The Vault

The Vault safe-keeps Singaporean works dating back to our early theatre years. The platform does not merely document the past but manifests as contemporary responses to these works presented at Centre 42 premises. The Centre invites artists and practitioners to respond critically and personally to canonical Singapore classics, lesser known pieces and rarities, reworks and adaptations, and cross-cultural and cross-genres works.

UPCOMING: The Vault

The Vault

The Vault: The Interchange

13 & 14 Nov 2021 | The Vault: The Interchange is a performance that revisits classics from the Singaporean theatre canon and explores the shared theme of losing culturally significant spaces.
The Vault: RE:CALL

21-22 Aug 2021 | The Vault: RE:CALL is a performance response to the play Recalling Mother, about the personal stories two women tell about their relationships with their mothers. It comprises a movement showcase and a participatory workshop engaging with the devising process of the script and the performers' movement…
The Vault: Who’s Asking? Who’s Talking?

9 & 29 Apr 2021 | The Vault: Who's Asking? Who's Talking? features two original short performances devised in response to Henry Ong's Madame Mao's Memories. The two performance responses are created by the graduating students of the NUS Theatre Studies TS3103 Theatre Lab, engaging with and responding to the…
The Vault: Ties That Bind

18 Apr 2020 | The Vault: Ties That Bind features two original short performances devised in response to Eleanor Wong's Wills and Secession. This public presentation was to have taken place on 18 April 2020 at Teater Ekamatra's Greymatter, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In its place,…
The Vault: Desert Blooms

30 Nov & 1 Dec 2019 | Desert Blooms is a lecture-performance that traces the history of Singapore theatre from 1985 to 1995 through a queer lens. Created by Ng Yi-Sheng, directed by Tan Shou Chen and performed by Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai, Yap Yi Kai and Izzul Irfan.
The Vault: Gossip, Symphony & Other Matters

20 April 2019 | The Vault: Gossip, Symphony & Other Matters features three performance responses to Robert Yeo's One Year Back Home. The three performance responses are created by the graduating students of the NUS Theatre Studies Theatre Lab, engaging with and responding to the ideas, dramaturgy and theatricalities in…
The Vault: Sau(dara)

5-6 Oct 2018 | The Vault: Sau(dara) is a contemporary response to Leow Puay Tin's Three Children. Created by Bhumi Collective, Sau(dara) is an homage to the 1988 production of Three Children which draws from the original text and the performers’ childhood memories, is based on play and traditional Indonesian…
The Vault: @thisisemeraldgirl

29-30 Jun 2018 | @thisisemeraldgirl is an adaptation of Stella Kon’s much-loved play Emily of Emerald Hill. Created by Eugene Koh and Lee Shu Yu, and performed by Brenda Tan, @thisisemeraldgirl combines new writing, multimedia, and Stella Kon’s original text in a monologue exploring family and social life in a…
The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road 我阿公的路

23-25 Nov 2017 | Two versions of The Vault: My Grandfather’s Road were presented – one written and performed in Singaporean Cantonese by Gary Tang, and one written and performed in Malaysian Cantonese by Tan Cher Kian.
The Vault: Absence Makes the Heart…

28-29 Oct 2017 | Written by Aswani Aswath and dramaturged by Alfian Sa’at, Absence Makes the Heart… is an attempt to trace the presence and absence of Indian roles in Singapore English-language theatre, from the early days of its birth to the present moment. Featuring the actors Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai,…
The Vault: Dialects & Dialectics

5-6 May 2017 | Nelson Chia, the artistic director of Nine Years Theatre, directed “No Parking on Odd Days” and “The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole”, monologues written by late theatre doyen Kuo Pao Kun. In an exploration of cultural sentiments and grassroots sensibilities, Nelson had actors Hang…
The Vault: Becoming Mother

19 Mar 2017 | Dance practitioners and researchers Dr. Nidya Shanthini Manokara and Jocelyn Chng presented the findings of their research into motherhood, dance and text, in a devised performance, and an exhibition.
The Vault: Dancing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

24 Feb 2017 | Contemporary dance artist Lee Mun Wai presents his artistic response to the works of playwright Elangovan, specifically the three banned plays Talaq, Smegma, and Stoma.
The Vault: Leng-Geh-Mng 龍牙門

16 Jul 2016 | Under the direction of theatre practitioner Zelda Tatiana Ng, the reading of Leng-Geh-Mng was presented in the format of a radio play. Performing the reading were some of the original cast members from the 1998 production. Following the reading, Zelda had a dialogue with Lee Shyh…
The Vault: Distilling the Dance

2-6 Jul 2016 | Interdisciplinary artist Kiran Kumar performed Dear Dead Dancer on 2 July 2016 at the Centre 42 Black Box. This video recording is accompanied by documentation of the projection slides, text, and images of the performance. Dear Dead Dancer is one element of the multi-part presentation.
The Vault: Project Understudy

23 May 2016 | In this presentation, the creators and writers shared the experiences of developing a new play through writing collectively, and making documentation a key element in the process. Selected character monologues and scenes were read by the actors to give an insight into the outcomes of this…
The Vault: How Did You Meet Tina?

5 Dec 2015 | The Centre 42 Black Box was outfitted with 10 screens showing past footages of Christina Sergeant’s performances, with notes scribbled on the screens detailing her journey in Singapore theatre scene. The collected interviews with Roger Jenkins, Shirley Smith, Samantha Scott-Blackhall, Wong Young Tseng, William Alan Morten,…
The Vault: 汐/Sea

23 Nov 2015 | The Vault: 汐/Sea is directed by Casey Lim, and features Serene Chen and Zelda Ng who reprise their roles as the sisters. The actresses perform a combination of Robin Loon’s translated text 《汐》 and Haresh Sharma’s original English text Sea; set against the reflection of what…
The Vault: Big Bird and the Cat

12 Oct 2015, 8pm | In this seminar-styled presentation, Margaret Chan shares her investigation of Kuo Pao Kun’s metaphors of Big Bird and the Cat. Features readings from Kuo Pao Kun’s plays by Ali Khan, Margaret Chan and her students from the Singapore Management University course THAR003: Nathan Al Taei,…
The Vault: #3.3 Scale 1:333333.333…

30 Sep - 3 Oct 2015 | Spatial designer Lim Wei Ling responds to the text Invisibility and presents a bold “living” installation highlighting the ephemeral nature of relationships and the interchangeable, interdependent forces of life that exist in this larger world. Solid and gaseous CO2 is used as a…
The Vault: #3.2 For The Time Being

22-25 Jul 2015 | In response to Quah Sy Ren's "Invisibility", sound artist Darren Ng presents a thought-provoking aural experience of melting ice. In an installation piece augmenting the sound of ice as it transitions between states, the work highlights the restlessness of the ephemeral and liminal state of “now”…
The Vault: #3.1 In/Visibility

22-23 May 2015 | Lighting designer Lim Woan Wen presents her interpretation of Quah Sy Ren’s play Invisibility using only light. Stripped of actors and spoken words, Woan Wen seeks to express the play in relation to the space of the Centre 42 Black Box based on the structure, circumstances,…
The Vault 1.1 – NINETEEN SIXTY-FOUR

22 Sep 2014, 8pm | Centre 42 presents the first of The Vault series on 22 September 2014: a revisit of two English-language plays written in the '60s - When Smiles Are Done (by Goh Poh Seng) and A White Rose At Midnight (by Lim Chor Pee). Nora Samosir, Serene…