Classic Indian poetry inspires two new plays

HARESH Sharma is Singapore's most prolific playwright. He has chalked up almost 110 plays in three decades, many examining "touchy" issues such as race relations and detention without trial.

Sharma and Alvin Tan - director and co-founder of The Necessary Stage (TNS) - have produced some of the most groundbreaking social drama in Singapore.

Sharma, however, feels that very few works in his extensive oeuvre have explored Indian culture and identity - despite the fact that he is Indian. So, with a hint of cheekiness, Sharma has declared "2014 to be the year I will write about my people, the Indians".