"Tan Tarn How can be succinctly described as a playwright of the public life and a raconteur of social history in the way he captures the zeitgeist with the exactitude and incisiveness of a political analyst. This can be attributed to a spillover from his full-time occupation, initially as a journalist with the political desk of The Straits Times and eventually as a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies where the ambit of his duties encompasses studies of policy issues on the s

"The first Short-Play Competition, oragnized in 1986 under the joint auspices of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore and Shell Companies in Singapore met with excellent response. A total of 56 entries were received, and the entrants ranged from students in junior colleges to retired government servants, representing diverse educational, social and cultural backgrounds. A total of 11 entries were awarded prizes... [...] "... It should be stressed in conclusion that

Understudy reimagines the post-‘black-out-and-curtains’ world of Tan Tarn How’s Undercover with a special guest appearance by a character from The Lady of Soul and Her Ultimate ‘S’ Machine, and three newly created characters of the next generation. In 1993, the career of high-flying civil servant Derek is cut short when he refuses to replace his report on the findings of the committee for the cultivation of soul with one rewritten by his ‘friend’ and immediate superior. His punis