The Necessary Stage
Encyclopedia
The Necessary Stage is a non-profit theatre
company with charity status in Singapore
. Formed in 1987 by current Artistic Director Alvin Tan
, The Necessary Stage has been identified as one of the Major Arts Companies by the National Arts Council
. The company is also the organiser and curator of the annual M1
Singapore Fringe Festival. It is currently located at the Marine Parade Community Building
.
. The plays are original, mostly devised pieces created in a collaborative process that is based on research, improvisation before scripting, and input from all members of the production. This process has produced many important works which were not only popular successes but also critically acclaimed, including:
The Necessary Stage's international collaboration, Separation 40, was produced with Malaysian theatre company Dramalab, and was staged at the Esplanade
as part of its Theatre Studio Season, and at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre
.
In June 2006, The Necessary Stage presented Mobile, a creative collaboration involving talents from Japan, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, as part of the Singapore Arts Festival. Mobile also toured to Kuala Lumpur following its world premiere in Singapore for a 3-day run at The Actors Studio in Bangsar
, as well at to Setagaya Public Theatres in Tokyo
in March 2007.
2007 sees The Necessary Stage celebrating its 20th anniversary. As part of its celebration, the company will be staging two works - one, a seminal piece first staged in 1993 and reprised in 2007; and another, a brand new work to be premiered in November at The Necessary Stage Black Box.
The Necessary Stage's production, Off Centre was presented at Esplanade Theatre Studio as part of The Studios Season in May 2007 and received accolades and warm responses from the audience and press. The play has been selected by the Ministry of Education (Singapore)
as part of the GCE 'O' and 'N' level literature syllabus from 2007 onwards.
In November 2007, The Necessary Stage presented another a brand new play that dealt with the issue of living, dying and the pain in between. Good People looks at the relationship between 3 people - Miguel, the new Medical Director trying to run a tight ship; Yati, a jaded nurse making the best of a ‘dead-end’ job; and Radha, the terminally-ill patient addicted to marijuana to relieve her pain. Moving, humorous and evocative, Good People looks at urgent contemporary issues through the test of personal relationships. The play received critical acclaim and popular acclaim in Singapore, and traveled to Kuala Lumpur in May 2008. It was nominated in 7 categories of the 2008 Life! Theatre Awards and won the Best Original Script award.
In October/November 2008, The Necessary Stage staged Gemuk Girls, a bold and darkly humorous look at family politics and the politics of the day. Gemuk Girls was a three-hander, featuring a mother-daughter duo Kartini (a loud and overbearing hippie mother) and Juliana (a straitlaced young woman on the threshold of entering politics). One day, they receive shocking news about Kartini's father who had been arrested and detained in the 1960s. The play dealt with the controversial issue of ex-political detainees and detention without trial, but went beyond the political realm to look at how it impacted personal and family life and history. It received critical acclaim from various presses, and toured to Kuala Lumpur in December 2008. "Gemuk Girls" also swept the Best Script, Production of the Year and Best Actor (for Najib Soiman's portrayal of the ex-political detainee) at the 2009 Life! Theatre Awards.
The Necessary Stage's most recent works include _____ Can Change (part of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2010), Model Citizens (as part of our main season in 2010 and which was restaged in the 2011 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival), Those Who Can't, Teach (staged as part of the Singapore Arts Festival 2010), as well as Balek Kampong (part of our main season in 2011)
also participated in a collaboration among Southeast Asian theatres, spearheaded by Setagaya Public Theatre in Tokyo, Japan, which culminated in a production in 2005.
The Necessary Stage's Resident Playwright Haresh Sharma
was one of four international playwrights commissioned by the Glasgow-based 7:84 Theatre Company to write a play on the theme of Separation and Reconciliation (as part of the celebration of the 300th Anniversary of the Act of Union between Scotland and England and the Scottish Elections).
Sharma's play, Eclipse, is about the Indian/Pakistan partition as told by a young Singaporean man who is making a trip to his father’s homeland in Pakistan. The play saw its world premiere on 11 April 2007, at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, and subsequently toured to various theatres in Scotland, including the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. Eclipse made its way back to Singapore for its Asian premiere as a full-length play as part of the 2008 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival.
