After almost 20 years, The Necessary Stage brings back old friends to present brand new play Old Gaze. Brash, audacious and just rollicking good fun, Old Gaze is the third and final instalment following TNS’ seminal LGBTQ plays Mardi Gras (2003) and Top or Bottom (2004). “This final installment has been written 19 years later. The three main characters played by Hossan, Kumar and Rody … Continue reading Preview: Old Gaze by The Necessary Stage
From featuring promising young theatremakers at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, to the creative jamming of The Orange Playground, in recent years, The Necessary Stage (TNS) has been increasingly moving towards the developing of new works and setting the foundations for a new generation of theatremakers. This year, TNS has also brought back Playwrights’ Cove, a playwriting training and mentorship programme led by Resident Playwright … Continue reading Review: Playwrights’ Cove 2022 by The Necessary Stage
A necessary production for a world in want of greater empathy. Actors have a reputation for being dramatic. It’s their profession after all, to perform and to present people and situations that are often exaggerated and emotionally-charged, to entertain and evoke catharsis in paying audiences. But we often forget that actors are far more than just blank slates, morphing and becoming whatever role they’ve been … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Acting Mad by The Necessary Stage
Women without men. Singapore is a nation that has always been proud of its pristine city, seemingly flawless to the rest of the world. But underneath its facade lies a tangled mass of quashed tensions, constantly threatening to break past the surface. Such is the case in The Necessary Stage’s (TNS) Model Citizens, where a Member of Parliament (MP) is stabbed by an unhappy citizen, … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: Model Citizens (2021) by The Necessary Stage
A Singaporean classic through and through, as disturbingly relevant now as it was then. There’s good reason why Off Centre is considered one of the most important works of the Singapore literary canon; the hallmark of a classic play lies primarily in its ability for both story and characters to transcend time, and Off Centre achieves all of these in spades, triumphantly returning to the stage as bold as it … Continue reading Review: Off Centre (2019) by The Necessary Stage
26 years since its premiere in 1993, The Necessary Stage (TNS) is once more bringing back one of their most well known plays to the stage in 2019 – Off Centre. Written by TNS Resident Playwright Haresh Sharma and directed by TNS artistic director Alvin Tan, Off Centre was a bold new step forward for Singapore theatre as it cast an honest and unflinching spotlight on the stigma of … Continue reading Preview: Off Centre (2019) by The Necessary Stage
Disclaimer: The following review contains plot information for Underclass The Necessary Stage and Drama Box present a rich script about the poor and destitute, discomforting as it shines a spotlight on the invisible people we turn a blind eye to. How often do you have to think about whether you can afford your next meal, or how much you can save by taking a series … Continue reading Review: Underclass《贱民》by The Necessary Stage and Drama Box
Following their overwhelmingly successful collaboration with Drama Box with Manifesto back in 2016, the two theatre companies are teaming up once again for their new show Underclass. Tackling, as the title suggests, concepts of class and social conditions in Singapore, this multilingual work will feature a cast of some of Singapore’s best actors, with a script by Haresh Sharma and co-directed by Kok Heng Leun and Alvin Tan. We … Continue reading The Necessary Stage and Drama Box’s Underclass: An Interview with the Cast and Co-director Alvin Tan
After the runaway success of Manifesto in 2016 to a sold out run, The Necessary Stage and Drama Box return for a second collaboration this May! Following on from Manifesto, Underclass sees the two companies producing an all new multi-lingual work that takes a critical look at issues of social inequality and human dignity in Singapore. Written by Haresh Sharma and directed by Alvin Tan together with Kok Heng Leun, Underclass tells the story of … Continue reading Preview: Underclass by The Necessary Stage and Drama Box
The Necessary Stage is starting their 2018 season with plenty of collaborations, having kickstarted Phase 1 of their forthcoming collaboration with Canada and with their new main season work Underclass in May, produced in collaboration with Drama Box. But before all that, this March, they’ll be treading new ground as they embark on an all new project with Cata Odata, a Balinese art space led by creative director … Continue reading untitled cow number one: A Cata Odata X The Necessary Stage X WAFT-LAB Collaboration
