The Nest
Experience type
Play
Location
42 Waterloo St, Singapore
Year
2022
Playwright
Franz Xaver Kroetz
Director
Jonathan Vandenberg
Like all expecting parents, Kurt and Martha want the best for their baby. But they are working class and a baby is costly. What happens when an innocent side job spirals out of control? How far will the new parents go to create their ideal home?
Directed by Yale-NUS Lecturer of Theatre Jonathan Vandenberg (Classic Stage Company's Oresteia, Mabou Mines' The Kingdom) and featuring Ethel Yap (Four Horse Road, Urinetown: The Musical) and Te Hao Boon (Cost of Caring, The Hawker), with design by Elizabeth Mak (project Salome, The Public's The Chinese Lady) and Johanna Pan (Snow in Midsummer, Recalling Mother), The Nest is a haunting parable on the tangled relationship between materialism, obedience, and ecological devastation. Written in 1974 Bavaria and locally set, this timeless play eerily resonates with the struggles of a modern family in Singapore.
Made possible by sponsorship from Endowus, Carbuyer, and Grain.
Te Hao Boon
Kurt
Martha
Ethel Yap
Director
Jonathan Vandenberg
Producer
Elizabeth Mak
Costume Designer
Johanna Pan
Dramaturg
Gloria Ang Xiao Teng
Performance Stage Manager
Tan Xin You
Rehearsal Stage Manager
Patricia Gabriel
Wardrobe Coordinator
Glenna Ng
Partnerships
Thammika Songkaeo
Assistant Director
Kyle Foo
Assistant Producer
Eugene Chow
Photographer
CRISPI
"this theme of absence illuminated the play—absence of will, of conscience, of agency. I was transfixed, unsettled, but ultimately hopeful that there were young collectives like this asking such hard and necessary questions."
Alfian Sa'at, Singapore playwright
"gets its audiences to think about how their own actions may have a ripple effect, and to open their eyes and change before it comes back to bite you."
Richard S, Singapore theatre critic, Bakchormeeboy
