HARESH SHARMA

Singapore Tatler Award for Culture 2018

HOW I BECAME A PLAYWRIGHT

Growing up in the 1970s and ’80s, who was a playwright as a full-time job? It was only when I was in my first year at the National University of Singapore that I joined The Necessary Stage (TNS) because I was interested in theatre. And when I wrote my first play, something just clicked. My first proper stage play was Lanterns Never Go Out in 1989, which was later restaged by the then-singapore Arts Festival the next year—that was a big thing for me because it meant that people really liked the work. The turning point came when I graduated—do I get a proper job or continue doing theatre? I eventually became the first full-time staff of TNS in 1990.

ON BEING CULTURALLY SENSITIVE

I had a very multicultural upbringing, with friends of different races. This made it very natural for me when it comes to writing dialogue—how people speak and the idea of code-switching. The richness in dialogue, diversity and society—all of these fit very naturally into my writing. I write the way I see things and observe people, and I can’t do it any other way.

ON CONNECTING WITH A YOUNG AUDIENCE

When the Ministry of Education first selected Off Centre for its O-level English Literature syllabus in 2006, I went to a few secondary schools to give talks to the students. It was interesting to hear their response to the play—they liked what they read, they felt for the characters and, most importantly, the text was in a language that they could understand. This is what every Singapore writer wants—to get an audience, especially a young one.

THE LEGACY I WANT TO LEAVE BEHIND

I am already in such a fortunate position—i have written about 120 plays, and some are even studied in schools. There is already that legacy, something you would not expect in your lifetime. For me, I don’t think about it in terms of what I want to leave behind, but I am always thinking about what I want to write next, what I am going to research on next, who I am going to work with next, and how I am going to create an exciting and challenging new work for the audience.