‘Lotus Root Support Group’ Reboot: An Autobiographical Look At Polycystic Ovary Syndrome And The Power Of Friendship

Two years after its sold-out run, Lotus Root Support Group—a play about living with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)—is making its return to Singapore from 28 August to 1 September with a more personal iteration. While the same name titles the upcoming run, writer-performer duo Miriam Cheong and Shannen Tan describe their show as “one that is told through an autobiographical lens on their lived experience as actresses with PCOS”.

Aptly named Lotus Root Support Group due to the ultrasound image of PCOS ovaries resembling lotus roots, the show first premiered in Singapore in 2022 to glowing reviews. Though the show was a success, the stress of staging it and differences in how the pair approached their health and bodies led to clashing views and a rift between the two. The remake captures the essence of their sisterhood, affirms the importance of human connections, and candidly discusses the struggles of living with the often overlooked and misunderstood chronic illness.

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PCOS affects anywhere between four to 21 percent of women worldwide. According to a 2022 study published in The Annals of the Academy of Medicine, most doctors in Singapore who took part in the study were unable to correctly diagnose and help patients properly manage PCOS. The psychological complications of PCOS were also not well-appreciated; those with PCOS may struggle with their physical appearance, sense of self-worth, social relationships and sexuality, and they may experience anxiety and depression.

Ahead, Cheong and Tan tell us about the motivation behind creating Lotus Root Support Group, drawing from their experiences living with PCOS for the new show, and the message they hope showgoers will take away from it.

Tell us more about the upcoming show returning to the stage, and how different it is from the previous iteration.

Miriam Cheong: The 2022 version used fictionalised characters and had a very traditional sort of dramatic arc you’d find in a play. That said, the fictional characters were drawn from our real lives anyway, so our friends who watched it were like, “Who’re you kidding? That’s not ‘Jane’ and ‘Xinyi’, that’s Shannen and Miriam on stage.” I do a lot of autobiographical work in my practice as a theatre maker, and wanted to bring that into the 2024 version. I think there’s an understated power to using our honest, unfiltered, personal stories to make people less alone. I call it the “Maths test phenomenon”, where autobiographical theatre provides the same comfort you would receive if you had failed a Maths test and the person sitting next to you went, “Don’t worry bro, I failed too!” You may not have known that person, but suddenly you feel seen in ways you hadn’t before.

Shannen Tan: If the 2022 version was about “Lotus Root” then the 2024 edition is about the “Support Group”. We didn’t set out to do this intentionally but the 2022 and 2024 versions are completely different plays, yet two sides of the same coin. The 2022 was driven by characters we built based on our own experience and that of many other women. The 2024 version is more intersectional and digs deeper into our lives—not just as a woman, but also as an actress and as someone dealing with a chronic condition in Singapore.

What was the motivation behind creating Lotus Root Support Group?

MC: I felt very alone and very unseen when I first found out about PCOS through a YouTube video. I was finally finding creators who looked like me and were going through the same struggles as me, but they were overseas in a Buzzfeed office in the United States. Then I found out that Shannen and many other friends around me had it. Back in 2022 I thought to myself, wait, this condition is a lot more common than I thought; why are there no discussions about it in Singapore? Why is there still no cure when it affects so many of us? And as we say in the show, “If no one else is gonna talk about it, the broke theatre makers are gonna talk about it.” That’s exactly what we did.

ST: Being diagnosed with PCOS is such an isolating experience. Going to the doctor can be quite an upsetting experience as well. It is only in working on this show that I realised it’s such a common experience. Miriam is the first person I knew who was diagnosed with PCOS and we discovered it through sheer coincidence. It was such a comfort to know that someone could understand what it was like. Also, theatre people are inherently dramatic. If we are upset about something, our go-to is: “We should do a play about it.”

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What does Lotus Root Support Group mean to you? Why is it important for you to discuss PCOS in a theatre production?

MC: Lotus Root Support Group is not just a testament to the tenacity of those of us living with chronic illness, but of the power and necessity of friendship. There are so many moments in life and during rehearsal where I would’ve sunk if it wasn’t for the support of Shannen and my friends who came in and asked how they could help. That’s the essence of Lotus Root Support Group to me; the love and solidarity we have among us. The conversation around PCOS has made some nice progress in Southeast Asia over the years, and we hope to use Lotus Root Support Group to keep the ball rolling. I think it was important to not just discuss PCOS in a clinical way, but to also just show the lived realities and experiences of two performers with PCOS.

ST: Initially, we were like, “Gosh, will anyone come?” I was nervous as well since I was producing the show and we had to put our money where our mouths were. But there was an amazing outpouring of support and responses for the show two years ago. There isn’t much of a culture of audience members scanning the post-show QR code but we had more than 70 responses from audience members saying they felt so seen. And it’s not just from those with PCOS. Some suspected they may have PCOS and went on to get a check-up. Some women didn’t have PCOS, but some other form of chronic condition like endometriosis. Men who came said, “Gosh, being a woman is so hard. I only got an inkling of what women’s pain is.” And that’s the beautiful thing about theatre—it’s about the community, for the community, and presents us with a small act of healing.

How has drawing from your experiences living with PCOS for the show changed or influenced the way you cope with the condition?

