‘Five stars arising’: a conversation about applied theatre, precarity, and resilience in Singapore

ABSTRACT

In Singapore, resilience lies at the heart of the nation’s efforts at building a strong civic culture. For those experiencing urban poverty, resilience holds little weight against the national rhetoric of self-reliance and meritocracy as keys to success. This paper presents a three-way conversation between the researcher, applied theatre facilitator, and youth participant, centring on the role applied theatre plays in examining the relationship between resilience and precarity within the cultural and political context of Singapore. It draws on Singapore’s national ideas of equality, justice, democracy, peace, and progress as touchstones to guide our reflection.

Keywords:

• Singapore
• precarity
• youth citizenship
• applied theatre participation
• urban poverty

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Anton is a pseudonym that was chosen by the participant.

2 See for example the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth website: https://www.mccy.gov.sg/sector/resilience-and-engagement.

3 See for example the HDB Singapore website: https://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/hdbspeaks/public-rental-flats-for-those-in-need.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Natalie Lazaroo

Natalie Lazaroo is a lecturer in Drama at the University of Queensland. She completed her PhD at Griffith University, and is interested in the areas of cultural citizenship, applied theatre, and qualitative methodologies. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (ADSA).