Nabilah Said, Author at ArtsEquator

Podcast 76: The Runaway Company

Duration: 30 min Nabilah Said speaks to Izzul Irfan and Mahirah Abdul Latiff of The Runaway Company about structures, succession and misconceptions about their work. The Runaway Company has an upcoming show, The Story of Tonight, which runs from 6-8 March 2020 at Stamford Arts Centre Black Box. Stream Podcast 75: Download Podcast 75 here. (right-click […]

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Alberto Prieto. Via Saigoneer

Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: The woes of Ballet Philippines; Saigon’s forgotten museum

ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region. In the weekly Southeast Asia Radar, we publish a round-up of content that have

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Open Calls and Opportunities: Feb 2020 (Singapore/SEA)

ArtsEquator Lobang is a list of available open calls, job postings and other opportunities open to people from Singapore and Southeast Asia. “Lobang”, a Malay word for “hole”, is used in Singlish as a shorthand for an opportunity, valuable contact or a tip. [Updated: 9 Mar] Open Calls Audition notice: The Second Breakfast Company

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Crispian Chan

Between Worlds: Café Sarajevo, ATARA and No Place

By Nabilah Said and Germaine Cheng (1,580 words, 7-minute read) What does it mean to be between worlds? To behold yet not belong? Three works – Café Sarajevo, ATARA and No Place – presented as part of M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020 ask these questions, of their audience and of themselves. Café Sarajevo, bluemouth inc.

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Thuya Zaw | Frontier

Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: The missing curators of Myanmar; Malaysian artist vs censor

Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: The missing curators of Myanmar; Malaysian artist vs censor Read More »

SIFA

Behind the scenes with the Women of SIFA

By Nabilah Said ArtsEquator speaks to four women that are part of the local commissions of SIFA 2020 – Siti Khalijah Zainal, Jodi Chan, Ellison Tan and Mia Chee. SITI KHALIJAH ZAINAL, THE YEAR OF NO RETURN Siti Khalijah Zainal is one of the members of the multinational ensemble in The Year of

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Podcast 75: Patch and Punnet

Duration: 25 min Nabilah Said speaks to Krish Natarajan and Astley Xie of Patch and Punnet about their upcoming production, Fika & Fishy, which is billed as a kids’ show made for adults. Warning: This podcast contains language that is not suitable for kids. Fika & Fishy runs from February 14 to March 1 at

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Blu Jaz Cafe

Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: “is being $40,000 in school debt worth it?”; Vietnam literary boom

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A house is not a home: Centre 42 and Arts Resource Hub

By Nabilah Said and Kathy Rowland The fate of a certain house is a matter of contention amongst a group of people in Singapore. In this case, the house – a bright blue, pre-war bungalow located on 42 Waterloo Street – will stay put, but its main occupants will experience a shift. Since July 2014,

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Lee Shu Yu

Podcast 73: Spacebar Theatre

Duration: 21 min In our latest episode of our Fresh Blood podcast, Nabilah Said speaks to Lee Shu Yu and Eugene Koh of Spacebar Theatre about their latest production, The Utama Spaceship, which imagines what happens when Singaporeans are sent into outer space to chope, or ehem, colonise a planet in the nearest star system.

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Podcast 72: ArtsEquator End-of-Year Theatre Podcast 2019

Matt Lyon, Naeem Kapadia, Kathy Rowland and Nabilah Said discuss their top picks for theatre in 2019. Content warning: Mentions of sexual assault/violence, self-harm and suicide. Duration: 38 minutes Stream Podcast 72: Also available on Spotify. Download Podcast 72 here (right-click and select ‘Save Link As’ on Windows; control+click and select ‘Save Link As’ on Apple)

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Nabilah Said

Everything In Its Right Place: The Body Politic and the Body

By Nabilah Said (1,400 words, 7-minute read) “You’re a guest, you’re a guest, you’re a guest.” This anodyne version of the Beauty and The Beast song played in my head as I walked through the exhibition The Body Politic and the Body, currently on at ILHAM Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. For a show referencing the

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Tuckys Photography

Monsters’ Ink: A Fiend’s Diary & Heather

By Nabilah Said (1,500 words, 7-minute read) Spoiler Alert: The following contains major spoilers for the shows A Fiend’s Diary and Heather. I watched the stories of two monsters in the theatre recently. In A Fiend’s Diary, Oliver Chong plays an unnamed man who kills a young victim in a fit of what can

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The Idealiste

Podcast 69: Playfreely by The Observatory

Nabilah Said chats with Cheryl Ong, Dharma and Yuen Chee Wai from The Observatory about their free improvisation music festival, Playfreely, which features free improv musicians from Southeast Asia and the larger region. The 7th edition of Playfreely takes place from 28 to 29 November 2019 at 72-13 on Mohamed Sultan Road. Artists involved in

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Singapore Repertory Theatre

Caught: Goodbye Lin Bo, we hardly knew ye

By Nabilah Said and Eugene Tan (2,500 words, 10-minute read) Spoiler Alert: This review contains major spoilers for the show Caught. Nabilah: I approach the venue for Caught with some trepidation. There had been scant details from the Singapore Repertory Theatre about what to expect from the show – ArtsEquator ran an interview with

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Pangdemonium, Musical Theatre Ltd

Podcast 67: Urinetown and Lim Boon Keng – The Musical

Theatre reviewers Matt Lyon and Naeem Kapadia are joined by ArtsEquator editor Nabilah Said in this newly rebooted theatre podcast discussing recent productions Urinetown: The Musical by Pangdemonium, and Lim Boon Keng – The Musical by Musical Theatre Ltd. This local edition of Urinetown, directed by Tracie Pang, sets the satirical piece against the backdrop

