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Productions

Still Building

After two highly successful runs in Singapore and Cairo last year, The Necessary Sage presents Still Building at The Substation.

Still Building was voted by BiGO Magazine last year as "Best Offering" among the 13 plays staged for Theatre Carnival on the Hill [April 1992]. It was later selected by the National Arts Council to represent Singapore at the Cairon International Experimental Theatre Festival [September 1992].

In Still Building, two stories are juxtaposed in one play. The first is about two sisters, Kim and Cheng, and their good friend, Alan. Cheng, the younger of the two, cannot cope with the memories their house represents for her, and decides to move out. Alan, who is adopted, receives a letter from a couple in Manila claiming to be his real parents and decides to go there. Kim, who believes in stability and not rocking the boat, finds difficulty coping with Cheng and Alan's decisions. In the second story, three people [played by the same actors] are trapped when the building they are in collapses. Inspired by the Hotel New World collapse, this story shows the trauma of three people stuck in a mass of rubble, waiting to be rescued.

1993

Singapore

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Off Centre

Off Centre traces the friendship of two ex-mental patients, Saloma and Vinod, and the problems and hurdles they have to overcome, including social stigmas, prejudices and personal conflicts. the play uses effective techniques of flashbacks; moving the character in and out of their schizophrenic and normal selves to elicit their rational and emotional experiences.

1993

Singapore

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Festivals

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2017

2017

Singapore

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Productions

Let's Walk

Take a walk with Amanda Heng.

2000

Singapore

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Best Of

Award-winning actress Siti Khalijah Zainal takes centre-stage in this brand new one-woman show specially created for her by Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma. Best Of looks at issues of the day through collective stories and personal reflection.

2013

Singapore

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God

"Nothing…Just nothing.." - Woody Allen

1986

Singapore

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Productions

untitled women number one

How do we exorcise the pain of loss? The Necessary Stage revisits 2 early works from its repertoire to explore the ways we deal with loss and how we rise above it.

In untitled women number one, two women talk about their relationships, their past and future. Featuring Edith Podesta and Ethel Yap, the play looks at the notions of pain, death and interdependence, drawing from stories about gender, sexuality and womanhood.

untitled cow number one is about the journey of a widowed cow through 12 days of mourning. Performed by Sharda Harrison and Bani Haykal, the play is influenced by Hindu and Buddhist texts, images and myths, and incorporates physical movement and soundscape.

Both plays have toured successfully to the Macau International Fringe Festival (2000), the Asian Theatre Festival in Busan (2002) and the National Theatre Festival in New Delhi (2003).

2015

Singapore

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Frozen Angels

As the world advances its research on life sciences, stem cells and artificial intelligence, what impact is there on human life and relationships? What does the future hold? Can life be built from scratch? Directed by Alvin Tan, written by Haresh Sharma and first staged during the National University of Singapore Arts Festival in March 2008, Frozen Angels is a thought-provoking performance exploring current issues of science using digital media and theatrical performance.

2009

Singapore

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Three Years in the Life and Death of Land

When Eric Lim returns home after studying abroad, he marries his long-time sweetheart and neighbour Shalini Mulchand. But a lot can happen in three years—especially when two families are united by love but divided by their pain.

First staged in 1994 as part of the Singapore Festival of Arts, Three Years in the Life and Death of Land is about the Lims, the Mulchands, a ghost, a cat and three mosquitoes—one big family, trying hard to be happy.

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Essays/Writings

Staging stories that build empathy for mental illness in Singapore: spaces of dialogue in Off Centre

Published in International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.

The following is an extract from the essay/writing.The full version can be accessed online here.

This article examines how Off Centre, a play by Haresh Sharma about mental health in Singapore, first devised and produced by The Necessary Stage (TNS) in 1993, provides a valuable opportunity for audiences to encounter characters labeled “mad” or “off centre” (a colloquial term in Singapore for being mentally ill), who are often looked down upon and relegated to being “useless” in the highly efficient and success-driven urban context of Singapore. It considers how audiences are challenged to respond sensitively and dialogically through a questioning process that builds empathy for persons struggling with mental health. I argue that when Off Centre imbricates the audience in the inner worlds of the characters to dialogue with them, it generates a pedagogical process by creating a space where sensing, listening to and questioning what happens to these characters becomes a way of learning about their battles and beliefs.

Project Serial Number: AA202301

Due to copyright restrictions, we are unable to reproduce the full essay/writing online. Please contact the resource owner directly for permissions if reproduction rights do not belong to The Necessary Stage Ltd. Otherwise, kindly contact us for access to the full resource. Do note that archival access and reproduction charges may apply.

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Productions

Survivor Singapore

Feed Your Imagination 2023: Survivor Singapore by The Necessary Stage
An Esplanade Commission
4 - 7 July 2023, 2.30pm & 5.00pm
Esplanade Theatre Studio

A group of students have been assigned a project on the theme of National Education. They wrack their brains to find out what they can do that will really make a difference.

Instead of going on field trips to the Parliament House or performing a multiracial dance, they decide to create a project that will make all young Singaporeans value life and not take their comforts for granted.

They decide to create Survivor Singapore. But...have they gone too far to prove a point? 

Previously staged by The Necessary Stage in 2003 and 2007.