The Virgin Labfest in Manila is a festival of new plays by emerging and well-known playwrights, directors and actors. It held its third edition from 28 June to 8 July 2007 at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines, and featured Haresh Sharma
's Lizard as part of its International Night line-up, alongside a triple-bill featuring two other plays by Thai and Japanese playwrights. Lizard, originally presented by The Necessary Stage in 1996, tells the story of a dysfunctional family
involving a mother, son and maid. For the Manila staging, it was directed by Nicolas Pichay, and showcased a surreal and inertly violent depiction of a Singaporean household whose scheming, double-dealing, and at times cruel transactions negotiated with each other makes for a rather intense sala-set drama.
The theatre company's recent main season productions, Good People, Gemuk Girls and "Model Citizens" toured to Kuala Lumpur in May 2008, December 2008 and January 2011 respectively.
The Necessary Stage is also committed to exploring international collaborations. Recent collaborations include "Mobile" (a creative collaboration involving talents from Japan, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, as part of the Singapore Arts Festival, and which toured to Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo thereafter), "Past Caring" (a collaoration with Australia's Tony Yap Company) and "Sofaman" (a collaboration with Russia's The KnAM Theatre, which premiered in Singapore before traveling to Khabarovsk for a presentation in Russia).
As part of its External Project, the Theatre for Youth branch of the company, in collaboration with Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay
and the National Arts Council Singapore
presented Let Me Go! in September 2007, an interactive production geared towards students, which gave students a chance to help the protagonist, Kheng, through role-play of the characters with the actors, to discover ways to work through her frustrations, which might also be their own. The production provided students with a fun, lively and refreshing experience of interactive theatre, where they can share their predicaments and build self-esteem. It also included other educational components such as a talk on the creative process of putting together a performance to provide students with a deeper understanding of theatre and playwriting; a discussion session with Alvin Tan
, Artistic Director and Haresh Sharma
, Resident Playwright of The Necessary Stage, and a backstage tour to show students the different processes that go on behind each production.
In September 2008, The Necessary Stage collaborated once again with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and the National Arts Council as part of the Feed Your Imagination, an arts-education programme, to present Off Centre, which also included both performance and interaction with the students.
Starting in 2008, The Necessary Stage has been working with senior citizens in a 3-year Drama Programme geared towards training the participants in various aspects of theatre-making and arts administration, with the final aim of them setting up an independent theatre company.
The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival is an annual festival of theatre, installation, film, music and forum created and presented by Singaporean and international artists. Based on a different theme every year and curated by The Necessary Stage, the festival aims to bring the best of contemporary, cutting-edge and socially engaged works to the Singapore audience. Unique in Singapore, the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival is set to be a creative centre with a twin-purpose of innovation and discussion, a platform for meaningful and provocative art to engage our increasingly connected and complex world.
The theme for the inaugural M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2005 was Art and War, and the theme for M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2006 was Art and Healing, featuring a total of 51 works from 20 countries over a period of 12 days. In 2007, the Festival's theme was Art and Disability - 22 works from 12 countries were showcased over 13 days, and reached out to an audienceship of 153,000.
In 2008, the Festival's theme was Art and History, featuring 20 works from 13 countries from 16 - 27 January 2008, and reaching out to a total estimated audienceship of about 200,000 through free and ticketed performances, exhibitions and events.
The 2009 Festival focused on the theme Art and Family, while the 2010 edition was centred around the theme of Art and the Law. Most recently in 2011, the Festival had the theme of Art and Education, and took place from 5 - 16 January 2011, featuring 18 works from 10 countries, and reaching out to more than 150,000 people through free and ticketed events.
Come 2012, the Festival will take place from 15 - 26 February, with the theme of Art and Religion.
For more information, visit the website: www.singaporefringe.com
as a literature text for the GCE 'O' and ‘N’ levels syllabi, and has been republished by the company.
In August 2007, a new volume of Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature, was published with a focus on the works of Haresh Sharma
. Interlogue is a series published by Ethos Books
and edited by A/P Kirpal Singh that aims to bring critical focus on the works of Singapore writers in English. Previous editions of the series included one each on fiction, poetry, drama and interviews with local writers, as well as one dedicated volume on Singapore playwright Robert Yeo
.
