NEGLIGENCE

But in Singapore especially it has particular relevance. Other is a race here. If you are not Chinese, Malay, Indian, or a combination of those races you are considered “Other” and it will say so on your documentation. In a country made up of Others, we come to experience and share in that Other Story. We are Others. Not only in our racial make up- White and Black- not just in our nationality- American- But also in our ethos, aesthetic, and demeanor. We create Site-specific, bespoke, intimate, and visceral creations for our Audiences.

We have been in search of the Other. To us, this word, Other, has two connotations. There is the “little a” audience- the people who buy a ticket and watch the work, the people who we try to engage and get involved with the work. Then there is the “large a” Audience- the people who are hyper-aware of their reality in time and place, what Martin Heidegger might call The Dasein- or Being-in-the-world. Sometimes these people, the audience and Audience, are one and the same. Most of the time they rarely meet. It is our goal to define, explore, interrogate, and learn about these two entities and how we can make them merge.  

 An Act of theatre can not happen unless there is an audience. Until then it is a rehearsal. It is only the possibility of theatre.  The audience is the last integral part of the show that is needed. So we as a company are vitally interested in the audience’s experience and their take away. 

No matter what space or environment we perform in we have to honor all of the elements and influences of that space. The nature of this space is filled with not so theatrical realities that violently remind the audience and the performer that they are in a real location that was not originally constructed for proscenium theatre. 

The play has already begun when the audience sees the space. It is already telling us how to react. Broadway houses propose formality, a performance in a village proposes a different way. Spaces tell you what correct way to view it, act, enter the performance space. 

When people from different worlds enter that space and don’t know how to react to each other, (ie. the serious theatergoer vs. the casual theatre-goer; the well informed vs. that absolutely uninformed) a great tension is created and in that tension a dialogue is possible. A dialogue with the audience and dialogue with space.