SINGAPORE, Feb 25 — It takes two to tango, the saying goes.

But obviously, it’s a philosophy that’s not exclusive to social dance enthusiasts. And next month, you’ve got a few shows where getting together to collaborate is key: The Necessary Stage and Drama Box’s Manifesto, Jean Ng and Joavien Ng’s Instrusions and Noorlinah Mohamed and Claire Wong’s Recalling Mother. Read on to find out how they do it.

Two’s company: The necessary stage and drama box 

Collaboration between artistes are pretty common, but bringing together two theatre groups is a different proposition altogether.

That said, it’s not as if The Necessary Stage (TNS) and Drama Box (DB), who are presenting the play Manifesto, are strangers to one another. For one, the latter’s artistic director (AD) Kok Heng Leun (who incidentally recently put his name forward as a possible candidate for Nominated Member of Parliament) was part of the TNS family in the 1990s — as the company’s business manager, AD for its youth theatre branch and resident director — even as he was also with DB.

In fact, it was through this familiarity that Manifesto was born: Casual discussions between Kok and TNS’ Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma a year and a half ago about doing something together. “Then one day, we thought maybe the aim was to do a project that cannot be staged,” joked Tan.

Well, it looks like it can, but it certainly sounds epic. The multilingual ensemble piece features 16 characters played by different actors, weaving together stories from different eras: From the 1960s all the way to the 2020s, as it looks at artistes and their place in society, historically and politically.

It has been quite the learning experience putting the show together, both creatively, as well as in terms of company dynamics.

While both groups have collaboration in their DNA (TNS’ works regularly grow from its workshops with cast and crew and DB’s community and forum theatre also calls for such an approach), there are still differences from which to learn from each other. Kok pointed out, for instance, his Mandarin theatre background and sensibilities as opposed to Tan and Sharma being more familiar with English and Malay (even as both fully embrace the idea of cross-languages).

It can be the smallest things, too. TNS has its own rehearsal space while DB doesn’t. Or “TNS has their lighting and sound crew come from the very beginning of rehearsals and we don’t,” observed Kok.

Meanwhile, Tan observed how Kok’s team “loves and respects him a lot, and uses all their skills and expertise to service his needs”, such as instantly creating a three-dimensional rendition of Manifesto’s set.

“What is interesting for both companies is we are seeing how (our two) institutions work. Yes, there’s the artistic part that happens in workshops and rehearsals, but there is also the rest: How you split the money, who takes care of which budget, how do general managers run the companies and how are decisions made? It does help us to reflect on things and institutions should have these kinds of communication,” said Kok.

It has been a 50/50 collaboration and a “very happy one”, said Tan. “The mutual respect is high and I can see him taking my ideas and developing it, and I do consciously see myself taking his ideas and developing it.”

He added: “Collaboration happens best when people are secure with themselves, when there is no or little need to be in power, and when mutual respect is an essential ingredient.”

* Manifesto runs from March 9 to 20, 8pm, at The Necessary Stage Black Box. With 3pm weekend matinees. Tickets from SISTIC.

Initial impressions: Joavien Ng and Jean Ng 

Yes, they may share the same initials, but before working on their show Intrusions for The Esplanade’s The Studios, that’s pretty much all independent dance artiste Joavien Ng and theatre artiste Jean Ng had in common.

“Joavien and I have known each other for many years but have never been close. We have, on a couple of occasions, thought of collaborating but never actively pursued it,” said Jean. The breakthrough came two years ago when she got a message from Joavien asking if she would like to work on a prison theatre project. It never happened, but eventually there was the show they have now.

Before even looking for someone to commission them to create a work, the first thing they did was to get to know each other. “We did lots of interviews, shared random thoughts, images on a closed (web)page we created. We were trying to find a subject matter that would interest both of us,” said Joavien.