The publication, written by Prof David Birch and edited by A/P Kirpal Singh, was an extensive investigation into Sharma's development as a writer; the themes and issues he grapples with; as well as his vision and practice of theatre within and outside his work at The Necessary Stage. While Interlogue itself was not published by The Necessary Stage, the company assisted with the provision of archival material for Prof Birch's research.
In 2010, The Necessary Stage published a new anthology of Haresh's plays entitled "Trilogy", including the scripts and production notes of our three award-winning words, Fundamentally Happy, Good People and Gemuk Girls. Most recently in 2011, a collection of early short plays by Haresh Sharma entitled Shorts I was published by The Necessary Stage. The script of Those Who Can't, Teach, which was restaged as part of the 2010 Singapore Arts Festival, has also been published in June by Epigram Books.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
company with charity status in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Formed in 1987 by current Artistic Director Alvin Tan
Alvin Tan
Alvin Tan is Founder and Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage and co-Artistic Director of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. Under Alvin, TNS has grown from a society in 1987 to one of Singapore’s most prominent and respected theatre companies...
, The Necessary Stage has been identified as one of the Major Arts Companies by the National Arts Council
National Arts Council Singapore
The National Arts Council of Singapore was established in September 1991 "to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of life in Singapore.-History :...
. The company is also the organiser and curator of the annual M1
MobileOne
M1 Limited is a telecommunications company in Singapore. Launched in April 1997, it was Singapore's second mobile operator after SingTel and supervene by StarHub, Singapore's third mobile operator....
Singapore Fringe Festival. It is currently located at the Marine Parade Community Building
Marine Parade Community Building
Marine Parade Community Building is a commercial and community building located at the corner of the junction of Marine Parade Road and Still Road South, in Marine Parade of Singapore...
.
Main season
For its main season, The Necessary Stage produces an average of four plays a year at its Black Box and at other venues. These include plays for the Singapore Arts FestivalSingapore Arts Festival
The Singapore Arts Festival is an annual arts festival held in Singapore. Organised by the National Arts Council, it is one of the most significant events in the regional arts scene. The festival, usually held in mid-year for a stretch of one month, incorporates theatre arts, dance, music and...
. The plays are original, mostly devised pieces created in a collaborative process that is based on research, improvisation before scripting, and input from all members of the production. This process has produced many important works which were not only popular successes but also critically acclaimed, including:
- Boxing Day: The Tsunami Project (2005),
- Top Or Bottom (2004),
- Sing Song (2004),
- koan (2003),
- BOTE: The Beginning Of the End (2002),
- godeatgod (2002 & 2004),
- Close – in my face (2002),
- ABUSE SUXXX!!! (2001),
- Completely With/Out Character (1999),
- Pillars (1998),
- Rosnah (1995, 1996, 1997 & 2006),
- Off Centre (1993 & 2007)
- Fundamentally Happy (2006 & 2007),
- Still Building (1993)
- Good People (2007)
- Gemuk Girls (2008)
- "_____ Can Change" (2010)
- "Model Citizens" (2010)
- "Balek Kampong" (2011)
The Necessary Stage's international collaboration, Separation 40, was produced with Malaysian theatre company Dramalab, and was staged at the Esplanade
Esplanade
An esplanade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The original meaning of esplanade was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide clear fields of fire for the fortress' guns...
as part of its Theatre Studio Season, and at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre
Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre
The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre or Pentas Seni Kuala Lumpur in Sentul West is one of the most established centres for the performing arts in Malaysia...
.
In June 2006, The Necessary Stage presented Mobile, a creative collaboration involving talents from Japan, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, as part of the Singapore Arts Festival. Mobile also toured to Kuala Lumpur following its world premiere in Singapore for a 3-day run at The Actors Studio in Bangsar
Bangsar
Bangsar, also Bungsar , is an affluent residential suburb on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, lying about south-west of the city centre. It is part of the Lembah Pantai parliamentary constituency...
, as well at to Setagaya Public Theatres in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in March 2007.
