TLDR
Key Takeaways
- The Radicalisation of Mrs. Mary Lim-Rodrigues explores the impact of a devastating incident on a well-meaning school principal.
- Written by Michelle Tan and directed by Edith Podesta, the play challenges the concept of solidarity and moral responsibility.
- It runs from 24 September to 10 October 2026 at Wild Rice @ Funan, lasting approximately 1 hour 40 minutes with no intermission.
- The cast features Janice Koh, Ryan Ang, Izzul Irfan, Koh Wan Ching, and Suhaili Safari, among others.
- The play is recommended for audiences aged 12 and older, with content warnings for self-harm and suicide.
Anyone who has sat in a principal’s office as a student, or worse, as a worried parent, knows the type. The principal who means well. Who believes, genuinely, that every rule exists to protect someone. Wild Rice’s new production, The Radicalisation of Mrs. Mary Lim-Rodrigues, opens with exactly that person, and then spends its runtime taking her apart.
Written by Michelle Tan and directed by Edith Podesta, the play carries an epigraph from Brazilian educator Paulo Freire: “Solidarity… is a radical posture.” That line does a lot of work here. This is a play about what solidarity actually costs, and who ends up paying for it.
A Principal, a Student, and the System Between Them
Mrs. Mary Lim-Rodrigues is, by the play’s own description, a Nice Lady. The kind who believes she is doing right by every student under her charge, while running a school system with sharp edges she has stopped noticing. One of those edges cuts into Shan, a student the synopsis calls brilliant but troubled, someone whose sense of self survives in whatever margins the system leaves behind.
The plot turns on a single incident, described only as devastating, that forces Mary to confront the difference between helping a student and simply managing one. From there, the questions get harder to sit with: can someone be good at their job and still be a good person when the two start pulling apart, and is there a right way to live, to learn, and to die.
The script has been years in the making. It was first commissioned by Singapore Repertory Theatre, developed further at Centre 42, and given a work-in-progress reading at the 2024 Singapore International Festival of Arts before landing at Wild Rice for its full staging.
What to Know Before You Book
The Radicalisation of Mrs. Mary Lim-Rodrigues runs from 24 September to 10 October 2026 at Wild Rice @ Funan. The cast includes Janice Koh, Ryan Ang, Izzul Irfan, Koh Wan Ching and Suhaili Safari, with an ensemble of Manisha Joshi, Nishanth Kumar, Benjamin Poh and Qilah Rose. The show runs approximately 1 hour 40 minutes with no intermission and is recommended for audiences aged 12 and above.
Tickets range from S$40 to S$85 depending on the date and category, with previews on 24 and 25 September. Visit wildrice.com.sg for full ticketing details, showtimes and booking.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
It follows a well-meaning school principal whose belief in her own good intentions is tested after a devastating incident involving a troubled student.
The play runs from 24 September to 10 October 2026 at Wild Rice @ Funan.
It is written by Michelle Tan and directed by Edith Podesta.
The cast includes Janice Koh, Ryan Ang, Izzul Irfan, Koh Wan Ching and Suhaili Safari, alongside an ensemble.
It is recommended for patrons aged 12 and above and carries a content warning for references to self-harm and suicide.