Communal bonding takes centre stage

THE time machine may not have been invented yet, but Quarters promises to take you back in time anyway. Set in 1975 Singapore over two days on August 8 and 9, the production aims to transport viewers back to the days when communal bonding in residential quarters set the tone for today's multicultural society.

Director G Selvananthan, 47, explains that the play is about more than just national history. "I was born and raised in the 'quarters' culture and I wanted to develop a story detailing how it was to live in such a place." It took about a year for him and playwright Arivazhagan Thirugnanam to transform his experiences into a story.

Quarters looks at the lives of eight families living in Public Utilities Board (PUB) Staff quarters along King George Avenue, following the characters through the trials and tribulations of their everyday lives.