Events






Less than Half
Adib Kosnan, Yarra Ileto & Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore)
WORLD Premiere Book NowThe story is set in a made-up world in the future. The country's rule is that all human lives are Equal. Sama Wholeness Centre agrees with this.
Some citizens are not Equal. They are put through a tough training programme. They can only enter the country when they become Equal. Those who fail the programme are kicked out. The recruits learn that they must work both alone and together. They are not sure what will happen. What have these recruits signed up for? Will they change themselves to become Equal? Or will they accept what makes them "less than half"?
Adib Kosnan and Yarra Ileto direct Less than Half. Aswani Aswath is the playwright. The students from the BA (Hons) in Performance Making programme at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts created and perform it.
Co-presented with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Open captions in English for all shows.
Post-show dialogue on 6 January 2023, with speech to text interpretation available upon request. Please email your request to info@singaporefringe.com before 22 December 2022.
Artist Statement
Less than Half is created by students who are also the actors. The students shared their stories about privilege and inequality. The writer took these texts and put them into a made-up world. Sama Wholeness Centre is in this world. The artists want to tell stories of the minorities. How do they go through life? What happens when those in power meet those in the minority? What makes a group or person a minority? How does this term affect them in society? Singapore is not a colony anymore. As we are growing, we are still searching for who we are. Some of our attitudes are still from the past. How do we change them?
Set in an imagined, futuristic world, Sama Wholeness Centre believes in the country’s mandate that all human lives are Whole.
Citizens who do not conform to the status of Whole are put through a rigorous training programme that will help them achieve the desired status before gaining admission to the country. Citizens who fail the programme are ousted and lost forever. Given the high stakes, the recruits soon discover that they must work both individually and collectively. Uncertainty ensues.
What have these recruits really signed up for? Will these recruits choose to conform to the demands of the programme, or will they stick to their roots and embrace what makes them “less than half”?
Directed by Adib Kosnan and Yarra Ileto, and written by Aswani Aswath, Less Than Half is devised and performed by students from the BA (Hons) in Performance Making programme at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Co-presented with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Open captions in English for all shows.
Post-show dialogue on 6 January 2023, with speech to text interpretation available upon request. Please email your request to info@singaporefringe.com before 22 December 2022.
Artist Statement
Less than Half is a devised performance that hopes to explore complex issues such as privilege and inequality using experiences from the performers as verbatim texts juxtaposed with a fictional world where Sama Wholeness Centre exists. We seek to explore stories told from the perspectives of those in the minority. How is life experienced by the ones who make up less than half of the whole. Where is the nuances of interactions between those in positions of privilege and those in the minority? What makes a group or individual a minority? How does this term affect them in society? In our local context where we are still searching for what it means to be who we are as we continue to develop as a post-colonial nation, what are some of the attitudes and mindsets that are still shaped by our past and how do we move on from them?
Download artist biographiesDate & Duration
5 to 7 January 2023, 8pm
7 to 8 January 2023, 3pm
75min with no intermission
Location
NAFA Studio Theatre
Price
$32 | $24*
*Concession for students, NSF, senior citizens and PWD cardholders
Accessibility Features
Open captions in English
Rating
Advisory (Some Mature Content)
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