ABSTRACT
AIDS narratives in theatrical performance give concrete representations to the ways in which the intersecting and overlapping biomedical, cultural and political discourses impinge on the bodies of people living with HIV/AIDS. To date, studies on HIV/AIDS and theatre have focused primarily on the United States. A global perspective of theatrical representations of HIV/AIDS is necessary because diverse stories of sickness provide a broader understanding of local perspectives on the disease across culturally specific contexts. Through a close reading of Eleanor Wong’s Jackson on a Jaunt, or, Mistaken Identities (1989), Chay Yew’s As if He Hears (1989) and Paddy Chew’s autobiographical play Completely With/Out Character (1999) within the unique socio-cultural and political context of 1980s and 1990s Singapore, this chapter argues that these theatrical performances offer alternative spaces for people living with HIV/AIDS in Singapore who were denied discursive control to be heard and seen.
