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Staging

Happy Indian Women

Being a woman is tough. Being an Indian woman is even tougher. We must be independent, but not too independent that we tarnish the family name. We must be strong enough to withstand the constant scrutiny that our bodies, minds and personalities are subject to. We’re too dark, too short, too thin, too educated, too loud, too much. Our friends still ask us if we speak ‘Indian’. Or worse, they assume we are Indian just because we are a certain shade of brown.  Written by The Necessary Stage’s Associate Artist Sindhura Kalidas, Happy Indian Women is a verbatim theatre production that questions the assumptions we make about the diverse South Asian diaspora in Singapore. Based on interviews with 20 women and non-binary people from various backgrounds, the play interweaves text, sound and multimedia to celebrate their honest and tender stories about faith, friendship and family.  
2023
 -
Singapore
 

Essays/Writings

Climate Justice through the Creative Lens of the Performing Arts

Published here on ietm.org.Project Serial Number: AA202302.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.
2023
 

Productions

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.
2023
 -
Singapore

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.
2023
 

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. 
2023
 -
Singapore
 

Workshops

Devising with Actors and Playwrights (2023)

Led by Resident Playwright and Cultural Medallion recipient Haresh Sharma, DAP 2023 is part of TNS’ devising platform and saw 20 theatre-makers undergo an intensive training programme over a six-month period to take a deep dive into the company’s unique devising methodology, as well as undergo dramaturgy workshops and lecture sessions with established theatre makers. This edition of the programme featured works that delved into a diverse array of themes: from faith, to mortality, to neurodivergence. The showcase presented five different devised works-in-progress created by the participants—one at each performance—at Practice Space, The Theatre Practice.•••Participants:Afiszan AmatAmitha PagoluBenedict LimBenjamin LyeEthel YapEuginia TanFlora YeoGoh Ming SiuHeng Jia MinJayden LimJohanna VanMel PehMiriam CheongMitchell FangNicole ShaanDaya AJHoe Wei QiPeh Jun KaiWeiqi ChuahWong Jin Yi•••Works Presented:Like a Whisperby: Amitha Pagolu, Benjamin Lye, Wong Jin Yi, Flora Yeo, Nicole Shaan and Mitchell FangThe Trouble with Paradiseby: Mitchell Fang, Miriam Cheong, Heng Jia Min, Peh Jun Kai and Benjamin LyeBrain Things (or, Is There Something Wrong With Me?)by: Weiqi Chuah, Nicole Shaan, Goh Ming Siu, Mel Peh, Flora Yeo, Miriam Cheong and Benedict LimThe Criticby: Euginia Tan, Afiszan Amat, Ethel Yap, Benedict Lim, Hoe Wei Qi, Johanna Van, Mel Peh, Wong Jin YiDivine’s Intervention  |《神之悲伤》| Ditangani Dukacita Ilahiby: Jayden Lim Jun De, Heng Jia Min, Weiqi Chuah, Afiszan Amat and Daya AJ
2023
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

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.
2023
 -
Singapore
 

Staging

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.
2023
 -
Singapore
 

Festivals

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2023

2023
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

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.
2023
 -
Singapore
 

Staging

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.
2023
 -
Singapore
 

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.
2022
 -
Singapore
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