Back in 2006, on the heels of Singapore’s twelfth General Elections, Wild Rice staged The Campaign to Confer the Public Service Star on JBJ, Eleanor Wong’s sharply comedic satire exploring activism and political action in Singapore. The play followed two protagonists - plucky (and not too lucky) David Lee, the brains behind the eponymous Campaign; and civil servant Clara Tang, up against some seriously challenging damage control - whose stories came together in a manner both expected yet wildly absurd. 

Two decades on, we revisit The Campaign to Confer the Public Service Star on JBJ under the auspices of our Vault Residency. 13 students from the National University of Singapore’s Theatre Studies programme present a double-bill, (in)action, comprising two performance-responses which examine the themes, messaging, and relevance of the original play in present-day Singapore. 

Join us for The Vault: (in)action on 11 April where the strange will be made familiar, and the familiar made strange, through the interrogation of political action in Singapore. In the meantime, click below to find out more about past stagings of The Campaign to Confer the Public Service Star on JBJ!