Inspired by personal narratives of maternity and postnatal depression, Under My Skin explores the complex journey of motherhood. Starring Catherine Sng, Rizman Putra and Pat Toh, this immersive work weaves movement, multimedia and sound to tell a compelling story of a woman making peace with her past.
Credit source: M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2017
Under My Skin is a new work by Alessandra Fel, a Lecoq-trained physical theatre performer, director and teacher. The work began as an exploration into depression, a subtle illness almost invisible to others and even to ourselves. It exists and creeps under our skin until it feels unbearable to wear it. Having witnessed her mother suffering from postnatal depression, as well as experienced it herself when she became a mother five years ago, Alessandra chose to focus the work on the struggles of motherhood. Using personal narratives, multimedia and physicality, Under My Skin traces the lives of three characters – two generations of women and a man – to shed light on the complexities and struggles of maternity and postnatal depression.
Alessandra and her team spent 2016 at Centre 42 developing the work through research and improvisation. During their Basement Workshop tenure, Under My Skin had two work-in-progress presentations — one in Feb 2016 and another in Dec 2016.
Creator/Director/Movements & Visual Concept – Alessandra Fel
Alessandra Fel is a Lecoq trained physical theatre performer, director and teacher. After 12 years of professional experience in London, she relocated to Singapore in 2013. She trained with the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA) for two years and gained her foundation in Butoh dance with Tadashi Endo in Germany. She is also experienced in acrobatic and clown work. Her credit includes The Pearl Fishers and Radamisto at the London Coliseum with the English National Opera. Since her relocation in Singapore she has been a part-time lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, School of the Arts (SOTA) and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, teaching acting/improvisation, movements and mask work. She is now a theatre faculty at SOTA. As an actress she has been involved in the Ravindran Drama Group production of All is Well at the Arts House, as director/choreographer she collaborated with Maya Dance Theatre Company in their last site specific show Angst Angel and with Pink Gajah Theatre in their show BI(CARA) at M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2016.
Producer – Pearlyn Chua
Pearlyn Chua is an independent producer and arts consultant. She has programmed and coproduced theatre, music and community programs and festivals at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, which resulted in several critically acclaimed works and box office successes, some of which were nominated for and won at The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards. She started new programmes and initiatives at Esplanade such as the popular A Journey Through Local Music concerts for their National Day Celebrations and theatre development program RAW. Previously she had worked at the Singapore Biennale and Singapore Art Show for National Arts Council, and headed the Education & Outreach programs, as well as Volunteer Management in 2008. She has also worked with the Singapore International Jazz Festival and ArtsWok Collaborative. She has been involved in the arts for over a decade in various roles ranging from performance, production management to producing. As a producer, Pearlyn is passionate about how artistic visions can translate into tools for social and cultural change. She advocates cross-cultural artistic exchange and is interested in developing intercultural and inter-disciplinary performances with other independent artists.
Assistant Director/ Assistant Producer – Delia Png
Currently an events executive, Delia manages several corporate seminars and networking events. She has been involved in key projects such as Inter-Association Networking Night, Business Symposium and Briefing Sessions on Government Grants jointly organized by American Express. Apart from this, she has landed opportunities to host the Singapore’s Prestige Brand Award and Entrepreneur of the Year Award Press Conferences in 2015.
Her passion for theatre still remains close to her heart. The theatre graduate from LASALLE College of the Arts spends her free time feeding her soul with freelance theatre and arts project. She seeks to continuously create new theatre works that are compelling in the realm of movement.
Dramaturge/ Text – Sabrina Dzulkifli
Sabrina has spent nearly her whole life writing, and only recently transposed her interests into the theatre. As an International Baccalaureate Career-related Certificate (IBCC) theatre student at School of the Arts (SOTA), Sabrina has been immersed in both crafts and hopes to continue to be able to do so upon graduation. Her other writing credits include a student production of Have a Ball on Me (2012), and Of Babies (not really) and People (2013), which toured around the Southeast districts of Singapore as part of TheatreWorks Writer’s Laboratory. The latter was the winning play of the Youth Category of the TheatreWorks’ 24-hour Playwriting Competition. She has also written for her graduate student production, Between the Red and White (2015) and showcased Counting (2015), as part of her residency programme with National Library Board’s Woodlands Regional Library Programme in early February 2016. Besides writing, Sabrina also has interests in directing and collaborative devised work. Her recent directing credits include student productions of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (2013) and Majulah, Comrats! (2015)—which she also wrote for—where she explored with elements such as mask work, physicality and multimedia. In her artistry, she hopes to explore other languages of storytelling, incorporating interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary work.
Performer – Patricia Toh
Pat Toh is a performer and performance maker; her interest lies in working on, with and about the body. A Shell-NAC Arts Scholarship recipient, she completed a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts (Acting) at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, Australia. She is currently researching into the subjectivities of teaching artists as part of her Master of Arts (Drama Education) at National Institute of Education. Her performing works to name a few are 100 Years of Solitude (Zuni Icosahedron, Danny Yung), Macbeth (Singapore Repertory Theatre), Wo(men) (Checkpoint Theatre), Crab Flower Club (Toy Factory) and Drift (Dramabox). She was also one of the collaborators on TheatreWorks V.I.S.T.A Lab creating Impetus and Interference. In 2012 she created Pretty Things which was nominated for Production of the Year, Best Director, Best Ensemble and Best Lighting Design for The Straits Times! Life Theatre Awards. Pretty Things was also one of The Flying Inkpot’s Hot Picks. Her other works included Homogenous, Terra Incognita and Warpaint. Internationally she has performed in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China and various parts of South East Asia.
