he gladly takes to molest her, establishing an incestuous relationship upon her maturing years.

Narrated though a series of bittersweet flashbacks, How I Learned to Drive is an honest, coming-of-age account on pain, healing, forgiveness and growth, and how one can find light in even the darkest of unhealthiest relationships. While Uncle Peck brings much dysfunctional trials to her maturity, considering both the literal and metaphorical value in the term “growing pains”, he also imparts her with a valuable gift in the freedom, comfort and refuge she finds in driving.

Workshop coordinator, Charmayne Chun notes that the interest they rendered in the play lies in the taboo of incestry, hoping to show its significance within its silence. All at the same time, it can be heartwarming, disturbing, understandable and pitiful among many other things. She also guarantees a depiction that is both daring and exciting.

How I Learned to Drive is proudly brought to you by The Oral Stage, a production team of aspiring, theatre-hungry youths. It will feature upcoming stars, Amelia Chen, Johann Lim and Doreen Loo. At the paltry price of well under RM50, you know you can’t miss the experience of sheer intensity of this award-winning play as well as the introduction to our generation’s next big things.

Text Claudia Low