Blackout
NUS Stage
Fri & Sat 18 & 19 March / 7:30pm / UCC Theatre
General: $25 / Students: $15 / Friends of CFA: $25 for two
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Justin wakes up after blacking out, with no recollection of who he is. He encounters a gaggle of characters who attempt to help him uncover his real identity. Some say he is a triad boss with a loyal sidekick. Others say he is an international pop star. A few say “he” is a “she”. A fish says… Justin talks to fish, apparently. Amidst these mind-bending journeys, a girl called Heather keeps showing up. She wants to break up with him in so many ways - over and over again. Could Justin still be in a coma, and having multiple nightmares? Wait - just who the hell is Justin?
Directed by award-winning theatre-maker Chong Tze Chien, join NUS Stage in Blackout, a trippy black comedy about a tortured soul, plagued by identity crises and heartbreak. An exploration of the self, love and loss, the play looks at the splintered world inside and outside of Justin’s mind. As we dive deeper into Justin’s past, the darkness that envelopes him reveals itself. Follow along as he attempts to walk out of a funk and find light at the end of the tunnel.
Advisory 16: Mature themes and strong language
Musings:
The Splintering of the Self in Everyday Life by Dr Kokil Jaidka
Future Perfect by Dr Rosemary Overell
About NUS Stage
Founded previously as Varsity Drama in 2006, and later renamed in 2008, NUS Stage has long been dedicated to the nurturing of talents on stage who aspire to tell the untold stories of our generation and who keenly explore the underlying social issues through thought-provoking tales of human drama. We are strongly committed to training actors, nurturing playwrights and grooming production teams who push creative boundaries and produce high quality, artistic content that engages its audiences.
Recent productions include Shook for NUS Arts Festival 2021, Complicité’s A Disappearing Number, for NUS Arts Festival 2019, The Golden Record for NUS Arts Festival 2017: Brave New Worlds, which commemorated the 40th anniversary of the historical launch of the Voyager 1 space probe and The Golden Record 2.0 directed and written by Edith Podesta together with journalist Corrie Tan.
A graduate from the NUS theatre studies programme, Tze Chien is the Principal Tutor for NUS Stage, a core member of The Finger Players and an award-winning playwright/ director. Some of the awards he has won include the Singapore Dramatist Award and The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards. His plays have been staged in Singapore, UK, Budapest, Taiwan and Japan. He has two collections of plays containing critically acclaimed plays such as Charged (The Business Times’ top ten Singapore play of all time) and PIE. For his contributions to Singapore Theatre, he was awarded the Young Artist Award 2006 by Singapore’s National Arts Council.
