The woman in the cheongsam and upswept hairdo walks into the audience’s line of sight from behind a pillar, carrying a tiffin carrier. She poses, every gesture and expression countenanced to project drama and artifice, and many of her poses are notably contorted, emphasising an arched foot, her thrust out hip. The man enters, dressed in […]
Shakespeare in the Park – Julius Caesar, by Singapore Repertory Theatre, Fort Canning Park, 2 – 27 May Opening this Thursday is the return of SRT’s Shakespeare in the Park with Julius Caesar. Shakespeare’s histories from over five centuries ago have never been more relevant. This renowned classic is turned contemporary in the light of
Weekly Picks: Singapore (30 April – 6 May 2018) Read More »
An enchanting French evening of aerial circus performed to live music. …Sodade… is a nostalgic ode to life, a fable of love and loss in the air as told by two musicians playing and singing on a unique circus structure of huge twin wheels, each over two metres in width, between which a 21-metre long
…Sodade… at SIFA 2018 Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (950 words, five minute read) Even before watching Michelle Tan’s monologue, I am trying to say something true, the title struck me: the sentence-case format portends a quiet sense of conversational intimacy, compared to the conventional, title-case naming of theatre productions. The proclamation folds the struggle of confession with emotional vulnerability while
“I am trying to say something true”: A Distant Intimacy Read More »
Duration: 40 mins Podcast host Chan Sze-Wei leads a discussion on dance-making and dance programming for/in gallery spaces. Joining her are three guests: Vanini Belarmino, Assistant Director of Programmes at the National Gallery Singapore; Lim Chin Huat, cross-disciplinary artist and performance-maker whose recent dance work In Her Hands took place earlier this month at the
Podcast 40: Dance in the Gallery Space Read More »
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
Podcast 39: Toy Factory’s “A Dream Under the Southern Bough” at SIFA 2018 Read More »
By Marcus Yee (970 words, 7-minute read) Tucked in Queenstown Residence Committee Centre is a heartfelt homage to Tanglin Halt and the nearby Rail Corridor, nexus of human and bird relationals, collected by Railtrack Songmaps Roosting Post 1. Conceived out of a collaboration, or chorus between artist Lucy Davis, designer Zachary Chan, photographer Kee Ya
“Railtrack Songmaps Roosting Post 1”: The Featherlight of Complexity Read More »
Duration: 43 min The latest collaborative production between Singapore theatre companies Drama Box and The Necessary Stage is Underclass 《贱民》, which explores poverty, inequality and human dignity in Singapore. It runs from 16 May to 3 June 2018. In this podcast interview, Corrie Tan convenes Alvin Tan, artistic director of The Necessary Stage, Kok Heng Leun,
Podcast 38: “Underclass《贱民》” Interview with Alvin Tan, Kok Heng Leun, and Teo You Yenn Read More »
New Margins Exhibition Tour and Book Launch, DECK, 20 April 7pm Art is often seen as intimidating and distant. What if you held art in your hands, like a book? Can books be seen as art medium, like a painting or a sculpture instead of an object to be purchased in a book shop? This
Weekly Picks: Singapore (16 – 22 April 2018) Read More »
By Patricia Tobin (780 words, five-minute read) It is 2007 on a Thursday night, and I am at the old Phuture on Zion Road. “Smack that, all on the floor,” Akon’s hit single Smack That is booming from the club speakers. “Smack that, give me some more,” the song continues. The club is brimming with
“Thick Beats for Good Girls” Keeps It 100 Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (1,000 words, six-minute read) Four of the five productions from this year’s season of The Studios are commissioned works revolving around the theme of “Between Living and Dying”. Most of these are new, original monologues recounting deeply introspective journeys that navigate the melancholy of loss and seek hope and meaning within grief.
