This Living Room spotlights the English-language play Fundamentally Happy by Haresh Sharma, a story about two former neighbours whose reunion is marred by allegations of sex abuse. First staged in 2006 by The Necessary Stage, the play was recently restaged in Mandarin at the Esplanade's The Studios 2017 season by Nine Years Theatre. In the Living Room, TNS researcher Shawn Chua is joined by Nelson Chia, the director and translator of the 2017 production, Aidli 'Alin' Mosbit, who played the character Habiba in the first staging, and theatre researcher Wong Chee Meng. The four discuss the creative processes behind the development of the original play and its Mandarin translation, as well as language and its culture and politics.
All archival video clips and images of the 2006/7 production of Fundamentally Happy were used with permission from The Necessary Stage. To view these archive materials in full, please write to admin@necessary.org.