The Necessary Stage

Being a woman is tough. Being an Indian woman is even tougher. We must be independent, but not too independent that we tarnish the family name. We must be strong enough to withstand the constant scrutiny that our bodies, minds and personalities are subject to. We’re too dark, too short, too thin, too educated, too loud, too much. Our friends still ask us if we speak ‘Indian’. Or worse, they assume we are Indian just because we are a certain shade of brown.Written by The Necessary Stage’s Associate Artist Si

Happy Indian Women (2023)

Sound Artist

Wild Rice

What would you do if you lost an hour out of your day? How much are those stolen moments worth to you? And how far would you go to get that time back?&nbsp;Determined to retrieve her missing hour, Lisa embarks on a surreal adventure into the weird, wacky underworld of Dissocia. Brimming with imagination, magic and possibility, it’s the kind of place where polar bears sing and cars fly.&nbsp;But, as Lisa spends more time in Dissocia, she begins to discover the dangers that lurk beneath its bright, colourful

The Wonderful World of Dissocia (2023)

Sound Designer

The Finger Players

A drag queen, a filmmaker and a movement artist walk into… ONE-TWO-SIX Cairnhill Arts Centre.Home to The Finger Players, and home to puppets that the company has amassed since 1999, three artists give these puppets new lives, enriching their histories and extending their lifespans beyond what they were made for.Puppet Origin Stories @ ONE-TWO-SIX is a night of site-responsive performances + an exhibition of the company’s tangible histories + an easter egg hunting-esque/lucky draw-esque… thing.Come join us l

Puppet Origin Stories @ ONE-TWO-SIX (2022)

Nine Years Theatre

The city of Thebes is suffering under a devastating pandemic. President Oedipus vows to put an end to the crisis and help restore the city, like he once did before. Upon consulting the Oracle, the solution is clear. Find the murderer of their previous leader, Laius. So begins a manhunt for the city’s most wanted. But as the investigation starts, secrets from the past resurface.&nbsp;

In a thrilling modern re-telling of the great Sophoclean tragedy,&nbsp;Oedipus, delves deep into how man deals with the fa

Oedipus (2021)

Candide is an optimist. A dreamer. He believes that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

But that belief is about to be tested when Candide’s comfortable life is overtaken by an endless barrage of misfortune. As his world collapses around him, Candide attempts to reunite with his love, Cunegonde.

At the same time, the story travels across the centuries to new locations and parallel universes, where a woman tries to find a way back to happiness after experiencing a hugely trau

Candide (2020)

Drama Box

Tanah•Air 水•土：A Play In Two Parts&nbsp;looks at the dispossession and loss of the indigenous Malays and Orang Seletar of Singapore. "Tanah" (land) and "Air" (water) were their homes (Tanah Air) until the arrival of foreign interventions, displacing them from both. The deep sense of loss continues to be felt today.

Tanah&nbsp;is inspired by Isa Kamari’s Duka Tuan Bertakhta. Set in 1819 Singapore, a young girl loses her home on the sea and is forced to come ashore. As she navigates around the various parti

Tanah·Air 水·土: A Play In Two Parts (2019)

Performer

“I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.” – The Empty Space, Peter Brook&nbsp;

An empty space. 19 actors. An audience.

Is that all it takes for a theatrical event to happen? What is theatre? And can it exist without an audience?&nbsp;

In the brand-new Studio @ WILD RICE, a hitherto empty space, Young &amp; W!LD invites you to enter a world of thea

Anything Can Happen/Something Must Happen (2019)

T:>Works (TheatreWorks)

The play is a patchwork of twenty short scenes revolving around an unuttered question – what are human relationships made of?&nbsp;

A woman wants divorce because there was never any love between her and her husband. On her wedding day, a bride discovers her fiance had an affair with each of her four sisters. A mother is stunned when she learns her husband is happy with their son joining the army and risking his life at war. Two best friends get into a savage fight because one of them recalls their first 

The Reunification Of The Two Koreas (2018)

For decades, Singapore's oldest flea market in Sungei Road was home to a community that made a living out of peddling their wares under the sweltering mid-day sun. In the one square metre of space allocated to each vendor, what was junk to some was treasure to others.&nbsp;

In July 2017, the Sungei Road Market was shut down by the authorities. In one fell swoop, 80 years of heritage and haggling were erased.&nbsp;

In the weeks before and after the market's closure, playwright 三木 Sanmu interviewed doze

One Metre Square: Voices From Sungei Road (2018)

In 2016, Drama Box and The Necessary Stage presented the groundbreaking sold-out production&nbsp;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&nbsp;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 

Underclass (2018)

Intercultural Theatre Institute

Grover's Corners is an idyllic and unremarkable town. But everything around it is quietly changing: industrialisation and capitalism are on the rise and World War I is on the horizon. Will these changes weaken the ties that bind the townsfolk together?

