The Necessary Stage expands Associate Artists Programme with Two Trailblazing Designers for 2025

The Necessary Stage (TNS) continues to champion innovation and inclusivity in socially engaged theatre by welcoming two groundbreaking additions to its 2025 Associate Artists Programme (AAP). For the first time, the programme will feature designers, with sound designer and composer Safuan Johari and lighting designer Faith Liu Yong Huay joining the current dynamic cohort. This move marks an exciting evolution in the AAP, spotlighting the … Continue reading The Necessary Stage expands Associate Artists Programme with Two Trailblazing Designers for 2025

★★★★★ Review: White, All White by The Necessary Stage

Deonn Yang rises to the occasion and comes into her own in this heartfelt play about forgiveness and family. As much as we hold the concept of family in high regard in Singapore, family has also always been a complex affair. Amidst the comfort family brings, there is almost always the pressure of ensuring that we do the best we can for them, lest we … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: White, All White by The Necessary Stage

Preview: 2025 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival to tackle themes of displacement across seven local and international works

The annual Singapore Fringe Festival, organised by The Necessary Stage (TNS) has become an institution for independent theatremakers both locally and internationally to present their work, providing a platform for them to stage provocative, cutting-edge performances that deal with pertinent discussions in society and about those on the margins. Now in its 21st edition, watch as Fringe 2025 tackles the theme of displacement, from people … Continue reading Preview: 2025 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival to tackle themes of displacement across seven local and international works

The Necessary Stage calls for urgent donor support to continue annual Singapore Fringe Festival in 2026 and beyond

Each year, The Necessary Stage has been consistently curating and bringing together a plethora of local and international fringe performance work that becomes the Singapore Fringe Festival, calling to attention urgent issues affecting community and society. After a successful 2024 edition, the 2025 edition of the Singapore Fringe Festival will mark M1’s final year as its dedicated donor, after 20 years of support. The Necessary … Continue reading The Necessary Stage calls for urgent donor support to continue annual Singapore Fringe Festival in 2026 and beyond

White, All White: An Interview with writer/director Deonn Yang and cast member Koh Wan Ching on care and growth

Beyond her formal arts education in LASALLE College of the Arts, theatremaker Deonn Yang is also a self-proclaimed graduate of the ‘School of The Necessary Stage (TNS)’, beginning with an online playwriting workshop conducted by Haresh Sharma in 2020, during the COVID era. That led to her applying for Playwrights’ Cove in 2022, also by TNS, before presenting her show Why Be Good When You … Continue reading White, All White: An Interview with writer/director Deonn Yang and cast member Koh Wan Ching on care and growth

Preview: Playwrights’ Cove 2024 by The Necessary Stage

Race and religion. Love and death. Community and loneliness. These are just some of the thought-provoking themes explored in a series of bold and promising works-in-progress by the participants of The Necessary Stage’s (TNS) Playwrights’ Cove 2024, to be presented as dramatised readings from 21 to 24 November 2024. This iteration of Playwrights’ Cove is the company’s third iteration of the much sought after playwriting … Continue reading Preview: Playwrights’ Cove 2024 by The Necessary Stage

Preview: White, All White by The Necessary Stage

This October, get ready as The Necessary Stage (TNS) presents White, All White, a new play by TNS Associate Artist Deonn Yang, who also directs. Marking TNS’ first main season production helmed entirely by Deonn, White, All White is a life-affirming play that delves into the joys and tensions of family and personal dreams, giving audiences a glimpse into the quiet lives of a family … Continue reading Preview: White, All White by The Necessary Stage

★★★★★ Review: Oo-Woo by The Necessary Stage

Love is sometimes about making difficult choices. Every Singaporean knows about the koel bird – even if you’ve never seen it, you’ve certainly heard it in the wee hours of the morning, crying ‘oo-woo!’ repeatedly at the top of its lungs. But what exactly is it trying to convey in those cries? From writer Raimi Safari and director Mohd Fared Jainal, the koel is the … Continue reading ★★★★★ Review: Oo-Woo by The Necessary Stage

★★★☆☆ Review: Here Where You Were by Matter.Less

A forum theatre primer on how to begin processing suicide. The forum theatre format has long been used as a form of empowerment, giving audience members the power of choice to change the narrative of a play when invited to step in and make major decisions. Often, this has been used to address key social issues, and give ordinary viewers the realisation that they do … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Review: Here Where You Were by Matter.Less

★★☆☆☆ Review: Thom Paine (Based on Nothing) by Edith Podesta, Yarra Ileto, and NAFA

Expansion of one-man show into ensemble piece becomes confusing mess. When Thom Pain (based on nothing) premiered in 2004, the one-man show received rave reviews and was described to be unlike anything else at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that year. It’s a rather odd but endearing sounding script, wherein the long-suffering protagonist recounts the story of a bee sting, a boy with a dog that … Continue reading ★★☆☆☆ Review: Thom Paine (Based on Nothing) by Edith Podesta, Yarra Ileto, and NAFA