MC: So, there’s one scene that both of us penned down our most vulnerable thoughts using the prompt: “If you didn’t have PCOS, how would you live life differently?” We were okay during the writing phase, but once we put it on the rehearsal floor we just ended up crying. We realised that we were still feeling a lot of shame about these thoughts that we hadn’t allowed ourselves to process until that moment. Luckily we had each other to guide the other person through, to hold space for and to understand, in a way only another PCOS girlie really could. Now, the scene is more impactful that we ever thought it could be.

ST: To hold space for yourself to not be okay. I think it’s very easy for us to do that for others, but we don’t necessarily do that for ourselves.

What’s your favourite scene in the show, and why?

MC: The one piece of writing we kept from the 2022 version was this scene called the Potato Rap. We’ve brought it back, with now double the sexy dance and double the cheesy LED lights. If that has you intrigued, you have to come and see it in all its starchy glory yourselves!

ST: Honestly, it’s the Potato Rap. It’s the only bit we kept from the previous show. In 2022, the scene before the Potato Rap was a drawn-out scene of me pushing my body to the limits with exercise in a sequence of spin, weights and boxing. I remember crying from actual exhaustion (then again, I was the one who wrote the scene, so whose fault was that). So there I was crying on a spin bike or something, and Miriam saunters out with a Potato Rap. When we were workshopping the play this year, and we were reflecting on the show, Miriam said, “I don’t want you to be alone crying while I’m the one having fun, let’s share the rap together.” It also speaks to how far we’ve come. Our friendship broke down in the 2022 version but we managed to find our way back to each other—as friends but also as co-creators, so it’s special to me in more ways than one.

What are some challenges you’ve faced while creating Lotus Root Support Group and what have you learnt from your experience?

MC: Acting, writing and directing at the same time is so hard! It’s like juggling three different hats and having to wear six different pairs of eyes at the same time. We’re very lucky to have the amazing Sonia Kwek on board as the performance dramaturg. She acts as our outside eye, giving us options and observations while we slowly direct our way through the play. It really does take a village to make theatre; you really can’t do it alone! But even after all that, I’m glad we decided to take the creative reins on this one. It was important for Shannen and I that the co-creators of the show have PCOS, so that they have that intimate, lived experience of being a performer with PCOS. I’m glad it ended up being the two of us wearing all these hats. The rehearsal process has been anxiety-inducing, but also extremely satisfying in the way the two of us just… get each others’ sense of humour and way we work. And while there will always be the worry of “Will other people besides us find this funny?”—there is also that pride in putting up something that is so unapologetically US.

ST: There are so many moving parts to a single production and even more if you are juggling multiple roles. I’m truly reminded of the kindness of others—people affording their time and experience, whether it be for those who reached out to be front-of-house volunteers or offering us space to record audio or helping us with our publicity materials. We’re all invested in each other’s success in this industry. I’m a bit of a pessimist so I keep forgetting how wonderful people are. It is truly the best lesson that I never want to take for granted.

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What do you hope to achieve with the show? What message would you like to send across to showgoers and fellow sufferers of PCOS?

MC: I hope that people can get a real, honest glimpse at the external and internal crises caused by not just PCOS, but society’s attitudes towards PCOS symptoms and chronic illness. Through that, I hope this show can open up conversations about typecasting and accommodations for chronically-ill performers in the arts—and hopefully be the first step in breaking down those barriers!

ST: Life is difficult so you cannot walk the path alone. Life is tough but there can be joy. To obnoxiously quote the poet Mary Oliver: “Tell me about despair, yours and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile, the world goes on… Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination.”

What do you hope to see more of in Singapore theatre?

MC: I really hope that there’s a recognition and respect for the independent fringe scene in Singapore. There are so many of us nomadic theatre makers out there making bizarre, quirky, innovative work on shoestring budgets, and I hope Singapore starts to recognise that we are an integral part of the theatre ecosystem that needs to be nourished. I hope people will give us a chance as much as they would have given Hamilton a chance.

ST: My biggest wish is for there to be a groundswell of support and demand for independent theatre shows in Singapore. We always get excited when we see a new face in the audience because it means one more person who is open to new writing or new theatre work. I hope to be part of urging Singaporeans to consume theatre as part of their cultural appetite.

What’s next for you?

MC: I want to continue making poignant theatre with people. I’m always interested in talking about bodies, about being ugly and about being messy women. If anyone wants to collaborate, hit me up! I’ve also got a short story on the way; I just need to get to editing it. In the daytime, I’m devising plays about mental health with my students, as competition season is next April. I just want to be able to do everything and anything I can creatively when I still have the energy. PCOS fatigue may get me down, but I’m not out!

ST: Well, first up we are heading to the Melbourne Fringe Festival in October! For me personally, I feel changed by the ever smallest of things—be it after watching a good show or from having a good conversation. I will continue to keep nudging myself to follow my artistic impulses and curiosities. Lotus Root Support Group (2022) was my first ever playwriting credit and Lotus Root Support Group (2024) is my first time working on an autobiographical work and adding co-directing into the mix. I will continue to discover who I am as a theatre maker.

Lotus Root Support Group, co-presented with Impromptu Meetings and supported by the National Arts Council of Singapore, will run from 28 August 2024 to 1 September 2024 at 42 Waterloo Street Black Box. Find out more and get your tickets here.