2007 sees The Necessary Stage celebrating its 20th anniversary. As part of its celebration, the company will be staging two works - one, a seminal piece first staged in 1993 and reprised in 2007; and another, a brand new work to be premiered in November at The Necessary Stage Black Box.
The Necessary Stage's production, Off Centre was presented at Esplanade Theatre Studio as part of The Studios Season in May 2007 and received accolades and warm responses from the audience and press. The play has been selected by the Ministry of Education (Singapore)
Ministry of Education (Singapore)
The Ministry Of Education is a ministry of the Government of Singapore that directs the formulation and implementation of policies related to education in Singapore.-Statutory boards:...
as part of the GCE 'O' and 'N' level literature syllabus from 2007 onwards.
In November 2007, The Necessary Stage presented another a brand new play that dealt with the issue of living, dying and the pain in between. Good People looks at the relationship between 3 people - Miguel, the new Medical Director trying to run a tight ship; Yati, a jaded nurse making the best of a ‘dead-end’ job; and Radha, the terminally-ill patient addicted to marijuana to relieve her pain. Moving, humorous and evocative, Good People looks at urgent contemporary issues through the test of personal relationships. The play received critical acclaim and popular acclaim in Singapore, and traveled to Kuala Lumpur in May 2008. It was nominated in 7 categories of the 2008 Life! Theatre Awards and won the Best Original Script award.
In October/November 2008, The Necessary Stage staged Gemuk Girls, a bold and darkly humorous look at family politics and the politics of the day. Gemuk Girls was a three-hander, featuring a mother-daughter duo Kartini (a loud and overbearing hippie mother) and Juliana (a straitlaced young woman on the threshold of entering politics). One day, they receive shocking news about Kartini's father who had been arrested and detained in the 1960s. The play dealt with the controversial issue of ex-political detainees and detention without trial, but went beyond the political realm to look at how it impacted personal and family life and history. It received critical acclaim from various presses, and toured to Kuala Lumpur in December 2008. "Gemuk Girls" also swept the Best Script, Production of the Year and Best Actor (for Najib Soiman's portrayal of the ex-political detainee) at the 2009 Life! Theatre Awards.
The Necessary Stage's most recent works include _____ Can Change (part of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2010), Model Citizens (as part of our main season in 2010 and which was restaged in the 2011 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival), Those Who Can't, Teach (staged as part of the Singapore Arts Festival 2010), as well as Balek Kampong (part of our main season in 2011)
International work
The Necessary Stage is committed to international exchange and networking between Singapore and other countries. Such exchange is done through staging the company's plays abroad, inviting foreign works to be presented by the company in Singapore, as well as through dialogues, workshops and training opportunities. To date, the company has performed in Berlin, Birmingham, Busan, Cairo, Dublin, Glasgow, Kuala Lumpur, London, Macau, Melbourne, New Delhi, Seoul, Sibiu, Sziget, Taipei and Tokyo. Resident Playwright Haresh SharmaHaresh Sharma
Haresh Sharma is a Singaporean playwright. To date, he has written more than fifty plays that have been staged all over the world, including Singapore, Melbourne, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cairo and London. Sharma has a BA from the National University of Singapore as well as an MA in Playwriting from...
also participated in a collaboration among Southeast Asian theatres, spearheaded by Setagaya Public Theatre in Tokyo, Japan, which culminated in a production in 2005.
The Necessary Stage's Resident Playwright Haresh Sharma
Haresh Sharma
Haresh Sharma is a Singaporean playwright. To date, he has written more than fifty plays that have been staged all over the world, including Singapore, Melbourne, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cairo and London. Sharma has a BA from the National University of Singapore as well as an MA in Playwriting from...
was one of four international playwrights commissioned by the Glasgow-based 7:84 Theatre Company to write a play on the theme of Separation and Reconciliation (as part of the celebration of the 300th Anniversary of the Act of Union between Scotland and England and the Scottish Elections).
Sharma's play, Eclipse, is about the Indian/Pakistan partition as told by a young Singaporean man who is making a trip to his father’s homeland in Pakistan. The play saw its world premiere on 11 April 2007, at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, and subsequently toured to various theatres in Scotland, including the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. Eclipse made its way back to Singapore for its Asian premiere as a full-length play as part of the 2008 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival.
