Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2018 Toolkit Toolkit 2018 Final | Page 43

and theme for the production since the
overall artistic director will have the final say
○ A proper handover has to be planned
early so that it enables the
newcomers to successfully embark
on and spearhead new productions
Writing and Direction
Only a small number of youth are willing to come forward to write scripts for theatre productions
Similar to direction, youth also lack guidance in and exposure to script writing (e.g. lack of script-
writing training/mentorship)
● Calvet,
a one-year writing mentorship creative writing throughout the season.
programme that was launched by Avant
● There is a lack of appreciation and
Theatre and funded by the National Arts
recognition for scriptwriters in the Tamil
Council for two seasons was an attempt at
theatre scene
developing young writers in various genres, ▪
Scriptwriting continues to be a very
more specifically writers for the Tamil Theatre
underestimated role in a production
scene in Singapore.
●
Lack of collaboration between literary
● The programme was on a one-to-one
writers (e.g. short stories, poetry) and
mentorship basis, where participants were
theatre artistes leaves an untouched pool
guided by the relevant experts and attended
of writing talent that has been left
writing workshops for one year while
unutilised
continuously working on one piece of
The writers can be utilised in two ways:
▪ Existing works could be adapted into
theatre productions
▪ Their talent in writing could also be
channelled effectively towards writing
scripts specifically for theatre by giving ▪
them the relevant guidance and training
“Despite the fact that RDG and Association of
Singapore Tamil Writers were right next to each
other, not much of their stories were used for
scripts” - Karthikeyan Rajaseygaran, member of
Singapore Indian Artistes Association
Lack of written records for Tamil theatre - There
is a need for scriptwriters to document their
works as books to benefit future generations
There is also a lack of post-event dialogue sessions to evaluate and critique theatre performances.
The Tamil theatre scene lacks proper feedback channels to receive constructive criticism from
credible theatre experts
○ NUS TLS held a post-event dialogue session for the biennially held Tamil theatre production
Sangae Muzhangu, for the first time in 2017, to obtain feedback on the show. The session
helped to voice out the opinions and perspectives of the audience on the different elements
of the show, which can be reflected upon to improve the show in the future.
Productions are generally required to keep up to a certain language standard which
might be a struggle for some scriptwriters
○ Concerns and doubt regarding language use applies to both literary and spoken Tamil as
youth can be unsure of what is appropriate stage decorum
○ Youth led productions would naturally include a certain type of language and lingo which
might not be received well by general audience
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