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Productions

Kebaya Homies

Welcome to the club! Make yourself at home, but this is not your house. Don't forget to tip us! We are your perempuan-perempuan joget (dancing girls) Zubaidah and Rukiah. Do you like our kebaya? Come to our club and we will share with you our stories and songs. Our show is not like other shows. This is a time travel show. We will bring you to the past—during the heyday of the 1960s—and to the future. You want to dance? Later we can dance. First, sit down. And enjoy the ride.

Directed by Alvin Tan, and performed by Aidli Mosbit and Siti Khalijah Zainal, Kebaya Homies is a delightful musical romp weaving through Malay history and culture, told through the elegant yet coy kebaya. The script by Haresh Sharma also includes scenes from his past plays written for the actors.

Special Thanks

Ghafir Akbar
Rizman Putra
Family of the late Ibu Siti Ramlah Mansyur
2020
 -
Singapore

Staging

Merry Time

2019
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

Merry Time

2019
 -
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'?

Twenty actors who have experienced or are going through mental health issues were interviewed for this project. Acting Mad is based on the verbatim texts of these interviews.

Can sharing our stories, and creating theatre, be a form of solace and support?
2019
 -
Singapore
 

Staging

The Orange Production

The Necessary Stage’s (TNS) developmental platform, The Orange Production, is back for a second instalment.  For 2019, two brand new full-length works will be featured: We Were So Hopeful Then, written by up-and-coming theatre practitioner Ellison Tan Yuyang and directed by Alvin Tan, and Acting Mad, with text by Haresh Sharma and recent School of the Arts graduates Harris Albar and Maryam Noorhimli, and directed by Sharma.

Other creative personnel involved include Lighting Designer for both productions Stella Cheung, Dramaturg Melissa Lim and Multimedia Designer Yusri Sapari, the latter two for We Were So Hopeful Then.

Interestingly, both works within 2019’s The Orange Production cast the spotlight on issues within the theatre industry that are not often discussed.

We Were So Hopeful Then is set in 2025 during a fictitious Singapore Theatre Icon Awards, which aims to pay tribute to industry personnel that remain backstage and are not adequately acknowledged. It seeks to ask how much we care about invisibility in our work environment, as well as implicit biases entrenched in public accolades. The play features Henrik Cheng, Myra Loke, Sindhura Kalidas and Zaaki Nasir.

Acting Mad looks at mental illness and stigma within the theatre industry, and specifically for actors, and explores whether theatre-making can serve as support for these individuals. The work is based on verbatim texts of interviews done with local actors who have experienced or are experiencing mental health issues. The play features Al-Matin Yatim, Andre Chong, Karen Tan and Masturah Oli.
2019
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

We Were So Hopeful Then

Welcome to the 2025 Singapore Theatre Icon Awards, where we want to pay tribute to YOU! Celebrate with us and witness the unveiling of our industry icon of the year. Would it be the cleaner we pretend was invisible, or the driver we ignore? Or could the accolade be given to the rigger we never see on stage, or the transcriber who’s not even acknowledged?

Who are these people beyond their job descriptions—and do we even care?

Written by Ellison Tan and directed by Alvin Tan, We Were So Hopeful Then looks at invisibility in our working environment, and invites us to question the rationale and implicit biases of public accolades and garlands.
2019
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

Don't Know, Don't Care

Don't Know, Don't Care looks at a family trying to deal with terminal illness within the household. Wrapped up in their own lives, the family members 'don't want to know', and prefer to leave the caregiving to strangers. Soon, they realise they have to know, and they discover the importance of being there for each other.  

Can a time of illness allow a family to finally share a bond and experience joy?  

Originally commissioned by HCA Hospice Care in 2012.  

 
2019
 -
Singapore
 

Staging

Civilised

There is no past without colonisation,

and there is no future without it.

 

As we commemorate the bicentennial of the founding of Singapore, let us take a moment to express our gratitude to our founding father/s for their foresight in transforming Singapore from a small fishing village to a global metropolis. We are civilised!

