Kathy Rowland, Author at ArtsEquator

Podcast 47: TheatreWorks’ “13.13.13” and SRT The Young Company’s ‘The Fall’

Duration : 33 mins Theatreworks’ 13.13.13 and SRT’s The Young Company’s The Fall are the two works discussed in this month’s podcast. Hosts Matt Lyon and Naeem Kapadia are joined by Ann Lee, playwright, LGBTQ activist and PhD-to-be in reflecting on Shen Tan’s ‘13.13.13’, directed by Tan Shou Chen. There were strong feelings all around. Stream […]

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In George Town, a Proxy War for the Nation

By Kathy Rowland (1165 words, 5-minute read) Coloured ink on paper. Only a society that polices gender and sexuality can turn ordinary photos into weapons of mass gay conversion. Over the past eight iterations, the George Town Festival (GTF) has built an international name for itself as a gem of a festival – a small,

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Asian Restored Classics 2018: Revisiting the Past In New Light

The annual Asian Restored Classics (ARC) festival is an initiative by the Asian Film Archive (AFA). It’s the first of its kind in Singapore, providing a platform to celebrate the best of Asian cinema by screening the restored historic and iconic films to be appreciated by new generations of audiences. The past two editions of

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OPEN CALL: Performance Criticism Mentorship with Corrie Tan

Performance Criticism Mentorship by Corrie Tan, Resident Critic, ArtsEquator.com How does it work? You’ll attend six performances between September 2018 – March 2019. Within three days of watching each show, submit a 500-word review to ArtsEquator’s Resident Theatre Critic, Corrie Tan. Based on Corrie’s feedback, edit & resubmit the final review within two days for publication

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Open Calls and Job Opportunities: July (Singapore)

Check out the list below to find out the list of open calls and job opportunities that are currently available in Singapore: Both Sides, Now: Volunteers Both Sides, Now is looking for volunteers to be part of their community engagement project that deals with end-of-life issues that involves arts and creative processes. So if you

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What the Arts in Malaysia Needs: More Transparency, Less Intermediaries

By Kathy Rowland (2145 words, 8 minute read) 2 July 2018 – The receding brown moon on millions of Malaysians’ fingernails are a biological marker of the eight weeks since the end of the Najib administration. These past 55 days have seen stunning institutional changes, monitored by an activist public that almost, almost, makes the

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Podcast 39: Toy Factory’s “A Dream Under the Southern Bough” at SIFA 2018

Duration: 19 mins A Dream Under The Southern Bough by Toy Factory is a series of three plays commissioned by the Singapore International Festival of Arts, to be staged over three editions of the festival. The first instalment, titled The Beginning, premieres at SIFA 2018 later this month. This three-part modern-day spin on the classic Ming

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SIFA 2018: Walking death’s footsteps in Zelda Tatiana Ng’s “0600”

0600 is named for the time that executions are carried out. What makes an artist take on the polarising topic of the death penalty in Singapore? Zelda Tatiana Ng has been a fixture in the Singapore performing arts scene for over 20 years. Her newly founded collective, GroundZ-0, makes its Singapore and SIFA debut with

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SIFA 2018: “OCD Love”‘s Dancing in the Face of Love

By Kathy Rowland (400 words, 3 minute read) “I asked her out six times in thirty seconds.” In 2013, a Youtube video by slam poet Neil Hilborn went viral. In the clip, Hilborn delivers an impassioned performance of OCD, a poem that celebrates, then eulogies, a love affair that falls victim to one lover’s obsessive

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Theatre Reviews: Last Word or the Start of a Conversation

On Sunday, 28 January, 3pm, ArtsEquator held its first public forum, “Theatre Reviews: Last Word or the Start of a Conversation”, featuring British theatre critic Lyn Gardner, M1 Singapore Fringe Festival director Sean Tobin, ArtsEquator’s guest editor Corrie Tan, and resident playwright at W!LD RICE, Alfian Sa’at. The conversation was moderated by Kathy Rowland, co-founder

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Faisal Tehrani: From Poster Boy to Pariah

Since he broke into the literary scene in his teens, Malaysian writer and academic, Dr Faizal Musa, better know by his pen name, Faisal Tehrani, has written several best selling and critically acclaimed novels and short stories. His articles on issues of culture, human rights and religion have also appeared in periodicals, newspapers and blogs.

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ArtsEquator Photography Competition

We Just Turned One Year Old! To celebrate, we’re launching a photography competition that honours the practice of artmaking. If you have any questions or need more information, email us: contact(at)artsequator.com Tags: Competition

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Asian Dramaturgs’ Network in Adelaide: Getting Messy to Make Sense

By Kathy Rowland (770 words, 5 minute read) The Asian Dramaturgs’ Network, launched in April 2016 in Singapore by dance dramaturg Lim How Ngean, has quickly extended its regional footprint this year with meetings in Yokohama and Australia. Its Satellite Symposium in Adelaide, presented by Centre 42, brought Australian and Asian cultural practitioners into the same

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Art That Moves: Lim How Ngean

Art that Moves is an occasional series where we ask artists and other creative workers to reflect on artworks, performances or events that were personally important to them. Lim How Ngean (PhD) is a performance-maker, dramaturg and dance researcher. In recent years he has dramaturged dances for choreographers such as Daniel Kok, Joavien Ng, Kuik Swee

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Jeannie Ho

“Art as Res Publicae”: Where the Devil was the Devil?

