Watch Singapore’s first theatre production about polycystic ovary syndrome

You might have heard of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a condition that affects one in 10 Singapore women, in which sufferers experience symptoms such as irregular menstrual cycles, infertility and weight gain.

There’s now a play about it – and it’s the first Singapore theatre production that discusses PCOS, said the organisers in a press statement.

The 80-minute performance, titled Lotus Root Support Group, is an independent production and showcases actresses Shannen Tan and Miriam Cheong, both of whom suffer from PCOS. Tan is also the show’s producer. 

It will be staged in-person at the T:>Works Gallery, from Mar 3 to 6 this year, in conjunction with International Women’s Day on Mar 8. A video-on-demand recording of the play will also be released in the second half of March.

Tan and Cheong play two women trying to understand PCOS and its symptoms while learning how to manage it.   

While both actresses suffer from PCOS, Cheong only found out that Tan had the same condition months after they met. 

There was this “sudden feeling of solidarity of someone who could understand what the struggles are like having such a specific condition”, Cheong said in the press release. 

“Our symptoms were so different but we felt like we had so much in common at that moment. It felt like both of us became our own support group.” 

That solidarity is what the play is aiming to achieve among fellow sufferers. 

Said Tan: “When I’ve shared with women that I’m working on such a show, the most common response I’ve received was, ‘Oh! I have PCOS too, I thought I was the only one’.”

“We hope that this production will be able to do that for women who are going through the same thing,” said Cheong. 

Tickets to Lotus Root Support Group cost S$35 (before ticketing fees) per person. Get tickets to watch it live here and stay updated on the production’s digital release in the second half of March here.