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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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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

Off Centre

“Off Centre marks a new maturity in Singapore Theatre, addressing an audience prepared to be challenged.”
—Hannah Pandian, The Straits Times Life

“... a major triumph.”
—Mayo Martin, TODAY Online

The Necessary Stage’s critically acclaimed play, Off Centre, returns 26 years after its premiere in 1993. Written by Haresh Sharma and directed by Alvin Tan, Off Centre is a landmark play in the history of Singapore theatre, best remembered for presenting an honest and unflinching look at mental illness and the stigma surrounding it.

Off Centre follows the unlikely friendship between Saloma and Vinod, and traces their journeys as they deal with their personal conflicts as well as social prejudices against mental health conditions.

Selected in 2007 by the Ministry of Education as the first Singaporean play to be offered as a GCE 'O' and ‘N’ Level literature text, Off Centre is once again back on the syllabus since 2018.

This brand new staging features Abdulattif Abdullah and Sakinah Dollah, who will reprise their original roles as Vinod and Saloma respectively, as well as Aidli Mosbit as Mak.

“It’s impossible to not be astounded by the timelessness and thrust of Haresh Sharma’s Off Centre.”
—Naeem Kapadia, Crystalwords
2019
 -
Singapore
 

Staging

Off Centre

“Off Centre marks a new maturity in Singapore Theatre, addressing an audience prepared to be challenged.”
—Hannah Pandian, The Straits Times Life

“... a major triumph.”
—Mayo Martin, TODAY Online

The Necessary Stage’s critically acclaimed play, Off Centre, returns 26 years after its premiere in 1993. Written by Haresh Sharma and directed by Alvin Tan, Off Centre is a landmark play in the history of Singapore theatre, best remembered for presenting an honest and unflinching look at mental illness and the stigma surrounding it.

Off Centre follows the unlikely friendship between Saloma and Vinod, and traces their journeys as they deal with their personal conflicts as well as social prejudices against mental health conditions.

Selected in 2007 by the Ministry of Education as the first Singaporean play to be offered as a GCE 'O' and ‘N’ Level literature text, Off Centre is once again back on the syllabus since 2018.

This brand new staging features Abdulattif Abdullah and Sakinah Dollah, who will reprise their original roles as Vinod and Saloma respectively, as well as Aidli Mosbit as Mak.

“It’s impossible to not be astounded by the timelessness and thrust of Haresh Sharma’s Off Centre.”
—Naeem Kapadia, Crystalwords
2019
 -
Singapore
 

Festivals

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2019

2019
 -
Singapore
 

Workshops

The Orange Playground Laboratory #2

The Orange Playground 2018: Lab #2 was led by our Resident Playwright Haresh Sharma and theatre practitioner Edith Podesta, centred around interdisciplinary responses to texts within a stipulated time frame. The texts in question are excepts from Stranger to Myself: The Diary of a Bangladeshi in Singapore by MD Sharif Uddin, published by Landmark Books. 

Stranger to Myself: The Diary of a Bangladeshi in Singapore is the first memoir in English written by a Bangladeshi construction worker about his experience on working in Singapore. In September 2018, it won Best Non-Fiction Title at the Singapore Book Awards.

This iteration of The Orange Playground featured emerging artists including actors Deonn Yang, Salif Hardie and Andre Chong together with Sound Designer Jing Ng and Lighting Designer Liu Yong Huay. 



 
2018
 -
Singapore
 

Workshops

The Orange Playground Laboratory #1

For 2018, our laboratories will focus on responses to and reinterpretation of texts. This first laboratory is centred around Haresh Sharma's Talk 1, first performed in 1994, subsequently reworked in 2000, and published as part of the anthology Shorts 1. For this series, our Artistic Director Alvin Tan will be working with Theatre GUMBO from Japan, along with artists from Singapore and Malaysia, including Bani Haykal, Ghafir Akbar, Gloria Tan and Rizman Putra.

Revisiting Talk

In this iteration of The Orange Playground, the team will be exploring new performance vocabularies through the genres of comedy and physical theatre. 

Talk 1 is an ensemble piece where 3 actors play a host of characters in a talk show. Stories of cinema bullying and gender discrimination are played out in both comic and tragic fashion. The work was originally directed by Alvin Tan and Kok Heng Leun in 1994. 
2018
 -
Singapore
 

Productions

Underclass

In 2016, Drama Box and The Necessary Stage presented the groundbreaking sold-out production Manifesto, that delved into the relationship between art and politics.

This year, the two companies collaborate once again on a brand new work that explores poverty, inequality and human dignity in Singapore.

Underclass tells the story of Xinyi, who finds herself in a downward spiral after losing her job and her flat. When she moves into a rental unit, she meets Johari, and they strike up an unlikely friendship. Will they be able to get out of their disadvantaged status with the help of well-meaning friends, entrepreneurs, civil servants and politicians?

Whose responsibility is it to provide assistance for those who fall through the cracks? Can we make a difference and address imbalance in our society? Why should we?

Underclass asks urgent questions about the widening class divide in Singapore today. Who speaks up for the marginalised in society? Or will they be airbrushed out of our national narrative of prosperity and progress?

 

2016年，戏剧盒与必要剧场联合呈现座无虚席的创新剧场体验《宣言》，探讨艺术与政治之间的关系。

两个剧团再次合作，呈现崭新原创剧，探讨新加坡的贫困、不平等议题，以及人性尊严。

《贱民》讲述欣怡的故事。失去了工作和房子，欣怡的人生急转直下。当她搬进租屋单位，她遇见了Johari，两人发展出一段“不太可能”的友谊。他们能否在朋友、企业家、公务员、政客的帮助下，脱离困境？

谁有责任为弱势群体提供帮助？我们能否做些什么，为社会的不平等声援？我们有必要那么做吗？

《贱民》针对新加坡日益扩大的阶级鸿沟提出重要的问题。谁会帮弱势群体发声？他们是否会在宏大的国家论述下被消声？
2018
 -
Singapore
 

Staging

Underclass

In 2016, Drama Box and The Necessary Stage presented the groundbreaking sold-out production Manifesto, that delved into the relationship between art and politics.

This year, the two companies collaborate once again on a brand new work that explores poverty, inequality and human dignity in Singapore.

Underclass tells the story of Xinyi, who finds herself in a downward spiral after losing her job and her flat. When she moves into a rental unit, she meets Johari, and they strike up an unlikely friendship. Will they be able to get out of their disadvantaged status with the help of well-meaning friends, entrepreneurs, civil servants and politicians?

Whose responsibility is it to provide assistance for those who fall through the cracks? Can we make a difference and address imbalance in our society? Why should we?

Underclass asks urgent questions about the widening class divide in Singapore today. Who speaks up for the marginalised in society? Or will they be airbrushed out of our national narrative of prosperity and progress?

 

2016年，戏剧盒与必要剧场联合呈现座无虚席的创新剧场体验《宣言》，探讨艺术与政治之间的关系。

两个剧团再次合作，呈现崭新原创剧，探讨新加坡的贫困、不平等议题，以及人性尊严。

《贱民》讲述欣怡的故事。失去了工作和房子，欣怡的人生急转直下。当她搬进租屋单位，她遇见了Johari，两人发展出一段“不太可能”的友谊。他们能否在朋友、企业家、公务员、政客的帮助下，脱离困境？

谁有责任为弱势群体提供帮助？我们能否做些什么，为社会的不平等声援？我们有必要那么做吗？

《贱民》针对新加坡日益扩大的阶级鸿沟提出重要的问题。谁会帮弱势群体发声？他们是否会在宏大的国家论述下被消声？
2018
 -
Singapore
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