Haresh Sharma
| Haresh Sharma | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1965 Singapore |
| Occupation | Resident playwright for The Necessary Stage |
| Nationality | Singapore |
Haresh Sharma (born 1965) is a Singaporean playwright. To date, he has written more than fifty plays that have been staged all over the world, including Singapore, Melbourne, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cairo and London.[1] Sharma has a BA from the National University of Singapore as well as an MA in Playwriting from the University of Birmingham, obtained in 1994 on a Shell-NAC Scholarship. He has also been awarded fellowships and grants by the British Council and the United States Information Service, and was conferred the Young Artist Award in 1997. His play, Off Centre, was selected by the Ministry of Education as a Literature text for ‘N’ and ‘O’ levels, and republished by The Necessary Stage in 2006.
In August 2007, a new volume of Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature, was published with a focus on the works of Haresh Sharma. Interlogue is a series published by Ethos Books and edited by A/P Kirpal Singh that aims to bring critical focus on the works of Singapore writers in English. Previous editions of the series included one each on fiction, poetry, drama and interviews with local writers, as well as one dedicated volume on Singapore playwright Robert Yeo. The publication, written by Prof David Birch and edited by A/P Kirpal Singh, was an extensive investigation into Sharma's development as a writer; the themes and issues he grapples with; as well as his vision and practice of theatre within and outside his work at The Necessary Stage. While Interlogue itself was not published by The Necessary Stage, the company assisted with the provision of archival material for Prof Birch's research.
In 2010, The Necessary Stage published a new anthology of Haresh's plays entitled "Trilogy", including the scripts and production notes of three award-winning works, Fundamentally Happy, Good People and Gemuk Girls. Most recently in 2011, a collection of early short plays by Haresh Sharma entitled "Shorts I" was published by The Necessary Stage. The script of "Those Who Can't, Teach", which was restaged as part of the 2010 Singapore Arts Festival, has also been published in May 2010 by Epigram Books.
Haresh Sharma is also responsible for the Singapore's National Day Parade 2011's Fun Pack Song, a song that modified the lyrics of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance', which drew much criticism for its modification.
Biography
Early life
Born in Singapore to Indian parents, Sharma attended Tanjong Katong Secondary School, Temasek Junior College, as well as the National University of Singapore, where he majored in English Language and Literature.[1] It was also at the National University of Singapore in 1987 where he met Alvin Tan, then a fellow undergraduate and founder of The Necessary Stage. He soon became involved in productions - first doing backstage, publicity, sound, and the occasional acting - then eventually moving on to scriptwriting when one of his plays won the NUS-Shell Short Play Competition in 1988.
Career
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Klein, Ronald D. (2001). Interlogue - Studies in Singapore Literature, Volume 4: Interviews. Singapore: Ethos Books. pp. 334–357, 384.
2. Birch, David; Kirpal Singh (ed) (2007). Interlogue - Studies in Singapore Literature, Volume 6: Haresh Sharma; The Cultural Politics of Playwriting in Contemporary Singapore: Ethos Books.
External links
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