Over the years, the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (M1SFF), organised by The Necessary Stage (TNS), has undergone a variety of changes to the way it’s been run, from taking on specific themes and topics, to responding to art work. But at its heart, M1SFF has always been about one key goal – to present small scale local and international work that address key social issues, expanding audience minds and perspectives via art.

Now in its monumental 20th edition, M1SFF has fully embraced that energy come 2024, with a diverse line-up of six productions in January that explore a multitude of issues and perspectives from across the globe. Care remains its primary motive, where the festival questions what artists and society itself should care about and their concerns of the day, curating a line-up of responses to crises both communal and personal, platforming distinct voices about connections in troubled times and breaking free from stereotypes and routines.

A highlight of the festival includes a new original production by TNS themselves, with Raimi Safari’s Oo-Woo. First given a dramatic reading as part of the company’s 2022 edition of Playwrights’ Cove, the play’s title references the iconic cry of the Asian koel bird in the morning, and follows the plight of a family when one such pet goes missing. Directed by Mohd Fared Jainal and written by Raimi Safari, whose credits include the tender Rindu di Bulan at the 2022 edition of the festival, the family simultaneously has to care for their elderly matriarch, and the characters’ understanding of duty and love are challenged. Stars Dalifah Shahril, Farah Lola, Isabella Chiam and Yazid Jalil.

First presented as a work-in-progress at Headline Acts / SIFA-X 2023 Edition by Centre 42 and Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), Motherland by Very Shy Gurl by fendy examines notions of love as framed between the extremes of loyalty and betrayal responding to the remembered, forgotten, neglected, and celebrated violent conflicts all around the world that continue to develop, evolve, and erupt to this day. In a tight embrace above the very line that divides the land, two unknown soldiers deeply in love and with different loyalties contemplate the inevitable as the night sky above Motherland starts to burn red. When Motherland eventually bleeds and pleads for vengeance, how should the soldier love?

Young arts collective Matter.Less (Singapore) make their debut at the Fringe with Here Where You Were. Written by Danial Matin and directed by Moli Mohter, this sensitively crafted forum theatre work explores mental health, suicide, and grief in the Singapore Malay Muslim community. Join performers Suhaila M Sanif, Fadhil Daud, and Chng Xin Xuan, and facilitators Adib Kosnan and Chng Yi Kai in this safe exploratory space to navigate these issues together.

Rounding up the Singapore presentations is THOM PAIN (based on nothing) – a Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by Will Eno about the agonies of the human condition. Edith Podesta and Yarra Ileto direct students from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, as you witness Thom Pain trying to save his life to save your life, in that order. Filled with biting humour, desire, and lost innocence, this work asks for empathy in our loneliness and vulnerability.

On the international front, J’Sun Howard (USA) presents aMoratorium – a compassionate dance-theatre performance that explores Black male identity, visibility, temporality, and its absence. Initially commissioned by the Art Institute of Chicago to respond to its retrospective of visual artist Charles Wilbert White, this work looks at how we can express generous and loving play between Black and Brown men against the racial supremacy and police brutality in our current socio-political climate.

Finally, explore the boundaries of subtle humour, irony and absurdity in SAME SAME, an award-winning dance-theatre performance by Dame de Pic/Cie Karine Ponties & Temporary Collective (Belgium & Czech Republic) where two women lose their direction in the corporate rat race, but rekindle their inner wild animals. Inspired by silent film actor Buster Keaton whose trademark physical comedy was heightened by his deadpan expressions, SAME SAME moves audiences with their depth and sincerity despite the hilarity of the form.

As Bertolt Brecht puts it, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Even as 2023 draws to a close, the world continues to experience waves of hostility, violence, and chaos, where it is ultimately not who is right, but who is left that really matters. Depressing though it may be, TNS hopes that through art, we as a community are able to confront the senselessness of violence, and revive hope in these ominous times through building resilience, community, and our shared humanity.

These artists seek peace and connections in these tumultuous times and an increasingly divided world, with the 2024 edition of the M1SFF urging all to reflect upon their own moral conscience and responsibilities, challenging conditioned biases and weaponised grief, with these works conveying messages of care and hope for the vulnerable and hurting, while encouraging others to raise their voices in solidarity.

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024 runs from 17th to 28th January 2024 across various venues. Full line-up available here, with tickets available from BookMyShow