Inspired by significant historical figures and events and the subjectivity of history, the playwrights delve into the world of these characters to re-imagine different and fresh perspectives.

Henry Ong's Madam Mao's Memories is based on the life of Jiang Qing, one of China's most notorious political figures, and one of the driving forces behind China's Cultural Revolution. It features an older Jiang Qing in her prison cell, flashing back on the many and varied scenes in her life, including her trial in the 1970s.

Inspired by a true account, Robin Loon's Watching The Clouds Go By is about an elderly school teacher who reminisces about her time as a youth during China's Cultural Revolution. Caught between love and ideals, she is forced to make a difficult decision, one that results in the untimely death of her lover.

In The Last Temptation of Stamford Raffles,
Ng Yi-Sheng paints a poetic, surreal and whimsical portrait of Singapore's founder through a witty reconstruction of the final hours leading to his death. Both haunting and hilarious, Ng peeks behind the veneer of Raffles, depicting him as an articulate, supremely confident adventurer whose intention to develop a little-known fishing village came at the expense of personal and emotional sacrifice.

The plays presented in this reading are selected excerpts from each script.