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Being in Singapore
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Over three decades, The Necessary Stage and actors-collaborators who have been partners in the making of the company’s devised plays have revealed to us over and over again—in profound, heartbreaking and funny ways—what it means to ‘be’ in Singapore.

Vinod | Radha Krishnan | Eric Sim | Noorhayati Yusof | Sergeant Mok | Jali Bin Mohd Fariz | Mrs. Chua | Mrs. Phua | Alisha | Melly | Saloma and many more

Away from the buzz of the rehearsal room and in the alone space where a playwright for a time dwells, Haresh Sharma forms up direct, powerful, honest, smart, funny words that enable these characters to speak into the very soul of our city.

Being Haresh Sharma is a work that looks at Haresh’s body of writing over 30 years. It makes bold, unexpected links and associations, mapping stories and characters in ways that surface the social, political and spiritual aspects of life here; bringing it all together with unexpected and exciting performance energy, sparking new ways of looking at his words and of experiencing performance and theatre.

Commissioned by HCA Hospice 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'. They prefer to leave the care-giving to strangers.

Soon, they realise they have to know; they learn how to care. They discover the importance of being there for one another. At a time of illness, they can finally share a bond and experience joy.

When Madam Wong begins her retirement, all she can think of is enjoying her golden years with rest and serenity, surrounded by family and friends. However, rest turns into restlessness as she starts to lose her short-term memory. Her dream of a peaceful life soon becomes a nightmare of remembering and forgetting. 

Commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Diseases Association, Don’t Forget to Remember Me is a touching and thought-provoking play that deals with the trials and tribulations of people suffering from Dementia and their struggles to come to terms with their illnesses. 

In Singapore, about 5 percent of people above 65 suffer from Dementia. It is an illness which causes brain cells to die at a faster rate than normal. This leads to failing memory, deterioration of intellectual function and personality changes. 

The Necessary Stage celebrates its 30th anniversary with the return of Those Who Can’t, Teach!

First staged in 1990 and subsequently in 2010 to full houses at the Singapore Arts Festival, Those Who Can’t, Teach is a Singaporean theatre classic by Cultural Medallion winners Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma.

Set in a secondary school, the play looks at the madcap lives of teachers and students—with often hilarious results. As the teachers struggle daily to 'nurture and groom', the students prefer to hang out and chill. In the meantime, they all have to deal with the dreaded 'parents'.

With upskirting and texting, teaching and politicking, school has never been the same. Join the rambunctious cast of characters as they struggle to prove that Those Who CAN, Teach.

In real life, there are no rehearsals and no second takes.
 
Actor, Forty features Golden Horse Award-winner Yeo Yann Yann returning to the Chinese theatre stage in a special Huayi commission.
 
This new original monologue sees Yeo collaborating with Cultural Medallion recipients, director Alvin Tan and playwright Haresh Sharma of The Necessary Stage. Candid and conversational, it examines the myriad identities that we take on and cast off in life—just as an actor does when she adopts different roles.
 
Blurring the lines between actor and character, Yeo plays an actress who has just been cast in a contemporary remake of Summer Snow《女人四十》, a 1995 Hong Kong film about a 40-something woman dealing with difficult family issues. The actress has a secret that she is struggling to keep under wraps—she is turning 40 and expecting her first child. Faced with the challenge of juggling a globetrotting job and raising a child, she confronts her hopes and fears. Will she still be able to find meaning in her career, and also play to perfection what could be her most challenging role yet—becoming a mother?

现实，无从彩排，也无法重来。
 
《演员四十》，金马奖最佳女配角杨雁雁回归中文戏剧舞台的全新独角戏。
 
华艺节委约新作，由杨雁雁携手新加坡剧场最佳拍档，文化奖得主及必要剧场导演陈崇敬与编剧哈里斯•沙玛全心打造。她担纲演出单人剧，娓娓道出她扮演的女演员面对事业与家庭两难的生命故事。
 
在剧中女演员的现实生活里，她在各个不同的生命角色间游走，她全力以赴，就像在每出戏里倾情演绎着不同的人物一般。
 
女演员在迈向40人生路之际，接获得奖电影《女人四十》即将重拍的主角重任，此时，她发现自己怀孕了！本是两件喜讯好事，竟让她陷入是否该透露怀孕实情的挣扎。希望与忧心揪着疼：到底她该专注哪个角色？