Our Town&nbsp;is an intercultural interpretation of Wilder's insightful and moving portrait of small town life. 80 years after it was first performed, find out what&nbsp;Our Town&nbsp;can tell us about living in a multicultural, multilingual, modern world.

Our Town (2017)

A terminally ill woman hires a digital legacy company to record video greetings for her children to watch long after she is gone.

In our technologically accelerating world, this scenario of social media legacy planning has become a reality. In the digitised future, memories can be made immortal. Our data can be turned into bots. Protests can happen from the comforts of our own homes. Humans, androids and robots are all adrift in cyberspace.&nbsp;

The Necessary Stage continues its 30th anniversary seas

Sanctuary (2017)

Timothy Nga

This Chord and Others&nbsp;is a comedy about friendship and a witty exploration of identity through the eyes of three young men, Sukdev, Gerald and Thomas. The three friends work together and enjoy spending time with one another, until a job promotion and office talent time come between them, leading the men to discover new truths and challenges about their race, religion, background and friendship.

First staged in 1991, and last performed in 2000,&nbsp;This Chord &amp; Others&nbsp;is one of the first fu

This Chord and Others (2017)

Creative Designer

Rosnah is a young Malay Muslim woman who leaves home for the first time to study in London. As she navigates her new environment with determination, she forges new connections with friends who differ from her in all respects - personality, race and religion.

Is she able to balance tradition and liberal ideas without losing her identity?&nbsp;

One of The Necessary Stage's well-loved early plays by Resident Playwright and Cultural Medallion recipient Haresh Sharma,&nbsp;Rosnah&nbsp;is a monodrama about 

Rosnah (2016)

Are you living a life to fulfil someone else's purpose?

Helmed by Cultural Medallion recipients Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma of The Necessary Stage,&nbsp;Ghost Writer&nbsp;offers a glimpse into the lives of characters intertwined by blood and ties that bind - and suffocate.&nbsp;

A young dancer who has undergone traditional training feels dislocated within her artistic practice in her home country. A new expatriate wife detached from her immediate reality draws inspiration from the writings of stranger

Ghost Writer (2016)

A multi-disciplinary site-specific production featuring international puppeteers and designers from Hong Kong, China and Singapore! Traditions and modernity meet in this site-specific production that takes audience through a corridor of memories and stories performed by Master Puppeteers from China, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as Sound and Visual Artists. This eclectic mix of artists is specially picked for this project to create an immersive multi-disciplinary theatrical journey that articulates the n

The Collectors (2016)

Creator

1963. A young painter is forced to abandon his family and his art when he is embroiled in the tumultuous politics of the era.

1987. Three writers are detained by the Internal Security Bureau, each making different choices that will leave indelible marks on their lives.

2016. Artists occupy a derelict building in a bid to present their works free from state intervention, but find themselves entangled in market and personal politics instead.

2024. Successors of a theatre company discover that it has 

Manifesto (2016)

untitled cow number one&nbsp;is about the journey of a widowed cow through 12 days of mourning. Performed by Sharda Harrison and Bani Haykal, the play is influenced by Hindu and Buddhist texts, images and myths, and incorporates physical movement and soundscape.&nbsp;


untitled cow number one (2015)

In&nbsp;untitled women number one,&nbsp;two women talk about their relationships, their past and future. Featuring Edith Podesta and Ethel Yap, the play looks at the notions of pain, death and interdependence, drawing from stories about gender, sexuality and womanhood.


untitled women number one (2015)

Will you fight for freedom knowing the inevitable loss ahead?

A mother pins her hopes upon her son, unknowingly hindering his own dreams. A teacher struggles to accept her protégé whose ambitions steer her away from tradition. A writer drawn to his muse faces the reality of their unresolved chapter.

These relationships collide in The Necessary Stage's&nbsp;Gitanjali [I feel the earth move],&nbsp;a brand new interdisciplinary and intercultural production inspired by the writings of Nobel Prize winner R

Gitanjali [I feel the earth move] (2014)

Voiceover

An original, evocative, multilingual and inter-disciplinary production, devised with ITI’s graduating actors who come from countries as diverse and distant as India, Italy, Bolivia, The Philippines and Singapore. Cloud Messenger tells their stories of living in Singapore, their struggles, joys and challenges, as well as the messages they wish to convey to their loved ones.

