M1 Singapore Fringe Festival: HERE WHERE YOU WERE
Investigating mental health and suicide within the Singapore Malay Muslim community, Matter.Less Arts collective’s “Here Where You Were” uniquely grapples with cultural and religious influences on grief…
We sat down with producer Ci Xuan, playwright Danial Matin, and director Moli Mohter, to discuss how they’ve managed to create a safe space for unravelling these issues in a community where such topics are often considered taboo…
Image credit: loserwithdeadfish
The show follows Fadli, a young man reeling from the sudden loss of his grandma. Trying to make sense of why she took her own life, Fadli is forced to confront his own fears of following a similar path. In a household where grief is discouraged and suicide is deemed a sin, Fadli’s pleas for therapy are met with heartbreaking rejection from his family…
Image credit: loserwithdeadfish
“Here Where You Were” is both urgent and emotionally taxing; early iterations as a conventional drama left the creative team with a sense of helplessness. They searched for a better way to unpack these heavy themes of death and mental health- “the taboo is very strong among the [Malay Muslim] audience”, Ci tells us.
This troubleshooting led to the concept of forum theatre, which allows audiences to intervene and engage in non-scripted segments of the show. “It is a safe space to explore things that you [often] cannot do in real life”, says Ci. Moli adds some context, explaining that younger generations are already familiar with role-playing in school. Forum theatre creates a similar “play environment” where audiences can safely practice how to communicate sensitive issues. “[Audiences] are not merely spectators” Danial adds, “but also actors.”
Image credit: loserwithdeadfish
Ngl, we’re impressed by this emerging collective’s audaciously playful approach. “when we say play, it's not about not being serious”, says Ci, “It's about finding different ways of talking about difficult things.”
Since its inception in 2018, Matter.Less has invited young artists to co-create and experiment, embracing multilingual pieces and different mediums to develop work. For Ci, the results reject easy labels: “It’s not direct, it’s not realistic, it doesn’t have to be, but it starts somewhere.”
Image credit: loserwithdeadfish
Matter.Less’ debut at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival is a significant milestone. Matin reminisces about attending the festival as a primary school student: “[It] cemented my appreciation for theatre” he says. “The [M1 Singapore] Fringe has long advocated for new work, for young artists' work and minority work as well.”
So, what about the future? Ci reveals that Matter.Less is collaborating with Attempts, a Singapore-based participatory theatre collective, in a piece exploring consent and mental health in sex work. Their upcoming work promises even more experimentation and boundary-bending, so stay tuned!
Catch “Here Where We Were” on the 25-27 January at the NAFA Studio Theatre.
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