Emerging playwrights feeling the heat

New voices are being heard in the Singapore theatre scene, but industry players say the pressure to be prolific could take a toll on the quality of scripts

Young playwrights whose plays will be staged at The Wright Stuff Festival, by Toy Factory Productions, include (above from left) Gina Chew, Titus Yim, Rajkumar Thiagaras and Mark Benedict Cheong. Educator Zenda Tan (left) had her play Eat Duck staged
Young playwrights whose plays will be staged at The Wright Stuff Festival, by Toy Factory Productions, include (from left) Gina Chew, Titus Yim, Rajkumar Thiagaras and Mark Benedict Cheong. ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
Young playwrights whose plays will be staged at The Wright Stuff Festival, by Toy Factory Productions, include (above from left) Gina Chew, Titus Yim, Rajkumar Thiagaras and Mark Benedict Cheong. Educator Zenda Tan (left) had her play Eat Duck staged
Educator Zenda Tan (above) had her play Eat Duck staged by Checkpoint Theatre last month. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Playwright Thomas Lim, 28, who has Grandmother Tongue and Supervision under his belt, says he learns a lot from his plays when he sits in the audience during a staging and listens to the audience's responses.
Playwright Thomas Lim, 28, who has Grandmother Tongue and Supervision under his belt, says he learns a lot from his plays when he sits in the audience during a staging and listens to the audience's responses.
Toh Wen Li
Updated
Oct 08, 2019, 05:29 AM
Published
Oct 08, 2019, 05:00 AM
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Actor Rajkumar Thiagaras, 30, was moved to write the play Ashes, Ashes - about an Indian woman who sells her childhood home - because he felt there were not enough stories on stage that represented Singapore Indians.

"I thought that it wasn't enough to be passive - if I wanted such content to come out, I must be part of the creation process," says Rajkumar, who wrote the play during a class at university before letting it simmer for years.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 08, 2019, with the headline Emerging playwrights feeling the heat. Subscribe

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