Events

In 2013, Siti Khalijah Zainal brought The Necessary Stage's Best Of to life, playing the role of a young Malay Muslim woman going through divorce. Through a glimpse into a day in her life, she shares intimately about prejudice, family, dreams, and the kindness of strangers.

Three years later, we presented the husband’s perspective in Best Of (His Story), where he brings the audience on a journey through his past, his hopes, his beliefs—and what ‘home’ means.

In Best Of Us, playwright and director Haresh Sharma revisits these plays, and for the first time, creates a narrative combining both husband and wife’s accounts. What happens when the estranged couple reunite at the Syariah court? Where do they go from here? How would it change your view when you see both sides of the story? Siti Khalijah Zainal reprises her role as the divorced wife, with Fir Rahman as the husband.

These two award-winning and celebrated actors will face off in this brand-new iteration of two seminal plays by The Necessary Stage about a marriage that breaks apart—and the ties that bind and sustain us.

There’s the kind of storytelling that lights up fireworks and milks this communal moment for all its worth. Best Of, The Necessary Stage’s enjoyable one-woman show featuring Siti Khalijah Zainal, skips all of that and simply tells.

— Mayo Martin, TODAYonline, 25 January 2013, on Best Of

...deeply watchable and tosses up a great deal of food for thought – from funny to bitingly incisive observations on how the Malay community is perceived, to tender recollection of various religious traditions and the constant struggle to cope with loss.

— Corrie Tan, The Straits Times Life, 26 January 2013, on Best Of

His is a character not privileged by the Singapore stage – a lowly educated average Joe who spouts non-politically correct remarks and speaks English with obvious discomfort. He exists in the lower rungs of society where art, politics and the media rarely explore. The Necessary Stage, a theatre company committed to indigenous stories, is once again showing us a side of Singapore often kept hidden.

— Helmi Yusof, The Business Times, 5 November 2016 on Best Of (His Story)

There will be a dialogue with the artists after the 8pm performance on 14 and 15 January 2027, with speech to text interpretation available upon request. Please email your request to info@singaporefringe.com by 9 December 2026.

Artist Statement

Best Of Us started as two monologues: Best Of, first staged in 2013 and Best Of (His Story), which was staged in 2016. Revisiting the plays and rewriting them as a duologue challenged me to question: what would they say to each other? What could they say to each other? What remains unsaid?

The premise of the play is simple: a couple going through a divorce, each telling their side of the story. But various issues emerge from this, such as the roles of men and women today in the context of society’s expectations. Where does each character sit in the spectrum of traditional values and independent lifestyle?

How will the audience respond? Will they take sides? What will prompt their responses as they listen to the couple’s stories? Or will they find it difficult to take sides, hoping instead for reconnection, reconciliation: a positive future for both.