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Crispian Chan

RAW Moves’ “Being, and Organs” and the unbearable whiteness of Block O

By Nabilah Said (890 words, 5-minute read) Draw a straight line. Draw a straight line freehand Draw a straight line freehand, with a 100g weight attached to your wrist. Repeat, ad nauseam. The moment you walk into Goodman Arts Centre’s Block O for RAW Moves’ latest work, you notice a sort of landscape artwork. On

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5 Singapore poems not to quote out of context

By Nabilah Said (2,500 words, 7-minute read) In 1968, Lee Kuan Yew uttered the words “Poetry is a luxury we cannot afford” to a roomful of University of Singapore students. There have been some quibbling over, even mythologising of, what he may have meant. To Prof Koh Tai Ann, then the young student whom he

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Zinkie Aw for Drama Box

Translating Homeland: Tanah•Air 水•土: A Play In Two Parts

By Nabilah Said (1,900 words, 7-minute read) In less than a week, Drama Box will premiere Tanah•Air 水•土: A Play In Two Parts, a production revolving around the theme of histories, those that are remembered, and those who are sidelined. Tanah•Air features a team led by the company’s artistic director Kok Heng Leun, playwrights Neo

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Courtesy of The Arts House

Seven Views of “Seven Views of Redhill”

By Nabilah Said (1,670 words, 7-minute read) We are in a rehearsal for Seven Views of Redhill. Well, not me – I am just a hanger-on trying to fold myself into a corner of the Chesterfield-like sofa backed up against a wall in a room I am told is called the ‘Back of Chamber’,

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Photo: Crispian Chan

Love me tender: “Eat Duck” by Checkpoint Theatre

By Nabilah Said (1,119 words, 6-minute read) There is a Malay proverb: “sedangkan lidah lagi tergigit”, that roughly translates as “even the tongue can get bitten”. It applies to groups of people, such as a husband and wife, or siblings, who, despite their close relationship, can fight or have a misunderstanding. Perhaps that is the

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Gabriel Chia

Podcast 64: The Orange Production 2019

Duration: 37 min In this latest podcast, ArtsEquator editor Nabilah Said and theatre reviewer Naeem Kapadia discuss the productions We Were So Hopeful Then (written by Ellison Tan and directed by Alvin Tan) and Acting Mad (with texts by Haresh Sharma, Harris Albar and Maryam Noorhimli and directed by Haresh Sharma), presented as part of

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Instructions for reheating: “Forked” by The Finger Players

By Nabilah Said (820 words, 5-minute read) In the pre-show for Forked, playwright and performer Jo Tan is warming up, prepping her body. We see her assume the plank position, a fractured toe from rehearsals armoured in a padded thermoplastic boot. Just like Tan, this play has been reinforced. When it was performed in January

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Courtesy of Attempts

Podcast 63: Rei Poh and Attempts

Duration: 30 min In this latest episode of our Fresh Blood podcast, Nabilah Said speaks to Singaporean theatremaker Rei Poh on the new collective Attempts, which focuses on creating theatrical experiences based on the principles of participatory theatre and gameplay. The new collective will be presenting its second work, Dating Sim (Beta), on 30-31 August

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Gabriel Chia

Crashing realities: “Acting Mad” by The Necessary Stage

By Nabilah Said (747 words, 5-minute read) Content warning: References to self-harm and sexual assault Someone cried. Someone squeezed my hand. Someone felt seen. Someone drank tea. — The Necessary Stage’s latest offering, Acting Mad, pulls no punches. It treats mental health in an almost matter of fact way, like a doctor might gently,

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Photo: Bernie Ng

Looking away for clarity: “First Fleet” by Nine Years Theatre

By Nabilah Said (1,100 words, 6-minute read) “The best seats are on the sides.” A friend’s advice guided my decision when I went to review First Fleet by Nine Years Theatre. Mindful of spoilers, she had not said why, but the reason became obvious as soon as I stepped into the auditorium of the cavernous

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Zulkhairi's photo (right) by Racy Lim

“MAT” at Objectifs: Pluralisms, perceptions and podcast failings

Editor’s note: This is a transcript of a podcast recording which cannot be shared due to poor audio quality. It has been lightly edited for clarity. ArtsEquator (AE): Hello everyone. Welcome to the ArtsEquator podcast. My name is Nabilah Said, I am the editor of ArtsEquator and this is my first time hosting our podcast. I’m

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Safely Manoeuvring Across Linhe Road by Lin Yilin. Image courtesy of Lin Yilin and Boers-Li Gallery.

Staying woke: “Awakenings” at National Gallery Singapore

By Nabilah Said (1,000 words, 6-minute read) My friends that have visited Singapore in recent times have been given the following non-food recommendations by me: I point them to Haw Par Villa for its wonderfully macabre dreamscapes of punitive Asian values, and then suggest they drop by National Gallery Singapore for the art contained within

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Crispian Chan

Pretty Displaced: Staging Sexual Assault in the Age of #MeToo

By Nabilah Said (1,887 words, 7-minute read) Trigger/Content Warning: Discussions of sexual assault I watched two shows in the span of two weeks recently. Besides the fact that they were Singapore plays, they did not, from the outset, seem that much alike. One was This Is What Happens To Pretty Girls by Pangdemonium. The

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Bernie Ng

“Invisible Habitudes”: The Personal Goes Political Goes Global

By Nabilah Said (621 words, three-minute read) On a Monday afternoon in Goodman Arts Centre, I am watching a group of dancers working. They are leaping. They are climbing. They are pushing. They are sweating. They are making me feel strangely immobile – when was the last time I hung upside down from my knees?

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