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Workshops

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)

 
2022
 -
Singapore
 

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?

 
2022
 -
Singapore
 

Staging

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?

 
2022
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

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 
2022
 -
Singapore
 

Staging

Opposition 对峙

2022
 

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.
2022
 -
Singapore
 

Festivals

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2022

2022
 -
Singapore
 

Workshops

Tech x Theatre Lab

In an experiment to uncover future trajectories for theatre via technology, our collaborators learn more about AI programming and its potential, to aid in the creation of brand new excerpts.
2021
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

_____ Can Change

Today we're talking about change.

We believe that we have it in us to change—and change for the better. We would like to distinguish between right and wrong behaviours.

Basic values must be upheld and must stand as the cornerstone of any modern society we live in. For example, we need to create social stability, harmony and security. We must protect and promote strong family bonds. Decadent Western lifestyles and divisiveness through activism must be rejected. Socially irresponsible behaviours such as racism, religious intolerance and alternative lifestyles threaten our moral fabric, and are therefore rejected by the government.

If we are not upholding the basic values of our society, we must change.

We would like to present three plays about change: Indians Can Change, Homosexuals Can Change, and Marxists Can Change.

Please enjoy the performance. We look forward to an engaging discussion.

 
2021
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

Merry Time (film version)

A commission of the Singapore Maritime Foundation, as part of an outreach effort targeted at secondary school students in Singapore, to inform and educate them about and instill in them a greater awareness of career opportunities in the maritime industry in Singapore.
2021
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

International Friendship Day

It’s International Friendship Day at MPSS but friendship seems to be the last thing on the students’ minds.

While the foreign students Adi, Anton and Liqin are questioning what to showcase at their booths and why there isn’t one for the local students, the Drama Club boys are unhappy about them not putting any effort towards the much anticipated Singapore Youth Festival (SYF).

Meanwhile, Carys is facing pressure at home for losing her spot as the school’s top Maths student.

Will she lose her top spot to an international scholar?

Will the Drama Club boys get the foreigners to join in the chorus?

Will Adi get the booth of his choice?

International Friendship Day was first commissioned by Singapore Kindness Movement in 2015, and was restaged as part of Peer Pleasure 2016. 
2021
 -
Singapore
 

Publications

Reading the Room: A Playwright's Devising Journey

Over the past three decades, award-winning playwright Haresh Sharma has written more than 120 plays, many of them created with The Necessary Stage’s (TNS) unique devising methodology. Reading the Room: A Playwright’s Devising Journey offers unprecedented access into the devising process, with keen insights and intimate reflections gleaned from Haresh’s artistic journey.

"Extensively illustrated by rehearsal notes and dramaturgical discussions, the book foregrounds questions of why and how to make theatre."
–Peter Eckersall, PhD Program in Theatre & Performance, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Edited by theatre practitioner and researcher Shawn Chua, this book describes Haresh’s devising process in meticulous detail, illustrated by production case studies and incorporating numerous archival artefacts, including photographs, early drafts of scripts and personal correspondences. It also features in-depth interviews with some of TNS’ most notable artist-collaborators.

The chapters highlight different aspects of devising such as:
          Devising with Communities
          Devising and Verbatim Theatre
          Devising and International Collaboration
          Devising and Interdisciplinary Theatre

Written as an accessible how-to guide, Reading the Room: A Playwright’s Devising Journey promises to be an invaluable resource for playwrights, directors, students, teachers and collaborative artists, as well as anyone curious about Singapore theatre history.

Reading the Room: A Playwright’s Devising Journey is made possible with the support of the National Arts Council’s Cultural Medallion Grant.
2021
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