SINGAPORE — During his National Service stint as a sergeant in the police force, playwright and director Irfan Kasban received a call from a man who wanted to be arrested.

“We got to the house, he wasn’t there and it was just his wife and his five small kids,” he recalled. “The husband had beaten her up. He had lost his job three months ago and had to move to that small place. She couldn’t even pay for her kids’ EZ-link cards to go to school.

“They were Malaysians and couldn’t get any subsidy from the government. And the wife pleaded for us not to arrest her husband because he was just stressed. I really had to stop myself from breaking down. As a police officer, I saw what other people didn’t, the ones in the shadows, the ones I would not meet had I gone to the army.”

It was incidents like these that became fodder for Tahan, Irfan’s latest play for Teater Ekamatra. Starring Rizman Putra, Tan Shou Chen, Farah Ong, Isabella Chiam, Faizal Abdullah, Farez Najid, Andy Yew and featuring sound artist Bani Haykal, the production comprises 14 vignettes revolving around a young man named Adil and his stint in the police force, with both fellow officers and the people they encountered.

“I knew, seeing all the interesting things that were happening, that I wanted to write a play about my two years in National Service,” said Irfan.

Tahan also finds parallels between the police and angels — not just in the sense of being guardians but, in a way, as a kind of social construct.

“In Islam, the concept of angels is that they have no emotions, they do not eat or sleep and just carry out orders — and the ideal policeman has to be an emotionless character. You have to last 12-hour shifts without sleep and sometimes you’re too busy you don’t get to eat,” he said.

One also had to endure being shouted at by people. “It was very interesting to see how demanding the public can be about what the policeman should be doing, using the excuse that they pay taxes,” he said. “It’s never violent though. And the uniform is still respected.”

For his part, actor Farez learned a thing or two about the world of his character Adil. “I was in the armyand the lingo is a bit more ‘street’ and ‘dirty’. The lingo for the police force is different! They have to deal with the public so they’re a bit more square,” he laughed.

He had fond memories of the boys in blue (“I got lost once while cycling when I was eight and a policeman took me home”) but working on the play has also changed the way he has perceived them.

“I’ve always thought they just get in your way when you’re out having fun with your friends but we’ve now gained a certain respect for them,” said Farez. “It’s not easy having to be what people want you to be — especially the regulars. It changes the kind of person they are.”

Still Irfan insisted that this wasn’t some cops-and-robbers drama. “It’s about seeing the man behind the uniform,” he said.

Tahan runs from Feb 21 to 23, 8pm (3pm Saturday matinee), Drama Centre Black Box. Tickets at S$35 from Gatecrash.