Recurrence is Going to Bangkok Theatre Festival

Recurrence is going to Bangkok Theatre Festival 2018! As I'm gearing up to bring a little piece of Singaporean theatre to BKK, I do need help in the funding department. Bangkok Theatre Festival is only able to provide me with a venue for the performance and helping me to market the show. Whilst I do get to keep the ticket proceeds, ticket prices are relatively low in Bangkok and despite trying to keep expenses to the minimum, there is no way for me to even hit a breakeven point. My attempts to seek funding from other sources have also not been successful. Hence, I'm crowdfunding.

I will be hosting an open rehearsal at Pink Gajah Rumah (393, Joo Chiat Place, Singapore 428039) on 28th October 2018, 7pm. This is my little way of sharing my work with all who have kindly donated or are still considering donating. Mark your calendars! I really hope to see all of you there!

SYNOPSIS

When we say we seek closure, are we really doing so or are we just trying to give significance to those who are gone? Perhaps we fear the adage “time heals all wounds”; or, maybe we are afraid of forgetting. So, we hold on to the possibility of their existence and tell ourselves that we can still be a part of their being.

A girl has lost someone really precious to her, and so has her mother. She realised that everyone around her has suffered some form of loss as well. Confronted with her own unresolved issues with loss, she seeks out the journey of after-life.

ABOUT THE PIECE

Recurrence is a piece of theatre that is performed in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, using the common Singaporean lingo. It discusses the relationship between family members, both living and those that have passed. It discusses how people cope with loss.

I have written and devised this piece as a solo presentation during my graduating year in the Intercultural Theatre Institute in May 2016. The piece is inspired by a series of events in my life. The experience of losing my loved ones and watching my mother loss hers prompted me to investigate human behaviour in periods of loss. The varied waves of emotions such as guilt, nostalgia, sadness, denial and even relief seem to play on a repeated loop of the same song in a myriad of remixes. The one common consistent sentiment amongst people going through loss is loneliness. We may all have lost the same person, but each of us are alone in the memories of ourselves with the deceased.

As the common saying goes, there’s only two things that are certain in life: death and taxes. Loss is then the common experience that all human beings can expect to go through. If so, I hope to project the journey of seeking closure with some humour.

The presentation of this play seeks to break what the society labels as ‘tolerance towards differences’ and seeks highlight similarities in the human heart and soul, especially when being confronted by something as overwhelming as loss.