The Virgin Labfest in Manila is a festival of new plays by emerging and well-known playwrights, directors and actors. It held its third edition from 28 June to 8 July 2007 at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines, and featured Haresh Sharma
Haresh Sharma
Haresh Sharma is a Singaporean playwright. To date, he has written more than fifty plays that have been staged all over the world, including Singapore, Melbourne, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cairo and London. Sharma has a BA from the National University of Singapore as well as an MA in Playwriting from...
's Lizard as part of its International Night line-up, alongside a triple-bill featuring two other plays by Thai and Japanese playwrights. Lizard, originally presented by The Necessary Stage in 1996, tells the story of a dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
involving a mother, son and maid. For the Manila staging, it was directed by Nicolas Pichay, and showcased a surreal and inertly violent depiction of a Singaporean household whose scheming, double-dealing, and at times cruel transactions negotiated with each other makes for a rather intense sala-set drama.
The theatre company's recent main season productions, Good People, Gemuk Girls and "Model Citizens" toured to Kuala Lumpur in May 2008, December 2008 and January 2011 respectively.
The Necessary Stage is also committed to exploring international collaborations. Recent collaborations include "Mobile" (a creative collaboration involving talents from Japan, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, as part of the Singapore Arts Festival, and which toured to Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo thereafter), "Past Caring" (a collaoration with Australia's Tony Yap Company) and "Sofaman" (a collaboration with Russia's The KnAM Theatre, which premiered in Singapore before traveling to Khabarovsk for a presentation in Russia).
Theatre For Youth and Community
The Theatre for Youth branch was set up in 1992 and re-named Theatre For Youth and Community (TFYC) in 2001. TFYC's principal interest is in theatre work with and for young people and different communities in Singapore. This includes presenting short plays during school assemblies, interactive Theatre-In-Education programmes, workshops, and process-based drama programmes that focus on personal development. Since 1992, TFYC has performed to more than 800,000 students, piloted drama programmes for school curriculum, and worked with numerous non-governmental organisations and voluntary welfare organisations. It was also responsible for the successful Marine Parade Theatre Festival (2000), FamFest (2001), The Necessary Community Festival (2001), M1 Youth Connection (1997 – 2003) and M1 Theatre Connect (2004).As part of its External Project, the Theatre for Youth branch of the company, in collaboration with Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay
Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay
Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay is a waterside building located on six hectares of waterfront land alongside Marina Bay near the mouth of the Singapore River, purpose-built to be the centre for performing arts for the island nation of Singapore...
and the National Arts Council Singapore
National Arts Council Singapore
The National Arts Council of Singapore was established in September 1991 "to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of life in Singapore.-History :...
presented Let Me Go! in September 2007, an interactive production geared towards students, which gave students a chance to help the protagonist, Kheng, through role-play of the characters with the actors, to discover ways to work through her frustrations, which might also be their own. The production provided students with a fun, lively and refreshing experience of interactive theatre, where they can share their predicaments and build self-esteem. It also included other educational components such as a talk on the creative process of putting together a performance to provide students with a deeper understanding of theatre and playwriting; a discussion session with Alvin Tan
Alvin Tan
Alvin Tan is Founder and Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage and co-Artistic Director of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. Under Alvin, TNS has grown from a society in 1987 to one of Singapore’s most prominent and respected theatre companies...
, Artistic Director and Haresh Sharma
Haresh Sharma
Haresh Sharma is a Singaporean playwright. To date, he has written more than fifty plays that have been staged all over the world, including Singapore, Melbourne, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cairo and London. Sharma has a BA from the National University of Singapore as well as an MA in Playwriting from...
, Resident Playwright of The Necessary Stage, and a backstage tour to show students the different processes that go on behind each production.
In September 2008, The Necessary Stage collaborated once again with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and the National Arts Council as part of the Feed Your Imagination, an arts-education programme, to present Off Centre, which also included both performance and interaction with the students.
Starting in 2008, The Necessary Stage has been working with senior citizens in a 3-year Drama Programme geared towards training the participants in various aspects of theatre-making and arts administration, with the final aim of them setting up an independent theatre company.
