“Support our artists unconditionally” – Haresh Sharma

Haresh Sharma is the Resident Playwright of The Necessary Stage, and the author of numerous plays, including Off Centre, Gemuk Girls and Those Who Can’t, Teach.

Haresh is one of the recipients of the Cultural Medallion this year, which is conferred to those who have achieved artistic excellence in their respective fields.

Below is the full transcript and video of his acceptance speech at the Istana on 16th October 2015.

Good evening to President Tony Tan, Mrs Mary Tan, Minister Grace Fu, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I’ve thanked everyone in the programme booklet so I’d like to take this time to talk about my play Off Centre.

The play was first staged in 1993. Because it was originally commissioned by the Ministry of Health, Alvin and I and the actors were given access to Woodbridge hospital, halfway houses; we interviewed patients, ex-patients, psychiatrists, family members and so on. After these interview sessions and field research, we would all go to the rehearsal room and discuss and improvise scenes. It was a very rich process.

When I submitted my script to the Ministry, they had problems with it. Alvin and I wanted a quiet parting of ways – we will relinquish the $30,000 sponsorship and just stage the play with our own vision of it.

Sadly, it got played out in the media. And a Ministry spokesperson said the the play “presented a prejudiced view of mental disorder, its treatability and the therapists, besides ridiculing God, religion and national service”.

At that time we felt very defeated. What was happening in real life was what was happening in the play – like the protagonists Vinod and Saloma, we too had no voice, no power to fight against the system. But we had each other, and we had our passion. We staged the play and the response was unbelievable. Straits Times critic Hannah Pandian said “Off Centre marks a maturity in Singapore theatre, addressing an audience prepared to be challenged”.

That was 1993. In 2006, the play was selected by the Ministry of Education as the first Singapore play to be included in the Literature ‘O’ level syllabus. The play is now reaching out to new generations of readers and audiences – and was recently staged as part of the Esplanade’s SG50 celebrations. The issues raised in the play, specifically about mental illness, still resonate more than 20 years later. And the play is not a ‘prejudiced view of mental disorder’.

I bring this up not to talk about the success of one play. I bring this up because I want to say… let’s have faith in our artists. Let us not be judged by the decisions made in the past. Forum theatre was once banned. And then it was re-instated. Performance art was once banned. Also re-instated.

So, as we celebrate our artists today, let history guide us as we move to the future –  together, as a community of artists, audience and policy-makers.

Let us all spare a thought for all the artists out there who want to do good – and doing good means being passionate, having a vision and maybe even challenging the status quo and sharing alternative views on life.

Let us all not dismiss artists or artworks or plays or films because of fear or uncertainty; because of a lack of imagination; because of anxiety that people might complain or ‘write-in’. And if someone does complain or write-in, then side us. Side the artist.

Let us all stand up for the artist. Let us be the ally of the artist.

The most fundamental frontier of change is the mind. If our mindsets can’t change then there is very little hope for our attitudes to change. Our attitude towards censorship and regulation, our attitude towards openness and dialogue, our attitude towards risk-taking, and ultimately, our attitude towards the value of the artist in society.

I’m on this platform, and I’m taking this platform, as a cultural medallion recipient, to say, please support our artists unconditionally.

Thank you and have a pleasant evening.