Performer – Rizman Putra
Rizman Putra graduated with Master of Arts (Fine Arts) from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2007, and has been actively straddling between performance, visual arts and music for the last decade. Winner of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI) Singapore Foundation Arts Award 2005 (as part of artist initiative Kill Your Television [KYTV], Rizman is a co-founder of the now dissolved arts collective, Kill Your Television (KYTV), as well as front man for an indie music group, Tiramisu. Rizman has also performed and exhibited his works in Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. Rizman was one of the four artists selected for the President’s Young Talents Exhibition (2005), as well as being included in the Fukuoka Triennale (2005). He received the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology’s (RMIT) Most Outstanding Award 2002-2003. He exhibited his works at the inaugural Singapore Biennale 2006. Rizman is currently an Associate Artist with Cake Theatrical Productions.
Performer – Catherine Sng
Well known for both stage and television work, Catherine Sng thrives on character-driven roles and new challenges. Along with her consistent showing in five seasons of Growing Up, she played memorable characters in Channel 8’s The Unbeatables III, My Home is Toa Payoh, Your Hand In Mine and School Days, among others. The bilingual thespian also played the lead in an independent short film Deanna and stole the show in the movie Chicken Rice War by Raintree Productions. Catherine also received rave reviews for her roles in stage performances like Ah Kong’s Birthday Party (Singapore Repertory Theatre), Belly of the Carp (Drama Plus), Mixed Blessings, Staying Alive and Pioneer (Girls) Generation (The Necessary Stage). Her acting repertoire includes English and Chinese projects like Ma Comes Home (Action Theatre), the 2nd season of the musical If There Are Seasons and I Love A-Ai (The Theatre Practice). Among her recent projects are the musical Bibik Behind Bars, Kena Again! and A Wedding, A Funeral & Lucky, the Fish.
Set Designer – Vincent Lim
Vincent Lim has been a set designer since 2000 and was nominated for Best Set Design for The Necessary Stage’s Good People in the 2008 The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards. He practices as a full-time architect and is the principal of Visual Text Architects (VTxT), a multi-disciplinary practice that has projects located in Singapore as well as regionally in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Bali. In 2010, Vincent was selected as an up-and-coming architect for URA’s 20 Under 45 Exhibition. Vincent has written extensively and is the author of a book on Changi Airport. He currently holds an adjunct editor position with the Centre for Liveable Cities. Vincent has taught at the National University of Singapore and has conducted workshops at Chinese University Hong Kong.
Lighting Designer – Jason Ng
Jason Ng is a ghost. He haunts designers for their designs, is seen at venues even when he isn’t on show, and manages to impossibly be on multiple shows at the same time. After graduating from National University of Singapore as a Theatre Studies major in 2006, Jason attempted to be normal by teaching in secondary schools. But in 2013, he started his resurrection as a Production Stage Manager, Writer, Designer, Director, Mentor and Educator for the Arts. Jason has worked with the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, M1 Peer Pleasure Youth Theatre Festival, Singapore International Festival of Arts, The Necessary Stage, Cake Theatrical Productions, LASALLE College of the Arts, and any youth or school theatre group who needs free help. He has also directed and lectured at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore Polytechnic, Si Ling Secondary School and Woodlands Secondary School. In his free time, Jason ‘sardonic laugh cue GO’ .
Media Artist – Brandon Tay
Brandon Tay is a media artist based in Singapore who explores the uncanny and the sublime through a mediated lens. His practice spans the moving image, mediated sculpture and audio-visual performance, with a background in film and animation informing his multi-faceted approach. His work has been shown in the National Museum of Singapore, the Singapore Art Museum and the Diesel Denim Gallery Aoyama in Japan. As an audio-visual performer, he has worked with the Singapore International Festival of the Arts, and the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival
Sound Designer – Shawn Par
Shawn Par is a Singapore-based Sound Designer and Arts Manager. Working predominantly with sound design for the performing arts, he has also expanded into the field of video art. Shawn completed his Diploma in Music in LASALLE College of the Arts in 2013 and is currently taking his BA(Hons) in Arts Management. He was the Associate Artist in Odyssey Dance Theatre and has also designed works for TheatreWorks, The Arts House, LASALLE College of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and French Stage. Shawn’s work was also presented in the 2012 Asia Pacific Bureau Meeting in Taiwan.
Music Composer – Samantha Lim
Samantha is a Singapore-based musician and aspiring Arts Manager. She started playing the piano at the age of four, and has since attained an Associate of Trinity College London (ATCL) Diploma in Piano Recital in 2015. She is also active in Singapore’s band scene, having played the clarinet with various bands since 2009. At present, Samantha is pursuing a BA(Hons) in Arts Management at LASALLE College of the Arts, and is concurrently being constantly engaged in the arts through events such as ChildAid, iLight Marina Bay, SeptFest, Peranakan Arts Festival and the Lunchtime Concert Series at LASALLE.
Stage Manager – Allison Menon
Allison is a Stage Manager, Dancer, Performer and Rock Climber, hailing from LASALLE College of the Arts. She has production credits in plays, musicals and dance productions both onstage and offstage, with The Players Theatre, School of the Arts (SOTA) and Dark Matter Theatrics, just to name a few.
Credit source: M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2017
Under My Skin was developed in residence at Centre 42’s Basement Workshop from January 2016 to January 2017.
27 February 2016:
First work-in-progress preview presented to a select group of audience
3 December 2016:
Second work-in-progress preview presented to a select group of audience
11-12 January 2017:
World Premiere at Esplanade Theatre Studio as part of M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2017
