Evening show optimised for a home audience

Though it had long been a dream of local film-maker and director Royston Tan to direct the National Day Parade show, he never expected to be staging one in the midst of a pandemic.

The 43-year-old creative director of the NDP 2020 evening show and his team had begun preparations as early as August last year.

By February, the team had a concrete concept in place, but as Covid-19 took hold, they realised the original concept would not be relevant to Singaporeans in the current crisis.

The show was completely revamped and optimised for a home audience, and features intimate, small indoor performances and films paying tribute to everyday heroes in Singapore.

Mr Tan hopes the show will unite and encourage a nation that has been through a lot this year. He said: "We had hoped to capture the very real and relatable experiences of Singaporeans this year.

"2020 has not been rosy, but amidst the struggle, there have been incredible acts of kindness, resilience and unity, which we want to share with the rest of Singapore."

Held at The Star Performing Arts Centre today, the show will be broadcast live from 7pm.

As multimedia director and theme song music video director for last year's NDP show, Mr Tan had a firm handle on what could work this year.

A visual communications graduate of Temasek Polytechnic, he is known for painting extraordinary stories of ordinary people on screen.

His works, such as 15 (2002) and 881 (2007), have drawn acclaim. In 2016, he won the Best Asian Short Film prize at the Sapporo International Short Film Festival. The win was for Bunga Sayang, a story of a young boy who strikes up a friendship with an old Malay neighbour, in the award-winning film anthology 7 Letters (2015).

For this year's NDP show, Mr Tan and his team put together six acts depicting the challenges facing Singapore and how the country is emerging from crisis, before ending off with a message of solidarity and hope for the future.

Acknowledging the challenges of putting together a show while ensuring the safety of those involved, Mr Tan said: "When Covid-19 hit us and our team decided to change our concept for NDP, it was painful. We had mapped out performances with thousands of people, costumes all done up and ready.

"But as I look back, I don't have the right to feel pain. There are many other Singaporeans who feel pain. We see this as an opportunity for them to echo their sentiments and incorporate that in the show. NDP unifies people, but it also heals people."