What drew you to this production?
I loved the script. It is funny, grotesque and deeply moving—an emotional rollercoaster. I read it on the MRT and got strange looks. My responses varied from laughing out loud to wanting to vomit and tearing up.

What do you identify with in the story?
I connect with being an outsider. I’ve been in Singapore for several years but will never truly be local. Because I'm Caucasian, people label me an expat. But I am on the outside of that community too. I wasn’t brought here by a company on an expat salary. I don’t share that lifestyle.

What was the casting process like?
Open auditions. This allows anyone interested the chance to get seen. Casting Maggie was the hardest. I needed someone who could do both campy drag and be honest and real.

How did the idea of using Circus Swingapore performers come about?
The circus theme jumped out at me. The way the nurses treat Maggie as an animal or a freak show really suggested circus to me. Perhaps it was on the mind since I worked as a director’s assistant on Voyage de la Vie.

What would you like audiences to take away from the performance?
I want them to leave open and accepting, to grant everyone basic respect regardless of sex, race, sexuality, religion or nationality. If Maggie's father could bring himself to accept her, surely there is hope for all of us.

Purple is on August 2-5, 7-12, 14-18, 8pm; 4-5, 11-12, 18, 3pm at Bugis+.