Last year, after The Esplanade came calling, they went on a couple of two-month residencies in Portugal (where Joavien is based) and Singapore to experiment. “We shared lots of laughter but also lost moments where we would stare blankly at each other,” Joavien revealed.

“Talking, thinking, excavating, playing, trying, getting lost, reading, making sense, not making sense, and so on and so forth. I spent two months last year living in the Portuguese mountains with Joavien and our sound designer, in total isolation, doing all of that,” added Jean. “Sometimes (being up) in the mountains, drove me crazy but it was an important part of the process. And it was breathtakingly beautiful up there.”

With all that freedom to develop things, it’s probably no surprise that the collaboration has been a very open one. “There has just been lots of generosity, complicity and deep listening. Joavien is one of the most authentic people I know. There’s a vastness and spaciousness in her spirit that has no room for pettiness like competition with me,” she added.

Joavien added: “Essentially, we are two different individuals with very different lives and work experiences and our paths rarely crossed in our forty-plus years of existence until two years ago — I like this kind of intrusion. It is refreshing and pushes us out of our comfort zones.”

As for what exactly will come out of a piece by a dance artiste and a theatre artiste, it would seem they would rather let the work speak for itself. “These categories can be quite rigidly defined, so perhaps it will be better to let the audience decide what kind of performance it is,” said Joavien.

“Ultimately, it will be what the audience imagines it to be,” added Jean.

* Intrusions is from March 31 to April 2, 8pm, at the Esplanade Theatre Studio. Tickets from SISTIC.

Mothers know best: Claire Wong and Noorlinah Mohamed 

Theatremakers Noorlinah Mohamed and Claire Wong’s friendship goes way back — at TheatreWorks’ 1988 production of Beauty World, in fact. And it was cemented in the late ’90s, when the two were studying in New York (Noorlinah at Tisch School of the Arts, Wong at Columbia University). Long, intimate ties have made possible a decade-long work where they share their experiences with their respective mothers.

First presented in 2006, this year’s staging of Recalling Mother, also for The Esplanade’s The Studios season, is version 4.0, with each version reflecting the changes in their relationship with their mothers, who have grown older. (Noorlinah’s mother is 91 while Wong’s is 82.)

“Because it marks and tracks the ongoing relationship between mothers and daughters, the piece can never be the same,” said Noorlinah, who added that when they restaged it last year in New York, things had changed. “Our mothers had suffered several falls, broken several bones and are in a period of their lives where they are more debilitated. We are now their guardians, their caregivers and still their daughters.”

“If language barrier and communication issues were more key in an earlier edition, in more recent ones, the work now looks at ageing. Noorlinah’s mum and Noorlinah now have to cope with dementia. We ourselves have also become older,” said Wong, who compared Recalling Mother to fine wine. “As it ages, it gains other tones and nuances; gifts of the maturing process.”

While they have met each other’s mothers, it is through the piece where they get to know them more. “I only know Claire’s mother through Claire’s eyes,” said Noorlinah, who added that at the same time, she got to know her friend even more through the experience.

It’s the same for Wong: “I certainly know a lot more about her mum than any of my friends’ mums! We’ve each ‘researched’ our mums and in the course of that, we’ve discovered things we never knew before.”

And speaking of knowing — do their respective mothers know about Recalling Mother?

Noorlinah’s mother has caught her on television several times but has never seen her onstage. “My mother has dementia now, so she forgets that I’m doing this piece, even though I’ve asked to borrow her baju kurung as part of my research for this year’s show. In 2006 and 2009, I had asked her if she’d like to attend but she was too shy.”

Meanwhile, Wong says her mother has seen her onstage only once and while she’s aware of the piece, she has yet to see any version. “I may not have been prepared for her to watch the show before, to be honest. This is part of my own journey, I suppose; as to when I may be ready for her to actually watch the piece.” — TODAY

* Recalling Mother runs from March 24 to 27, 8pm, at the Esplanade Theatre Studio. With 3pm weekend matinees. Tickets from SISTIC.