Staging stories that build empathy for mental illness in Singapore: spaces of dialogue in Off Centre

Abstract

This article examines how Off Centre, a play by Haresh Sharma about mental health in Singapore, first devised and produced by The Necessary Stage (TNS) in 1993, provides a valuable opportunity for audiences to encounter characters labeled “mad” or “off centre” (a colloquial term in Singapore for being mentally ill), who are often looked down upon and relegated to being “useless” in the highly efficient and success-driven urban context of Singapore. It considers how audiences are challenged to respond sensitively and dialogically through a questioning process that builds empathy for persons struggling with mental health. I argue that when Off Centre imbricates the audience in the inner worlds of the characters to dialogue with them, it generates a pedagogical process by creating a space where sensing, listening to and questioning what happens to these characters becomes a way of learning about their battles and beliefs.

Keywords:

• Dialogue
• empathy
• theatre
• listening
• questioning

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 See p. 148–152 in Off Centre Programme Booklet (2007)

2 These views were expressed in an interview conducted by this writer with Tan, Sharma, Abdullah and Dollah for the TNS Archives on 5 March 2019.

3 Abdullah is a vice-principal and English Literature teacher in secondary schools and Dollah is founder and principal of an early childhood centre, in which the performing arts is a central focus in pedagogical processes.

4 Acting Mad was first presented in 2019 as part of a TNS experimental platform called The Orange Production.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charlene Rajendran

Charlene Rajendran is an Associate Professor of performance studies and applied theatre at the National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research interests include contemporary performance, play-based pedagogy and dramaturgy.