In The Living Room: Fundamentally Happy

Fundamentally Happy, a story about two former neighbours whose reunion is marred by allegations of sex abuse, was first staged by The Necessary Stage in 2006. In 2017, this award-winning English play by Haresh Sharma receives a Mandarin restaging by Nine Years Theatre.

This Living Room conversation spotlights both versions of Fundamentally Happy, with theatre practitioners and researchers in a discussion of language, changing contexts and more.

Join actress Aidli ‘Alin’ Mosbit (who played the character Habiba in 2006 and 2007), director Nelson Chia (who directed and translated the 2017 Mandarin production), independent theatre researcher Dr. Wong Chee Meng, and The Necessary Stage’s researcher Shawn Chua, as they chat about Fundamentally Happy.

The Living Room is a programme by Centre 42 that welcomes chat and conversation. Through focused but casual dialogues and face-to-face exchanges, this programme encourages participants to re-examine trends, happenings, people (on & off-stage) and phenomena in Singapore theatre.

The Necessary Stage’s researcher Shawn Chua is joined by Nelson Chia, the director and translator of the 2017 production, Aidli ‘Alin’ Mosbit, who played the character Habiba in the first staging, and theatre researcher Wong Chee Meng. The four discuss the creative processes behind the development of the original play and its Mandarin translation, as well as language and its culture and politics.