Best Of
“There’s the kind of storytelling that lights up fireworks and milks this communal moment for all its worth. Best Of, The Necessary Stage’s enjoyable one-woman show featuring Siti Khalijah Zainal, skips all of that and simply tells.”
—Mayo Martin, TODAYonline
Award-winning actress Siti Khalijah Zainal takes centre-stage in this one-woman show specially created for her by Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma.
Specially created for award-winning actress Siti Khalijah Zainal by Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma, Best Of looks at issues of the day through collective stories and personal reflection as told by the protagonist, a young Malay-Muslim woman in Singapore.
She is a young Malay woman going through a divorce. She starts her day at the prison. She ends her day at the hospital.
In between, she meets strangers, she encounters prejudice. Sometimes she hates what she sees around her, sometimes she is moved.
She shares her day with the audience: her life, her past, her dreams… and her fears.
She is not a stereotype. She is not a statistic. She just wants to get on with her life.
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.
First staged at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2013 to popular and critical acclaim, Best Of then toured to Penang for CausewayEXchange. It was restaged at the Festival in 2014 by popular demand before touring to Kuala Lumpur for its fourth staging, to rave reviews. Best Of was also published by The Necessary Stage. More information can be found here.
In September 2014, Best Of was translated into Italian and was performed at the Piccolo Teatro Grassi as part of the Tramedautore, directed by Tatiana Olear and starring Arianna Scommegna.A reading of Best Of in Italian was also done at Bookcity in Milan, Italy on 15 November 2014.
—Mayo Martin, TODAYonline
Award-winning actress Siti Khalijah Zainal takes centre-stage in this one-woman show specially created for her by Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma.
Specially created for award-winning actress Siti Khalijah Zainal by Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma, Best Of looks at issues of the day through collective stories and personal reflection as told by the protagonist, a young Malay-Muslim woman in Singapore.
She is a young Malay woman going through a divorce. She starts her day at the prison. She ends her day at the hospital.
In between, she meets strangers, she encounters prejudice. Sometimes she hates what she sees around her, sometimes she is moved.
She shares her day with the audience: her life, her past, her dreams… and her fears.
She is not a stereotype. She is not a statistic. She just wants to get on with her life.
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.
First staged at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2013 to popular and critical acclaim, Best Of then toured to Penang for CausewayEXchange. It was restaged at the Festival in 2014 by popular demand before touring to Kuala Lumpur for its fourth staging, to rave reviews. Best Of was also published by The Necessary Stage. More information can be found here.
In September 2014, Best Of was translated into Italian and was performed at the Piccolo Teatro Grassi as part of the Tramedautore, directed by Tatiana Olear and starring Arianna Scommegna.A reading of Best Of in Italian was also done at Bookcity in Milan, Italy on 15 November 2014.
| Director: Alvin Tan |
|
| Playwright: Haresh Sharma |
|
| Cast: Siti Khalijah Zainal |
| Premiere | |
| Dates: 24 – 26 January 2013, 8pm 26 & 27 January 2013, 3pm |
|
| Venue: Esplanade Recital Studio |
|
| Tickets: $30 | $19* Concession for students, senior citizens & NSF |
|
| Re-staging | |
| Dates: 10 – 11 January 2014, 8pm 11 & 12 January 2014, 3pm |
|
| Venue: Esplanade Recital Studio |
|
| Tickets: $19 |
|
| CausewayEXchange 2013 | |
| Dates: 20 – 23 June 2013 |
|
| Venue: Penang Performing Arts Centre |
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| Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre | |
| Dates: 22 – 25 January 2015, 8.30pm 25 & 26 January 2015, 3pm |
|
| Venue: Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre Pentas 2 |
|
| Brisbane Festival | |
| Dates: 7 September 2015, 7pm 8 - 12 September 2015, 7.45pm |
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| Venue: La Boite Studio, Theatre Republic, Brisbane |
|
| Something to Write Home About Festival | |
| Dates: 18 - 20 September 2015, 7.30pm |
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| Venue: Ellen Stewart Theater, La MaMa Experimental Theater Space, New York |
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production photos
past works
Actor, Forty《演员四十》
Balek Kampong
Being Haresh Sharma
Best Of
Best Of (His Story)
Boxing Day
Crossings
Frozen Angels
Fundamentally…
Gemuk Girls
Ghost Writer
Gitanjali [I feel…
Good People
Manifesto
Mobile
Mobile 2: Flat…
Model Citizens
October
Off Centre
Past Caring
Pioneer (Girls)…
Poor Thing
Rosnah
Sanctuary
Separation 40
Singapore
Sofaman
Those Who Can't,…
Those Who Can’t,…
Underclass
untitled women