The Necessary Stage goes virtual with Poor Thing

SINGAPORE — If you see someone logging into Facebook in the middle of The Necessary Stage’s upcoming production, don’t stop them. In fact, you should probably do the same.

Written by Haresh Sharma and directed by Alvin Tan, their new play, Poor Thing, not only allows the audience to “friend” a character on Facebook, but they will also be invited to watch a video clip of an accident before the actual performance. More clips will also be posted on the Internet for audiences to view and comment during the play.

“They can also participate by going to the Facebook pages, so it’s a bit unconventional. The audiences are also free to move around — they are like bystanders,” said Haresh.

Poor Thing — starring Siti Khalijah Zainal, Sharda Harrison, Dwayne Lau and Joshua Lim — grapples with the issue of road rage. The story revolves around four characters: Two best friends and a couple who get involved in a minor road accident.

Siti, who plays Sharifa, a cafe co-owner involved in the accident with her best friend, thought it was fun to “introduce the prologue in an exciting way”. “We are already coming in with a major problem. (The) intro is not staged, once the plays start there is already drama,” she shared.

Poor Thing not only raises the issue of road rage, but brings the ugly side of citizen journalism and bad behaviour into focus.

Haresh hopes the audience will experience the play, the social media aspects and feel free to participate in the performance. “When we were doing research, a lot of this road rage is not about people getting into disagreements on the streets but how the audience gets involved by watching and giving comments,” he said.

Poor Thing by Necessary Stage runs from Feb 26 to March 2 and from March 5 to 9 at The Necessary Stage Black Box. Tickets at S$31 and S$23 at poorthing.peatix.com.