As part of the SG60 celebrations, Avant Theatre & Language is bringing to life a production that could not be more quintessentially Singaporean.
Kopi Kadai, a heartfelt multilingual play, will run from Sept 18 to 20 at the SOTA Drama Theatre, with shows daily at 3pm and 8pm.
More than just a performance, Kopi Kadai is a tribute to the humble coffee shop – the Kopitiam – which has for decades served as a social glue in Singapore’s ever-changing urban landscape.
Director G. Selva, who conceived the idea in 2024, said the inspiration came from recognising the Kopitiam’s role as a cultural anchor.
“A coffee shop is where cultures blend and gossip mingles, where everyday problems are shared, and resolutions discovered. Beyond the coffee and kaya toast, it is a cocoon of hope, assurance, and unassumed friendship.”
Presented primarily in Tamil, with threads of Bahasa Melayu, Hokkien, and Mandarin (with English surtitles), Kopi Kadai is unapologetically multilingual, mirroring Singapore’s cultural DNA.
Its 31-strong cast and nearly 50 crew members represent the country’s ethnic diversity, ensuring authenticity in every scene. Beyond the numbers lie the play’s cultural heart: celebrating the Kopitiam as both memory and metaphor.
In a milestone year where Singapore commemorates its 60th birthday, the arts are being positioned not just as entertainment, but as vital platforms for harmony, resilience, and inclusiveness.
Selva noted: “It is my heartfelt aim to present a performance that reflects our past, engages the present, and charts a path for the future. Through this play, audiences can see how ordinary spaces like the Kopitiam shape extraordinary bonds.”
Kopi Kadai unfolds across three time periods – the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s – tracing the evolution of Singapore’s Kopitiams and their community role. The setting is a shophouse coffee shop, recreated with immersive 3D sets and enhanced by live music.
The two-and-a-half-hour play is staged in a naturalistic style, with performances drawn from real-life experiences.
Audiences can expect humour, nostalgia, and poignant moments as the characters wrestle with changing tastes – from kopi-O in tin cups to oat milk lattes ordered via QR codes – and changing times, yet find comfort in the familiar rhythm of the coffee shop.
“It’s a large cast and a fantastic crew, and it will be a visual treat,” said celebrity actor Vadivalagan S/O PV Shanmuga Sundaram, who acts in the play. “I am happy to back on stage after a long hiatus, and I hope I’ll be able to do justice to my role. I’m sure audiences will leave the theatre with a smile.”
The original story was written by Syed Ashratullah, with the dialogues extensively developed by the cast and director. It took nearly a year to crystallise, with three months of intensive rehearsals leading to the final staging.
Actors were carefully selected for their connection to the script’s themes, and the result is a multi-ethnic ensemble featuring popular local TV faces alongside new voices.
The play delves into how coffee shops shaped Singapore’s food culture, evolving from streetside vendors to centralised hawker centres while retaining their essence as social spaces.
“Food, friendship, and the quiet strength of heritage – that’s what Kopi Kadai celebrates,” Selva explained. “The soul of the Kopitiam lies in its ability to endure transformation while still bringing people together.”
Audiences will see neighbours chatting across marble tables, political debates brewing over kopi and teh, and intergenerational clashes resolved over shared plates of kaya toast.
These vignettes reflect not just the habits of a bygone era, but the unchanging values of mutual respect and community spirit.
The production incorporates live music, enhancing its emotional depth, while its multilingual script brings a flavour of inclusivity that mirrors the multilingual chatter of an actual coffee shop.
Selva acknowledged that mounting such a production was a labour of love. “The journey was not easy, but it was necessary. We wanted to give Singapore a play that speaks to everyone, no matter their background.”
Beyond being theatre, the production is a cultural event. From the moment audiences walk in, they will be greeted by sets that recreate the atmosphere of old Kopitiams, with marble tables, mosaic floors and the familiar soundscape of saucers clinking against kopi cups.
By the time the curtain falls, the audience will have laughed, reflected, and – most importantly – remembered what it means to be part of Singapore’s unique social fabric.
Kopi Kadai is not just a one-off. Avant Theatre hopes this production will inspire more multilingual, multicultural works that spotlight everyday Singapore spaces with extraordinary resonance.
As Selva summed it up: “Kopitiams are about more than food – they’re about people. They are where we built trust, where we learned to live together. That’s the story of Singapore, and that’s the story we want to tell.”
Tickets, priced at S$50 for general adults and $45 for students, seniors, and full-time national serviceman are available on SISTIC and can also be purchased using the SG Culture Pass.
