I would say my process is very improvisational—I very rarely plan what’s on the next page. I ask myself, 'What’s an interesting story I can write within the theatre? What’s the physical space I can stick the audience in and what dynamic characters can I bring into it?'

Characters are also part of that process. I create a sandbox, put my characters in it and then watch them work. I don’t think of myself as a driver. I think I watch them do stuff, and hear them. It’s a bit wacky. I talk to myself a lot when I’m writing, because I’m trying to figure out where they are, who they are, and how they would react to each other organically, rather than imagining what I would do in this situation.

My mother used to bring me to a lot of shows while I was growing up. First it was the Wild Rice pantomimes, which were good fun for a child. But there were two plays that made me realise how important the form was to me—Shiv Tandan’s The Good The Bad & The Sholay by Checkpoint Theatre at NUS Stage, and Dreamplay by Alfian Sa’at, from Asian Boys Volume 2. Up until that point, I had always been an active audience member, and that helped me gain such a level of envy and excitement that made me want to start doing this and to be on the other end of it.

I would say my interests are primarily sociopolitical, which is the case with all writing. But I’m also very interested in topics like gender and maleness, which I explored in Brown Boys Don’t Tell Jokes, and my novel catskull. I do think the common theme for me is social construction, change, or even the capacity for change. What does the capacity to change look like? Is it possible for us to change within ourselves, to change our circumstances, and in consequence the world around us? But that’s what I’m thinking about. Ultimately I don’t think there’s a definitive answer to it.