Synopsis

Set in a not-so-distant, dystopian future Singapore, National Memory Project imagines a state initiative in which the government collects a single memory from every citizen to feed an artificial intelligence designed to understand the nation better than its people can themselves. The two-hander centres on Judy, a civil servant tasked with extracting memories from the condemned, and her latest assignment: Ahmad, a man awaiting execution who refuses to be reduced to data points.

Their encounter unfolds as a tense, lyrical duel between duty and defiance, grief and preservation. As Judy attempts to coax out Ahmad's recollection, the exchange leads her to question the system she serves and the cost of letting memories and the issues that matter quietly disappear. The play moves between English, Malay and Hokkien to evoke generational and cultural complexity.

Written by Jonny Jon Jon and directed by Mohd Fared Jainal, this staging marks the play's third incarnation, following earlier versions in 2012 and 2016, and its first production under Teater Ekamatra's banner.