Shan is 12 going on 13. This is a big year for her. A significant year.

This year—today—she finds herself at the edge of a precipice.

What is a pre-ci-pice?

This is a word she learnt recently while studying for the exams.

Precipice: a very steep rock face or cliff, especially a tall one.

Scary sounding.

Scary feeling.

Shan is not literally at the edge of a steep tall cliff.

It just feels like it; a place wholly unfamiliar.

12 Going On 13 is a story for those of us who find ourselves in a place where the weight of expectations crashes against waves of uncertainty. Where fears of failing and falling seem larger than ever. Where we feel the smallness of being in a vast and overwhelming world. Ultimately, 12 Going On 13 is a story about accepting change, overcoming anxiety, and finding the courage and community to help one arrive at that hopeful place of solid ground.

Returning in 2024, 12 Going On 13 is an immersive theatre production that shows children how to ask for help when they need it, and to find strength in their community.

Caroline is 17. She suffers from a liver disease and misses school a lot.

Anthony is 17. He is charming, confident, does well academically and is the star basketball player on the school team.

Caroline and Anthony could not be more different. Caroline lives with her single mother who spends most of the day working. Anthony’s father is a university professor who spends a lot of time with his son. Caroline lives in a flat, Anthony lives in a condo. Caroline and Anthony are classmates, but they barely know each other.

One afternoon, Anthony arrives unexpectedly at Caroline’s door with a copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, a group project for their Literature class. Through their (initially unwilling) analysis of the text, they discover similarities, share dreams, secrets, argue about music and slowly the walls come down, they bond, and their relationship deepens.

As the day comes to an end, and they wrap up their homework, something happens … what brought them together, could now tear them apart. A shocking twist that changes everything.

Adapted by award-winning playwright Jean Tay and directed by Samantha Scott-Blackhall, Behind The Wall follows Tommy, a little mouse who ventures beyond a mysterious wall in the perfect city of Pura Pura, where he meets animals that talk and look different, like Al the Elephant, a worker from a faraway land. Behind The Wall shows us that, while people may look and sound very different, we are all the same on the inside, and just as capable of kindness.

This 30-minute film is designed for families with children 7 to 12 years old, and is accompanied by a 20-minute post-show activity video and digital activity booklet, which provides insights into the lives of our migrant worker friends.

Production By:
Behind The Wall is based on the book “Who’s Behind That Wall?”
Written by Kim Eun-Hee and presented by HealthServe Limited.