The National Theatre (Malay: Panggong Negara;[3] Chinese: 国家剧场) was built on the slope of Fort Canning Park along River Valley Road in the Museum Planning Area of Singapore.

[4] It was once the venue for various international performances, universities' convocations and the National Day rallies until it was demolished in August 1986 due to structural reasons and to make way for the nearby construction part of Central Expressway along Clemenceau Avenue.

[5] Prior to the National Theatre's establishment, the western slope of Fort Canning Hill (known as King George V Jubilee Park) was relatively bare as the only occupant being the Van Kleef Aquarium.

It had 3,420 seats and was built with funds jointly donated by the Singapore government and the public through "a-dollar-a-brick" campaign with song requests made on radio.

As a result, arts is used to shape the citizenry into a more “cultured” image, and several initiatives were launched by the National Theatre Trust (NTT).

These performers were taking part for the first time in which the First President of Singapore, Encik Yusof bin Ishak described the event as a "South-East Asian cultural renaissance".