 

Let's marvel at how, all over the world, our land has been plundered, our laws kept archaic and our freedoms curtailed by those in power. Let us honour our pursuit of economic success and excess [nothing less will do], as we continue to colonise today—through money, discrimination and land conquests, even in space. We are civilised!

 

Because after all, through colonisation, we are civilised! We are also schooled and silenced.

 

Written by Haresh Sharma and directed by Alvin Tan, Civilised by The Necessary Stage is a groundbreaking new work that takes you on a wild ride through the complications and violence of colonisation past, present and future.

 

Featuring:

Edith Podesta

Ghafir Akbar

Koh Wan Ching

Lian Sutton

and Siti Khalijah Zainal

 

Set Design by Vincent Lim

Lighting Design by Adrian Tan

Costume Design by Max Tan & Yuan Zhiying of MAX.TAN

Multimedia Design by He Shuming

 

 

15 – 18 & 22 – 25 May 2019, 8pm

18 – 19 & 25 – 26 May 2019, 3pm

 

at The Necessary Stage Black Box
2019
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

Civilised

There is no past without colonisation,
and there is no future without it.

As we commemorate the bicentennial of the founding of Singapore, let us take a moment to express our gratitude to our founding father/s for their foresight in transforming Singapore from a small fishing village to a global metropolis. We are civilised!

Let's marvel at how, all over the world, our land has been plundered, our laws kept archaic and our freedoms curtailed by those in power. Let us honour our pursuit of economic success and excess [nothing less will do], as we continue to colonise today—through money, discrimination and land conquests, even in space. We are civilised!

Because after all, through colonisation, we are civilised! We are also schooled and silenced. 

Written by Haresh Sharma and directed by Alvin Tan, Civilised by The Necessary Stage is a groundbreaking new work that takes you on a wild ride through the complications and violence of colonisation past, present and future. 
2019
 -
Singapore
 

Publications

Off Centre: A Necessary Resource

A Necessary Resource is the much-awaited guide to Off Centre, one of Singapore's most celebrated plays. This resource guide comprises material that will greatly benefit all educators and students of Off Centre. It features pedagogical notes, insights on the play, as well as a question and answer section with the playwright, Haresh Sharma.  

Off Centre made history in 2007 by being the first Singapore play selected by the Ministry of Education to be offered as a GCE O- and N-Level literature text. The play, best remembered for presenting an honest and unflinching look at mental illness and the social prejudices surrounding it, is back on the syllabus since 2018.    

A Necessary Resource features:    


Founder and Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage, Alvin Tan shares his insight on directing and staging Off Centre    
Educator Laremy Lee provides a useful guide on approaching narrative, characters, themes, and theatrical and stylistic devices in the play    
Journalist Akanksha Raja reflects on her experience studying Off Centre    

2019
 

Staging

It Takes All Kinds

The Necessary Stage’s Theatre for Seniors

presents

IT TAKES ALL KINDS

 

What is your recipe for a successful family?

What does it take for us to work through conflicts together? Or will the ties that bind come undone when times are hard—or when we bid our final goodbyes?

The Necessary Stage’s Theatre for Seniors celebrates its 10th anniversary with It Takes All Kinds, a heartwarming performance about love in our families. Developed in collaboration with Setagaya Public Theatre from Tokyo, the devised production is created by our seniors and residents through workshops exploring their real-life experiences and perspectives.

It takes all kinds of ingredients to make a winning recipe of familial love. We invite you to savour ours, and hope to discover yours as well at the theatre.
2019
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

It Takes All Kinds

The Necessary Stage’s Theatre for Seniors

presents

IT TAKES ALL KINDS

 

What is your recipe for a successful family?

What does it take for us to work through conflicts together? Or will the ties that bind come undone when times are hard—or when we bid our final goodbyes?

The Necessary Stage’s Theatre for Seniors celebrates its 10th anniversary with It Takes All Kinds, a heartwarming performance about love in our families. Developed in collaboration with Setagaya Public Theatre from Tokyo, the devised production is created by our seniors and residents through workshops exploring their real-life experiences and perspectives.

It takes all kinds of ingredients to make a winning recipe of familial love. We invite you to savour ours, and hope to discover yours as well at the theatre.
2019
 -
Singapore
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