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 A short play about healthy eating.

Lights, set and sound are always part of every director's concern. These three elements can largely help to convey that final touch of mood, ambience and meaning which heighten the audience's experience of a play--even if it is a minimalist-type production. The actors in this production have been workshopped such that they are able to respond to different rhythms, sounds, lights and props--building, improvising upon the sensory input that the lighting, sound and set designers provide. In turn, the designers build upon the actors' improvisations and as a group, establish a way of working organically to create a play. My cast and I hope that for you, this piece touches your senses in more than just a literal way.

Though we think that women in Singapore have come a long way--so called 'liberated'--we are still subjected to various conditioning and control. So when Alvin Tan of The Necessary Stage approached me to do something for Fringe '92, I thought it would be an opportune time for this play. I held a brainstorming session with six people, males and females, and discussed ideas for the play. After this meeting, I gathered three actresses to begin improvisations. We discussed our own experiences--growing up as a female, the expectations of parents, family and so on. We improvised scenes in different situations--childhood, parents and daughter conflicts, women at the workplace...I finally decided to focus on women conditioned by society, family, media, man and other women--women can sometimes be their own worst enemies.

The word 'movement' in theatre seems to scare people. "What exactly do you mean--a movement-based play?", ask actors when I ask actors if they are interested in participating. When asked by The Necessary Stage to direct this, I wasn't too sure myself what shape the play would take. We often take refuge in words. What the cast and I have done is to use as our starting point, not content but form--working with rhythm, sound, colours, texture, imagery to come up with movement-base improvisational pieces that use no words. Words picked up from various sources cut and patched together were introduced only when we got used to using our bodies, rather than just our mouths.

Can You Hear The Eclairs Calling Your Name? and Fitness Freaks are written by Haresh Sharma and produced by The Necessary Stage. Both skits are performed by students from De La Salle school.

 A short play about healthy eating.

Still Building is about people trapped by family, by friends, by buildings and by themselves, and their attempts to break free.