The Necessary Stage’s critically acclaimed play, Off Centre, returns 26 years after its premiere in 1993. Written by internationally recognised local playwright Haresh Sharma and directed by Alvin Tan (founder and artistic director of The Necessary Stage), Off Centre is a breakthrough play in destigmatizing mental illness and presenting an unflinching look at patients’ inner demons.
The latest staging of the play features Abdulattif Abdullah and Sakinah Dollah, who will be taking up their original roles as Vinod and Saloma respectively, as well as Aidli Mosbit as Mak.
In Off Centre, two patients meet at an Oasis Club function for recovering mental health patients: Vinod, a straight-A student and charismatic school debater with severe depression whose successful parents are distant; and Saloma, an anti-social vocational student battling with schizophrenia who has a poorly educated but caring mother. They develop an unlikely friendship, and their struggles in dealing with both their personal conflicts and social stigma against their conditions are central to the story.
Selected in 2007 by the Ministry of Education as the first Singaporean play to be offered as a GCE ‘O’ and ‘N’ Level literature text, Off Centre is once again back on the syllabus this year.
Off Centre
Date: 7 – 17 February 2019
Venue: Victoria Theatre
Tickets are almost all sold out. To snag the remaining ones, visit https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/offcentre0219
Visuals courtesy of The Necessary Stage
