The Vault: S.O.S.

S.O.S. is a devised performance responding to The Lady of Soul and Her Ultimate ‘S’ Machine.

First staged thirty years ago in 1993, Tan Tarn How’s The Lady of Soul and Her Ultimate ‘S’ Machine is a political satire where Derek, the Chairman of ‘various committees and subcommittees’, is tasked with finding the soul of a nation. He finds himself debating if he should submit a recommendation that he feels is morally right and risk the consequences of going against the wishes of the government.

After its staging in 1993, The Lady of Soul and Her Ultimate ‘S’ Machine went on to receive a number of stagings, most recently in 2015 as part of Esplanade’s The Studios: fifty Season.

In 2023, five students from the National University of Singapore’s Theatre & Performance Studies TS3103 Theatre Lab will present a response to the original text using their research and insights into its themes, issues and dramaturgy. Accompanying this performance-response is a reading of excerpts from the original text by alumni of the Theatre & Performance Studies programme.

Join us to experience this performance-response and rediscover the soul of the nation.

In the inexplicable future, a series of man-made disasters have made Singapore dangerously radioactive. An unlikely crew of volunteers gather in a vault to document and archive the Soul of Singapore using artificial intelligence, so that Singapore can be restored when she is habitable again. They only have 10 days to complete this ambitious project before their supplies run out.

But their progress is hindered by conflict and chaos.

Can they capture the Soul of Singapore?

Artists
Lee Chi Hang Noah
Ariel Lim
Dylia Ang
Voon Yueqi
Michael Neo

Dramaturgs
Robin Loon
Nidya Shanthini Manokara

Technical Consultant
Henrik Cheng

Original Playwright
Tan Tarn How

Readers for Dramatised Reading
Dana Yeo
Desai Shivani Jatin
Juniper Lee
Robin Loon

This fifth TS3103 Theatre Lab and Centre 42 Vault collaboration breaks some new ground. 

The presentation on the 8th of April will not only comprise the students’ response but also a reading of excerpts from Tan Tarn How’s The Lady of Soul and Her Ultiimate ‘S’ Machine by TS3103 alum from the first edition of the collaboration.

As per previous iterations, the students went through a series of physical and movement workshops. The main workshop was provided by Hang Qian Chou where he took the students through exploring the body and meaning-making via viewpoints. Dr Shanthini, co-dramaturg and producer also led a movement workshop that further sharpened students’ notions of bodies in space and in the theatre.

With a reduced class size of only 5 students, the one response to Tan Tarn How’s The Lady of Soul and Her Ultiimate ‘S’ Machine will see students script and perform an imaginary scenario where Singapore is near extinction and the soul of Singapore is left to a few brave volunteers and AI technology.

We hope you will enjoy the response.

Dr Robin Loon
Dramaturg and Course Chair
TS3103 Theatre Lab

Written in 1992, The Lady of Soul and her Ultimate ‘S’ Machine was written as part of TheatreWork’s Writers’ Lab, a programme that supported the development of local playwriting. The play was first submitted to the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit for review, and the department came back with many suggested changes. In a “diary of censorship” that was appended to the first publication of the play, Tan lamented that "[t]he news is bad... Very inconsistent cuts. Enough to maul the script. Very depressed." Due to this, plans to stage The Lady of Soul and her Ultimate ‘S’ Machine that year had to be scrapped.

The following year in 1993, Tan sent the script in for review again, this time to the newly formed Censorship Review Committee, and the play was passed clean without any cuts. It went on to be staged in that year at the Drama Centre, directed by Ong Keng Sen. The play went on to receive a number of stagings, most recently in 2015 as part of Esplanade’s The Studios: fifty Season.

Click on the links below for more information about The Lady of Soul And Her Ultimate 'S' Machine: