Wild Rice knew the rules. They successfully cleared an earlier draft that met R18 classification requirements to be staged. That version could have gone ahead — no controversy, no cancellation.
Yet, instead of reverting to that approved version, they wished to go ahead with one that regulators said crossed the line, resulting in a ban a day before the staging. In doing so, Wild Rice took a conscious, deliberate decision in prioritising this insistence of a work, over its performability in Singapore. It is not a blast on censorship of a finished piece and the part that has to be navigated: portraying a drug-fuelled gay party as a theatre performance was not merely an artistic choice.
The vehicle at “Homepar”, meant to be staged on theatre, is a space where drugs are used to fuel bio-chemical reactions with the premise of it being in a gay nightclub atmosphere, recreated in a living or hotel room (described in prelude) with close friends, a widowed mother, and where law enforcement is depicted as complicit — was seen as undermining core national interests. Particularly in the emotionally-charged minority space of queer nightlife and underground drug culture, or a singular reflection of Wild Rice’s reality.
It is hard not to see this as an attempt to have the “last word,” or to insert elements edgewise after an earlier version had already passed muster. Now, the fallout is framed as a conversation about censorship and curtailing artistic freedom. Wild Rice’s Ivan Heng, a popular gay, seasoned playwright in his 60s, broad statements, all point to the fact that his creative call to stage “Homepar” was not about glamorising drug use, which were one the core reasons for the ban as elaborated in IMDA -MHA’s joint statement on this issue.
Their spokesperson elaborated: “Homepar does not ask audiences to approve of drug use. It asks them to understand the human stories behind it, and to imagine the possibility of recovery and belonging.” For Wild Rice, it was merely about the struggles of addiction, trauma, and the search for healing.
That being said, it is not a matter of whether Singapore is “ready” to face, in Wild Rice’s views, these “realities”. Wild Rice were aware such stories, whether fact or fiction, exist, and through their own lens or encounters, chose to focus on the portrayal of marginalised communities that in their words, or deemed admissions and ways to reflect their realities.
What is at stake to the general public is how these version of realities are staged, whether or not unreflective of the majority of Singaporeans at large and how far artistic licence can or should go when national policies are built on keeping the streets clean and green as they are. Whilst there are murmurs now about the costs of cancellation at the eleventh hour — facts have to be faced, technical crews still need to be paid, venues lose opportunity costs, and there is reputational fallout for Wild Rice that can make schools and other groups wary of future bookings for general rated shows.
Aftermath of Normalising Drug-Fuelled Parties on Theatre
These are not the costs of censorship. They are the consequences of knowingly pushing material at the eleventh hour that failed classification or normalising a drug-fuelled gay party on theatre, even if Wild Rice were adamant that their intent was not to glamourise it which was what the regulators deemed it as, and of further choosing not to proceed with a version of the script that was already approved by authorities on 21 April 2025. The crews, as promised from the outset, still have to be responsibly paid, regardless of such a consequence.
“It is deeply disappointing that a developmental work has been thrust into the public spotlight and judged as if it were a complete and finished work,” Wild Rice added. The Rice Cooker platform is meant to incubate such difficult works. When developmental works enter the public arena, even in a limited setting, they, however, are judged on their current form, not their potential. And when the subject matter touches on drugs and law enforcement, the bar for acceptability is always going to be higher.
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