The Necessary Stage's No Man's Land asks how masculinity works today

Straits Times

28-05-2025

The Necessary Stage's No Man's Land follows four men as they navigate the landscape of contemporary manhood. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
SINGAPORE – A quartet of inter-disciplinary artists with a shared curiosity about masculinity are collaborating for a live performance in six acts.
The Necessary Stage's No Man's Land, which plays at the Esplanade Theatre Studio from June 12 to 15, is a devised work incorporating theatre and dance elements. It follows four men as they navigate the landscape of contemporary manhood.
The four actors reflect a diverse range of bodies and experiences, as co-directors Alvin Tan and Sim Yan Ying (also known as 'YY') insist that 'meaningful change requires multiplicity'.
One of the cast members is 76-year-old actor Michael Tan, who plays a paternal role in the show and expresses a form of emotional repression in his relationship with his son. Sim says of Tan's role: 'Though mostly a wordless role, his presence brings out the weight of a father's expectations on his sons.'
Sim – who also conceptualised Pass.ages (2024) which looked at the lives of four women at watershed ages – says: 'Over time, I grew curious about the other side as well – while obviously acknowledging that gender is not a binary. In all my attempts to advocate for gender equality, I feel like you can't really achieve that without addressing masculinity.'
The 80-minute performance, Sim says, will run the gamut from realism to abstraction.
The other cast members are performance-maker Neo Hai Bin; dancer and choreographer Shahizman Sulaiman; actor Vishnucharan Naidu, who is trained in Bharatanatyam dance; and actress-musician Suhaili Safari.
While writer Danial Matin wrote the text for the performance, working with a choreographer helped him realise his ideas more fully , he says. 'Sometimes the text is inadequate. Sometimes text is not enough to express some of the more embodied elements, especially when it comes to a topic like masculinity.'
His formative experiences with masculinity were shaped by being in all-male environments such as a boys' school and during National Service: 'I think there are certain boundaries that can disappear in an all-male environment – such as personal boundaries.'
The team for No Man's Land includes (from left) writer Danial Matin, co-director Sim Yan Ying, choreographer Hafeez Hassan and co-director Alvin Tan.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Choreographer Hafeez Hassan – who also runs The Brothers Circle, a space for men to express themselves authentically – will tap on his early years learning silat to choreograph the movement for the show, which also blends 'contemporary dance and human biomechanics'.
'When I practice silat, I feel like I get to reclaim my Malay body,' says Hassan, who adds that the movements will also build on the cast's familiarity with dance genres such as Bharatanatyam and street dance.
Co-director Tan grew up in a household where the housework was split between his parents. 'I thought every family was like that, only to realise later it was divided into gender roles.'
The cast, as expected, are cognisant about how gender dynamics play out in the rehearsal room. They acknowledge that Sim, for example, is the one keeping track of the various changes in the show – which leads to discussions of whether her style is more 'top-down' or if she is performing a kind of 'feminised labour'.
Tan says, however, that the work is not an attack on masculinity: 'It's not masculinity. My problem is with patriarchy and matriarchy.'
To effect change, he is starting small. 'I don't want to go and try and change big policies – I'm tired of that. Just to change in small ways in the rehearsal rooms.'
Book It/No Man's Land
Where: Esplanade Theatre Studio, 1 Esplanade Drive
When: June 12 to 14, 8pm; June 14 and 15, 3pm
Admission: $38
Info: Go to str.sg/kaah
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