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In 2001, TNS launched Playwrights’ Cove, a development and mentorship programme aimed at nurturing, processing and platforming contemporary playwriting for Singapore theatre. Many of its participants are well-known practitioners and educators today, including Jean Tay, Ng Yi-sheng, Natalie Hennedige, Kenneth Kwok and Matthew Lyon.
We re-launched Playwrights' Cove in 2020 and subsequently had a second iteration in 2022. Both years saw 10 selected participants undergo training and mentorship by Resident Playwright Haresh Sharma. To find out more about Playwrights' Cove 2020, click here. More information about Playwrights' Cove 2022 can be found here.
2024's iteration of Playwrights' Cove sees 10 participants undergo training and mentorship once again with Haresh Sharma. The list of selected participants are as follows:
- Alia Alkaff
- Angela Kong
- Edward Eng
- Jovan Ang
- Melizarani T. Selva
- Rachael Ng
- Sarah Zafirah Bte Noor Ashikin
- Shawn Chua
- Sindhura Kalidas
- Wan Nur Syafiqa Binte Syed Yusoff
Over five shows from 21 to 24 November, the playwrights will present their newly developed works-in-progress via dramatised readings featuring a host of theatre actors, directed by veteran and emerging Singapore directors. Each performance will feature two different works to the public, followed by a post-show dialogue with the playwrights, facilitated by Haresh Sharma.
Dates of Showcase:
21 – 23 November 2024, 7.30pm
23 – 24 November 2024, 2.30pm
Venue:
Drama Centre Black Box
Tickets:
$15 excluding $1 ticketing fee
Book your tickets as sg.bookmyshow.com.
The schedule of Playwrights' Cove 2024 is as follows:
Thursday 21 November, 7.30pm: This Bird Does Not Exist by Shawn Chua & Brown-er Face by Alia Alkaff
Advisory (Some Coarse Language and Mature Content)
This Bird Does Not Exist by Shawn Chua
Directed by Adib Kosnan
In a future where birds have gone extinct, the bird park has become a refuge for humans. A performing ensemble known as the Endlings gather to perform a remembrance ceremony, keeping alive the memory of birds through song and ritual.
Brown-Er Face by Alia Alkaff
Directed by Lim Shien Hian
Shivaani, a young budding writer, dreams of finding her voice and her purpose as a storyteller. She believes in writing what you know - using life experience to inform your writing. However, she didn’t expect her life story to include her best friend showing up to her party in brown face… and her boyfriend “telling”her story for her.
What stories can and should we tell? And will this one end in forgiveness?
Friday 22 November, 7.30pm: Syurga itu Cinta [Just like Heaven] by Wan Nur Syafiqa & [Kathi]: How to Dispose a Body in 60 Minutes by Melizarani T. Selva
Advisory 16 (Some Mature Content and Coarse Language)
Syurga itu Cinta [Just like Heaven] by Wan Nur Syafiqa
Directed by Serena Ho
(Performed in English and Malay)
When Melur takes a liking to her ‘work husband’, Nic, she decides to take supernatural measures to secure the man of her dreams. Would their families approve of this budding relationship, or would something else get in the way?
[Kathi]: How to Dispose a Body in 60 Minutes by Melizarani T. Selva
Directed by Adib Kosnan
(Performed in English and Malay)
It is 4.30am on a Tuesday morning at Tekka Market. Three women gather to dispose of a dead body. They have 60 minutes to figure out the best strategy to execute, before dawn breaks, before the Sembcorp trucks arrive, before daylight hits their shadowy quest to free themselves from the practices and perspectives that subdue them. This play seeks to unravel the roles we inherit, rituals that shackle us and the aching desire to shed all that no longer serve us.
Saturday 23 November, 2.30pm: Good Grief by Sarah Zafirah Bte Noor Ashikin and Talking to My Grandfather About Love by Edward Eng
Advisory (Some Mature Content and Coarse Language)
Good Grief by Sarah Zafirah Bte Noor Ashikin
Directed by Rodney Oliveiro
When Nadia flies back to visit home after news of her younger sister Diana’s death, she discovers that Diana has become a ghost. Over the next few days, as Nadia tries to get rid of Diana, she encounters old friends, a witch doctor, and a talking cat, eventually questioning whether she really wants to say goodbye to her sister forever.
Talking to My Grandfather About Love by Edward Eng
Directed by Lim Shien Hian
In Talking to My Grandfather About Love, the actor tells a story for the first time. It is the story of the protagonist's grandfather, who worked in a hotel and could apparently talk to the dead. On another level, it is a rumination about theatre, spiritual experiences, and the hidden lives of our family members.
Saturday 23 November,7.30pm: 82 by Sindhura Kalidas & interlude by Rachael Ng
Advisory 16 (Some Mature Content and Coarse Language)
82 by Sindhura Kalidas
Directed by Rodney Oliveiro
Yuva and his mother Vani are locked in a silent battle within the walls of their family home. For Yuva, the house represents a painful reminder of his father’s sudden death and feeds an alcohol-fuelled spiral. For Vani, it is a sacred space where she clings to Hindu rituals, praying for her husband’s soul to reach Yama, the god who will determine his reincarnation. Tensions rise as Yuva presses to sell the house, hoping to escape its oppressive memories, while Vani resists, determined to hold onto it until her husband’s soul is safely on its way. As they clash over selling the home, family, faith, and memory collide in a story that hopes to ask: how do we hold on—and when do we let go?
interlude by Rachael Ng
Directed by Serena Ho
One hour before her 50th birthday, a woman finds herself outside a budget hotel, alone and unsettled.
In the dead of night, a young man, who has felt empty for most of his life, checks in an unexpected guest.
Seemingly suspended in time, their encounter forces them to confront all the ways we remember and misremember, and all the ways our memory disarms and deceives us.
Sunday 24 November, 2.30pm: Stuffed with Feelings by Angela Kong & The Union by Jovan Ang
Advisory (Some Mature Content)
Stuffed With Feelings by Angela Kong
Directed by A Yagnya
After struggling to complete her assignments in school, 10 year old Emily gets diagnosed with ADHD. Through the help of Sharity the Elephant, she learns to cope and embrace her neurodiversity.
The Union by Jovan Ang
Directed by Lim Shien Hian.
In 1957, an untimely murder marks the beginning of the end for an emerging anti-colonial movement—the Union for Singaporean Independence (USI). The victim? Its leader, ex-police officer Sophia. The suspects? Sophia’s three closest allies. The weapon? Her own gun.
As police detective Elizabeth Scott investigates the case, she is thrust into a sprawling web of conspiracy; and underneath it all a disturbing revelation.