by Kathy Rowland (1102 words, 6 minute read) “In order to change people’s minds, you have to break their hearts”. So said Reverend Miak Siew at O.P.E.N’s curtain raiser, Art as Res Publicae. Unfortunately, there was never any danger of broken hearts. Art as Res Publicae, conceived by O.P.E.N Director Noorlinah Mohamed and SIFA Artistic

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Call for Applications

Deadline extended to 20th June 2017. If you have any questions or need more information, email us: Contact(at)artsequator.com Tags: Criticism Performance

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Centre 42 Citizens’ Review: “One Man, Two Guvnors”

By Myle Yan Tay Francis (played by Paul McCracken) asks the audience if they know that the play is based on a commedia dell’arte work from the 18th century. Greeted by silence, he smiles, thankful that there aren’t any “dicks in the audience”. This irreverent and fast-paced spirit keeps the production vibrant and alive. But

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Crispian Chan

Centre 42 Citizens’ Review: “Tango”

By Selina Chong Tango is the first play commissioned by Pangdemonium, and what excites me most about it is that it is written by a young Singaporean. Playwright Joel Tan’s dialogue is rich and witty, capturing the Singaporean vernacular. For me, Tango is a story about sons. Kenneth (Koh Boon Pin) returns to Singapore with

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Pangdemonium’s “Tango”: Of Specks and Logs

By Kathy Rowland (900 words, 5-minute read) Kenneth (Koh Boon Pin) and Liam (Emil Marwa) are a gay couple, fathers to their young son, Jayden (Dylan Jenkins). Kenneth’s ailing father, a fancy job and the chance for Jayden to connect with Kenneth’s home country bring them back to Singapore after many years in the UK.

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Singapore artist Sarah Choo Jing talks about her new work and depicting loneliness between her home city and London [Singapore]

Sarah Choo Jing is known for her interdisciplinary approach to photography, video and installation. Art Radar talks to the artist about her practice and recent works, on the occasion of her participation in the 57th Venice Biennale and LOOP Fair. Sarah Choo Jing, ‘Art of Rehearsal’, 2016, multimedia installation. Image courtesy the artist and A.I. Gallery.

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Singapore International Festival of the Arts 2017: An Enchanted Swan Song from Festival Director Ong Keng Sen

By Akanksha Raja (770 words, 9-mintue read) The 2017 edition of the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) returns with the theme “Enchantment”. It is the fourth and final edition helmed by Ong Keng Sen as Festival Director, and presents a range of artforms and interdisciplinary crossovers. It runs from June 28 to September 9,

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Tuckys Photography

‘Hope (Harap)’: No Hope in Contemporary Hell

By Kathy Rowland (728 words, 8 minute read) Teater Ekamatra’s Harap opens with its five characters frozen in the shadows, standing on low plinths. Taking centre-stage is a series of monochromatic, indeterminate images, projected on the backdrop and over their bodies. When the characters break free, the stage crackles with the easy energy of Hadi

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K.S. Maniam is still in Malaysia, slams Dewan Sastera’s erroneous essay [Malaysia]

Malaysian novelist K.S. Maniam is still based in Malaysia and has not left to the United States as claimed in Dewan Sastera recently. Government department, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), through its monthly Malay language magazine, Dewan Sastera had reported in its April, 2017 issue that the 75-year-old had migrated to the United States. In an essay titled “Kolonialisme dan

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Political Acts review: Artists weave defiance into performance art [SEA]

Review of POLITICAL ACTS: PIONEERS OF PERFORMANCE ART IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, Arts Centre Melbourne Steven Tonkin has curated a useful survey of Southeast Asian performance art as part of the inaugural Asia Triennial of Performing Arts. The photographs and videos of seven artists contain glimpses of their social environments, reminding us that performance art comes

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Garin Nugroho’s ‘Satan Jawa’ Flirts with the Dark Side

By Nuraini Juliastuti (1124 words, 12 minute read) Satan Jawa (Garin Nugroho, 2017) a silent movie, in black and white (inspired by Nosferatu and Metropolis), had its world premier with the ‘live’ performances of Gamelan Garasi Seni Benawa and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of AsiaTOPA (Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts) in Melbourne recently. To

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Review of “Fundamentally Happy”: Shame and Scandal in the Family

By Kathy Rowland (920 words, 8 minute read) Eric, a social worker based in Australia, has returned to Singapore for his father’s funeral. He visits an old neighbour, Kak Biba/Habiba, whose home was a childhood refuge from his own impersonal family. The reunion seems like a genuinely happy occasion. There are hints however – a

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Activist Lena Hendry fined RM10,000 over unapproved documentary screening

KUALA LUMPUR: A human rights activist has been fined RM10,000 Wednesday by the magistrate’s court here for screening a Sri Lankan civil war documentary which had not been approved by the Censorship Board. Magistrate Mohd Rehan Mohd Aris sentenced Lena Hendry, 32, after she was found guilty of screening the documentary. Read the rest of

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Singapore’s first portable, pop-up theatre goes overseas

SINGAPORE: This month, theatre group Drama Box will be presenting its brand of community theatre to Europe – and it’s bringing its very own pop-up tent, too. After travelling around various estates in Singapore, the company’s portable GoLi – The Moving Theatre is making its overseas debut at the International Community Arts Festival (ICAF) in

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Happy Ending To Beauty and the Beast Controversy in Malaysia

PETALING JAYA: Just like the fairy tale itself, the controversy over Disney’s live-action film Beauty and the Beast will have a happy ending in Malaysia. According to an industry insider, the movie has been approved for release in Malaysia with a rating of PG13 from March 30 onwards. The movie will be shown in its

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