M1 Singapore Fringe Festival
The theme for the inaugural M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2005 was Art and War, and the theme for M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2006 was Art and Healing, featuring a total of 51 works from 20 countries over a period of 12 days. In 2007, the Festival's theme was Art and Disability - 22 works from 12 countries were showcased over 13 days, and reached out to an audienceship of 153,000.
In 2008, the Festival's theme was Art and History, featuring 20 works from 13 countries from 16 - 27 January 2008, and reaching out to a total estimated audienceship of about 200,000 through free and ticketed performances, exhibitions and events.
The 2009 Festival focused on the theme Art and Family, while the 2010 edition was centred around the theme of Art and the Law. Most recently in 2011, the Festival had the theme of Art and Education, and took place from 5 - 16 January 2011, featuring 18 works from 10 countries, and reaching out to more than 150,000 people through free and ticketed events.
Come 2012, the Festival will take place from 15 - 26 February, with the theme of Art and Religion.
For more information, visit the website: www.singaporefringe.com
Publications
The Necessary Stage has to date produced eight publications. Still Building (1994), published by EPB, is a compilation of three plays by the company’s Resident Playwright Haresh Sharma. Other published work by Haresh include This Chord and Others (1999) – a compilation of six plays published by Minerva, and Off Centre (2000), published by Ethos Books. The Necessary Stage also published PIE to Spoilt (2002), a maiden collection of plays by former Company Playwright Chong Tze Chien, who is now the Company Director of another theatre company in Singapore called The Finger Players. In 1997, the company published 9 Lives – 10 Years of Singapore Theatre, a landmark book and the first of its kind featuring essays on Singapore theatre, commissioned by The Necessary Stage. 2000 saw the company publish a report, Development Through Drama: Towards Providing A Holistic Education for Singapore Schools, with support from the National Arts Council, documenting its pilot developmental drama programme conducted during curriculum time. Ask Not: The Necessary Stage In Singapore Theatre, a collection of essays on examining the social, political, economic and artistic aspects of theatre-making in Singapore from the perspective of The Necessary Stage, was published by Times Editions in 2004. Recently, Off Centre has been selected by the Ministry of Education in SingaporeMinistry of Education (Singapore)
The Ministry Of Education is a ministry of the Government of Singapore that directs the formulation and implementation of policies related to education in Singapore.-Statutory boards:...
as a literature text for the GCE 'O' and ‘N’ levels syllabi, and has been republished by the company.
In August 2007, a new volume of Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature, was published with a focus on the works of Haresh Sharma
Haresh Sharma
Haresh Sharma is a Singaporean playwright. To date, he has written more than fifty plays that have been staged all over the world, including Singapore, Melbourne, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cairo and London. Sharma has a BA from the National University of Singapore as well as an MA in Playwriting from...
. Interlogue is a series published by Ethos Books
Ethos Books
Established in 1997, Ethos Books is a small press focusing on publishing literary works, primarily from writers in Singapore. It produces poetry volumes and anthologies, including several award-winning titles...
and edited by A/P Kirpal Singh that aims to bring critical focus on the works of Singapore writers in English. Previous editions of the series included one each on fiction, poetry, drama and interviews with local writers, as well as one dedicated volume on Singapore playwright Robert Yeo
Robert Yeo
Robert Yeo is a Singaporean poet, playwright and novelist.-Career:Yeo is a retired lecturer of the National Institute of Education and Nanyang Technological University. At present he is a teacher of Creative Writing at the Singapore Management University...
.
The publication, written by Prof David Birch and edited by A/P Kirpal Singh, was an extensive investigation into Sharma's development as a writer; the themes and issues he grapples with; as well as his vision and practice of theatre within and outside his work at The Necessary Stage. While Interlogue itself was not published by The Necessary Stage, the company assisted with the provision of archival material for Prof Birch's research.
In 2010, The Necessary Stage published a new anthology of Haresh's plays entitled "Trilogy", including the scripts and production notes of our three award-winning words, Fundamentally Happy, Good People and Gemuk Girls. Most recently in 2011, a collection of early short plays by Haresh Sharma entitled Shorts I was published by The Necessary Stage. The script of Those Who Can't, Teach, which was restaged as part of the 2010 Singapore Arts Festival, has also been published in June by Epigram Books.