TLDR
Key Takeaways
- DARE Festival showcases inclusive performances featuring artistes of all abilities at Gateway Theatre on November 18, 2026.
- The production, Who Stole My Spotlight?, explores visibility among commuters with a comedic twist and features diverse characters.
- The show includes original music, sign language interpretation, and audio descriptions, ensuring accessibility for all audiences.
- Tickets for DARE Festival 2026 cost S$30 and can be purchased via SISTIC, with wheelchair-accessible options available.
- Creative Director Dr. Rose Sivam hopes audiences will leave more compassionate after the performance, highlighting everyday experiences.
Anyone who rides the MRT knows the platform has its own cast of characters. The auntie narrating her afternoon into a phone. The busker by the gantry. The commuter so deep in a drama that the doors close on their stop. DARE Festival has taken that everyday scene and built an evening of theatre around it. Who Stole My Spotlight?, this year’s original variety production, plays one night only at Gateway Theatre on Wednesday, 18 November 2026.
DARE Festival is an inclusive arts platform produced by Collective Perspectives, and its premise is simple: artistes of all abilities share the same professional stage. This year’s company includes visually impaired performers, a hard-of-hearing artiste and performers with a range of disabilities, working alongside familiar Mediacorp faces, an international guest and a live band.
What is Who Stole My Spotlight About?
The show is set in TransitWorld, a stylised station modelled on the MRT. Mistress Lumiere, played by Mediacorp artiste He Ying Ying, unleashes what the production calls Main Character Energy, and ordinary commuters suddenly find themselves performing. Personalities swell, hidden talents surface and the platform tips into comic disorder. Overhead, The Voice, a smooth-talking PA system played by Joakim Gomez, narrates, comments and occasionally stirs the pot.
The ensemble reads like a cross-section of a Singapore train carriage. Hossan Leong plays Mr Shine, a motivational personality trapped inside the station’s advertising system. Timothy Lee, still “Handsome” to anyone who watched KIN, is Radar Ong, the quiet observer who notices what everyone else misses. French singer Aliènette Coldfire, known from France’s Got Talent, appears as Miss Stardust with a French classic, while Navein Gunasekaran’s Busker Riff plays live Carnatic violin. Leelian Chua describes her Mummy Rosemary as “that auntie we all know, always rushing somewhere and always with an opinion.”
Under the comedy sits a sharper question about visibility. Festival Producer Lim Lee Lee says the show is “asking who gets seen, who gets overlooked, and who gets to take centre stage.” Musician Zahier Samad, who plays Zach, points out that the story touches on a real situation a blind commuter may face. That gives the playful setting a little more weight than its premise suggests.
Music, Accessibility and Tickets for DARE Festival 2026
Music carries much of the evening. Singer-songwriter John Klass has written two original songs for the production, “Who Stole My Spotlight?” and “Ordinary Things”. One is for the chaos of chasing attention and the other for the small moments of connection that get lost in it. Jazz vocalist Jacintha Abisheganaden has worked with the cast as vocal coach, and live band Audacious, saxophonist Cheong Cher Hing and vocalist Zyana Mohd Said fill out the sound.
Accessibility is built into the show rather than added on. Performances include Singapore Sign Language interpretation and captions, plus audio description for blind and low-vision audiences, and Gateway Theatre is wheelchair accessible and guide-dog friendly. Mediacorp is recording the evening for streaming on mewatch, though a theatre seat is the better way to catch it.
Creative Director Dr Rose Sivam, who spent years in television, has a modest hope for the night: that audiences “leave a little kinder, and looking up a little more.” Fair enough, for a show about the people we stand beside every morning. For more on the local stage, our guide to the best theatre companies in Singapore is a good place to start.
Tickets are S$30 through sistic.com.sg and sgculturepass.gov.sg. Wheelchair-accessible bookings are arranged directly with SISTIC at feedback@sistic.com.sg.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
DARE Festival is an inclusive arts platform in Singapore, produced by Collective Perspectives, where artistes of all abilities perform together on a professional stage.
Who Stole My Spotlight? takes place on Wednesday, 18 November 2026 at Gateway Theatre, Singapore.
Tickets cost S$30 and are available through SISTIC. The show is eligible for SG Culture Pass.
Yes. The show includes Singapore Sign Language interpretation, captions and audio description, and the venue is wheelchair accessible and guide-dog friendly.