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Old Gaze

For Faith (Hossan Leong) and Hope (Kumar), the New Year is just another day. But when an old friend shows up suddenly, their lives are turned upside down. They find themselves embroiled with spies, childhood trauma and GENDER PRONOUNS.

It's been almost 20 years since the gang met up. Will they be able to let go of the ghosts from their past? Will they be able to identify as ELDERLY? What world is this where the GAYBOURS are banging, the Health HOMOTION Board speaks the truth and MINISTRY OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES even exists?

Brash, audacious and just rollicking good fun, Old Gaze is the third and final instalment following The Necessary Stage’s seminal LGBTQ plays Mardi Gras (2003) and Top or Bottom (2004).

Written and directed by Cultural Medallion recipient Haresh Sharma, Old Gaze stars the absolutely fabulous Kumar, Hossan Leong, Rody Vera and Siti Khalijah Zainal, alongside veteran actor Liow Shi Suen and newcomers Azura Farid and Medli Dorothea Loo.

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M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2023

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Never the Bride

Three queer Singaporean men cast a little gay spell, don their bridal veils, and embark on a whirlwind journey towards matrimony. They dream through the past, the present and an imagined future to discover what a big, fat, fabulously gay wedding would look like for them!

In a country where the legal right to marriage is denied to the queer community, these individuals navigate the political, social, cultural, and personal reality of their lives, along with saying “yes” to whimsical wedding fantasies. “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.” Is that the ultimate ultimatum, or is there a possible way to find marital bliss amidst the chaos?

Devised and performed by Ryan Ang, Fadhil Daud and Rajkumar Thiagaras, Never the Bride was first created and presented at the Devising with Actors and Playwrights programme as part of The Necessary Stage’s Devising Platform in 2021.

This staging of Never the Bride was performed as part of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2023.

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Workshops

An Exploration of "Growing Up Indian"

As part of TNS' Devising Platform 2022, six artist-collaborators explored interdisciplinary performance styles by using excerpts from "What We Inherit: Growing Up Indian", published by AWARE earlier this year.

On Friday 2nd December, 8pm, they opened their doors to a rehearsal session showcasing experimentation that uses various works in the book as a springboard to create new interdisciplinary narratives.

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Until We Walk

Until We Walk takes its cue from the recently-renewed conversations surrounding the death penalty as both a transcendent and pragmatic approach. Following a week-long process of of intensive workshopping and exploration, the lab culminates in an audio trail incorporating a relay system mechanism in hopes of furthering dialogue on the topics of the death penalty, morality, justice, and beliefs.

Songs featured:

(Lyrics adapted from poems written by Pannir Selvam)

Arah Tuju (Where We Are Going)

Bukan Sekadar Hikayat (Not Just A Story)

Di Sebalik Pintu Besi (Behind the Iron Gates)

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Productions

Acting Mad

Mental illness does not discriminate. Although there is more access to information, many still suffer silently or face stigma when they come out with their illness. What is this experience like for actors in Singapore? Are they expected to just deal with their mental health issues because they are seen as ‘tortured artists’ and ‘so full of drama’?

In 2019, The Necessary Stage presented Acting Mad, a verbatim play based on interviews with 20 actors who have experienced or are going through mental health issues.

This iteration, specially commissioned by Esplanade for The Studios 2022, incorporates new interview texts and testimonies, as well as actors’ responses to the pandemic and its impact on them.

Can sharing our stories, and creating theatre, be a form of solace and support?

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Opposition 对峙

“We start when?”
“We start now.”

Opposition tells the story of Production Manager Ramlah Zee and Director Jackie Oh who begin a new chapter of their lives by establishing their own theatre company, Zero Theatre. They also begin a relationship.

However, as the years pass and familiarity sets in, how do the couple negotiate their professional and personal lives? From exuberance and love to departure and heartbreak; from hope for change to disillusionment and stasis, Opposition maps the lives and loves of two souls trapped in each other’s memories.

In our nation’s relentless stride towards material success, is there even space left for them to live freely by their own identities and dreams? When does compromise turn into irrevocable sacrifice of one’s personal truth?

How do they—and we—determine when it is time to leave, in order to begin again?

Following the critically acclaimed productions of Manifesto (2016) and Underclass (2018), Opposition caps the trilogy of collaborations between Drama Box and The Necessary Stage.

17 March – 3 April 2022
Wednesday – Saturday: 8PM
Saturday – Sunday: 3PM
At The Necessary Stage Black Box

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Workshops

Movement X Tech X Sound Lab

The Necessary Stage invited members of the public to join us in an exploratory presentation of movement, technology and sound as part of our devising platform.

Through interdisciplinary experimentation, we delved into notions of time, identity, loss and grief, and how these can be articulated and deconstructed through a meeting of mediums.

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M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2022

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Still Building

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Off Centre

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M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2017

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Let's Walk

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Best Of

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God

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untitled women number one

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Frozen Angels

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Three Years in the Life and Death of Land

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Staging stories that build empathy for mental illness in Singapore: spaces of dialogue in Off Centre

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Survivor Singapore

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Old Gaze

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M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2023

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Never the Bride

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An Exploration of "Growing Up Indian"

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Until We Walk

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Acting Mad

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Opposition 对峙

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Movement X Tech X Sound Lab

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M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2022

Manifesto

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