This production is a collaboration with some of Singapore’s leading artists such as Bani Haykal, Brian Gothong Tan, Jaclyn Tan, Steve

Cloud Messenger (2014)

Composer

On the cusp of Japan's surrender during World War II, a Japanese general suffers a stroke and is tended to by a Malay gardener. As they spar, having heated debates about the war, the present is revealed: a Japanese man in a relationship with an Indian woman in Kuala Lumpur; his ex-wife coming to grips with an astrologer's predictions; their son, studying in the United States and confronted by his classmates about Japan's past.&nbsp;


Mobile 2: Flat Cities (2013)

Sing'theatre

As March 8 was “Women’s Day”, SING’THEATRE celebrated it with the Asian Premiere of 8 WOMEN, a comedy written originally in French by Robert Thomas.

8 WOMEN was turned into a worldwide famous movie starring Catherine Deneuve and premiered in London in March 2011 at Southwark Playhouse - London with rave reviews.

Set in France in the 50’s, in a large country mansion a few days before Christmas, the man of the house is found murdered! But who could have “dunnit”?

Isolated from the rest of the village

8 Women (2013)

Musician

Teater Ekamatra

Unlike many, more popular, coming of age stories,&nbsp;TAHAN&nbsp;looks at the journey of a young man through his two years of National Service in the police force. Three years have passed since I completed my NS, but I keep re-assessing how the two years have affected me, and will continue to affect me in my decisions. This play was conceived from the echoes of silent discontent I have witnessed in the face of our society.&nbsp;

Being partly autobiographical,&nbsp;TAHAN&nbsp;is dedicated to all the law-

TAHAN (2013)

Crossings&nbsp;is a multidisciplinary collaboration between artists from Singapore and Croatia investigating the coexistence, understanding and mixing of different cultures. Join them in this performative piece as they question the issues of home, homeland and belonging while exploring multiculturalism, and the similarities and differences between the 2 countries.

The vibrant port cities of Singapore and Croatia's Rijeka will be sources of inspiration and dialogue for the artists, creating a new work whi

Crossings (2012)

How do we connect with one another whilst acknowledging and appreciating our differences?

A woman who is a victim of a social scandal proves her fidelity by passing a test. Yet her society does not believe her. She is exiled by her husband who is dedicated to serving his people and so has to listen to their discernment to remain in power. Will she sacrifice for the larger good and suffer the unjust allegation to be with her husband or will she walk?

Based on Asian myths,&nbsp;Crossings&nbsp;takes us o

The cheetah spies a cavernous place
Wounds of stilled instance leaving no trace
Cherub smiling sweet among flaming spurs
A blessing hiding in shadowed curse.
Relics dissipate with clouds at pace
As screams of mellowed kindly verse
Twist the naked will to traverse
That which cocoons a heartened face
Maternal ascension of bleeding grace.

Bleeding Grace&nbsp;is the story of two pedestrian lives. They meet, they laugh, they make a promise. She has a child, he begins to question what he wants. They ta

Bleeding Grace (2012)

Collaborator

Ingat posan atok, ingat baik baik yo
Jangan tinggal solat, kecuali telupo
Jangan mencurik kecuali terpakso
Jangan pulang kampoeng kecuali dah kayou

Saya tidak membantah mahupun bersetuju untuk menulis&nbsp;Kkenang.&nbsp;Macam kilat, semuanya terjadi sekelip mata... I didn't know when I started. I just realised after it ended.

Kkenang&nbsp;menyorot kehidupan seorang wanita yang dekat dengan hati Anuar. Saya ditugaskan untuk melahirkan rangka dan kekata agar Wati tidak bisu tika dipentas dan Anuar me

Kkenang (2009)

Artist

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Centre 42

ANGKAT: A Definitive, Alternative, Reclaimed Narrative of a Native&nbsp;subverts norms of genre and dramatic form to tell the intertwining histories of a mother and daughter, and a re-imagining of a young Singapura trying to find her footing amidst the rough seas.Salma, an aspiring singer, is an adopted child whose struggle with identity is played out on a national stage.Mak, a former islander, tries to process the loss of her home from the mainland, with a little help from some friends.The play blends fant

Bani Haykal

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