Michelle Tan’s new play The Radicalisation of Mrs. Mary Lim-Rodrigues enters its final week at Wild Rice @ Funan on Tuesday, 6 October, with captioned performances on 7, 8 and 9 October and the last show on Saturday, 10 October. Wild Rice opened the run on 24 September, with Edith Podesta directing a cast of Janice Koh, Ryan Ang, Izzul Irfan, Koh Wan Ching and Suhaili Safari.
There are six performances left, from Tuesday to Saturday. There is no show on Monday.
A principal, a student and one bad day
The title character is a school principal. Mrs. Mary Lim-Rodrigues is a Nice Lady, a woman of good intentions who believes every decision she makes is for the best, while she presides over a system that makes life feel impossible for students like Shan, a brilliant but troubled student who thrives in the margins.
A devastating incident binds the two lives together. Mary is confronted by the fine line between help and harm, and by whether she can be good at her job and also a good person. It is a story about rupture and irreversible loss, and then a call for revolution.
It is a story about a school, and it carries a content warning for references to self-harm and suicide. The production is rated IMDA Advisory 16 for some mature content, and is recommended for audiences aged 12 and above, and the company lists helplines alongside the booking information.
Where the play came from
Tan developed the script at Centre 42, which develops new writing for the Singapore stage. It had a work-in-progress reading at the 2024 Singapore International Festival of Arts before this full staging.
The ensemble is Manisha Joshi, Nishanth Kumar, Benjamin Poh and Qilah Rose. Juliet Chia is script dramaturg, A. Syadiq designed the set and Tai Zi Feng the lighting, with sound by Jing Ng.
Tickets and the last six shows
The play runs 1 hour 30 minutes with no interval, and every performance is followed by a talkback with the cast and creative team.
- Tuesday 6 to Thursday 8 October, 7.30pm: S$45, S$55, S$70 and S$80
- Friday 9 October, 7.30pm: S$50, S$60, S$75 and S$85
- Saturday 10 October, 2.30pm and 7.30pm: S$50, S$60, S$75 and S$85
For the three captioned shows on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, a text display near the stage shows the dialogue and describes the sound effects and music in real time. Stalls seats give the clearest view of the captions.
Wild Rice @ Funan is on Level 4 of Funan, 107 North Bridge Road, a short walk from City Hall MRT station. School bookings go through [email protected].