Many Lives in “A Good Death” Read More »
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
SIFA 2018: Walking death’s footsteps in Zelda Tatiana Ng’s “0600” Read More »
Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge by Zai Kuning returns from its showing at the 2017 Venice Biennale for a month long exhibition at Theatreworks Singapore. The exhibition runs from 12 April through 13 May 2018. A series of public talks and performances are planned. On 19 April, Professor John N.Miksic will present a public lecture,
Zai Kuning’s “Dapunta Hyang”: Homeward Bound From Venice Read More »
By Corrie Tan (2,400 words, 13-minute read) Four Horse Road is The Theatre Practice’s show pony of the year. It’s got a lot of performance buzzwords going for it – site-specific, interactive, multi-generational, multilingual – and promises an epic odyssey into both the history of the company and of the country it shares a birth
“Four Horse Road”: buried histories and blind spots Read More »
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
SIFA 2018: “OCD Love”‘s Dancing in the Face of Love Read More »
Ugly in the Morning’s 3 or More If You Can Afford It Album Launch Concert, Esplanade Annexe Studio, Saturday 14 April 8pm Join alternative funk/rock band Ugly in the Morning for the launch of their third album, 3 or More If You Can Afford It, a 10-song journey of funk beats, catchy melodies, tight vocals,
Weekly Picks: Singapore (9 – 15 April 2018) Read More »
By Corrie Tan (1,160 words, six-minute read) The audio tours of spell#7 – the husband-wife duo of Kaylene Tan and Paul Rae – promise a variety of small adventures. In their previous work, they’ve invited us to move through several spaces in Singapore, peeling back layers of stories and eavesdropping on conversations as the tours
The Loud Echo of “In the Silence of Your Heart” Read More »
By Elaine Chiew (1,135 words, six-minute read) Spectral and iconic, Dinh Q. Lê’s first major solo exhibition in Singapore premieres his Monuments and Memorials series of works, created as artist-in-residence at STPI – Creative Workshop and Gallery. Born in 1968 in Ha Tien, on the border of Cambodia and Vietnam, Lê fled the Khmer Rouge
Dinh Q. Lê’s “Monuments and Memorials”: A Double Haunting Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (825 words, four-minute read) We’ve been seeing a variety of theatre revolving around dementia and its effects on families in Singapore over the past few years, such as Pangdemonium’s The Father, The Necessary Stage’s Don’t Forget to Remember Me, and Drama Box’s forum theatre shows The Wind Came Home and Exit. The
“Potong” by Teater Ekamatra: Of Kin and Skin Read More »
By Chan Sze-Wei (1,110 words, six-minute read) Norhaizad Adam’s second full length work with his company P7:1SMA (say “prisma”) is set in another world. The audience steps through the door of the Drama Centre Black Box into an arena of wooden crates and sacking, the whiff of wood and coffee beans in the warm light
“Ngopi” by P7:1SMA: Stop and Smell the Coffee Read More »
In The Silence of Your Heart by Kaylene Tan, Esplanade Theatre Studio, 5 – 8 April In the Silence of Your Heart is an invitation to enter the world of a charming politician and inveterate drinker. Thian has been paralysed for 13 years. He’s been still and silent all this time, but his mind
Weekly Picks: Singapore (2 – 8 April 2018) Read More »
Duration: 26 min ArtsEquator’s dance podcast series returns this year, after a short hiatus, with a lively and thoughtful discussion between Chan Sze-Wei, (dance-maker, performance-maker and sometime trouble-maker; Chloe Chotrani (movement artist, writer and gardener); and Soultari Amin Farid (choreographer, arts educator and researcher of Malay dance) This month they discuss two programmes that took
Podcast 37: “Joget” and “Intersections: Traditionally Speaking” Read More »
If life is fleeting and death is certain, how do we make our days count? Over five productions, The Studios invites us to confront this question in our everyday. In this year’s series, Esplanade takes on the theme “Between Living and Dying” and presents a showcase of deep and thought-provoking works by five female creators: Edith Podesta, Faith Ng,
Esplanade Presents The Studios: Between Living and Dying Read More »
Alice in Wonderland by L’arietta, Aliwal Arts Centre, 29 Mar – 1 Apr This Easter, take a trip down the rabbit hole with your kids and your parents as Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of whimsy and wonder come to life again, reimagined into a 75-minute opera with a modern spin, which promises to be fantastical fun
Weekly Picks: Singapore (26 March – 1 April 2018) Read More »
SINGAPORE: Jalan Besar Town Council has taken down the gold mylar sheets, which were hung by Singapore artist Priyageetha Dia at Block 103 Jalan Rajah four days ago, after receiving complaints from residents saying it reminded them of joss paper. Dr Lily Neo, who is the MP for the Jalan Besar GRC, told Channel NewsAsia on Thursday
By Corrie Tan (2,400 words, 12-minute read) 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. Minzayar Oo is a Burmese photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Yangon, Myanmar, and represented by Panos Pictures. He studied
Art That Moves: Burmese Photojournalist Minzayar Oo Read More »
By Akanksha Raja The Singapore International Festival of Arts 2018 takes place at different venues across the Civic District, including Victoria Theatre, its sprawling Empress Lawn, and the Esplanade Theatre. Nestled comfortably between these locations is The Arts House, dubbed the Festival House. If SIFA 2018 were a living, breathing person, the Festival House is
SIFA 2018: The Festival House and The Outdoors Read More »
Dinh Q. Lê: Monuments and Memorials, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, 17 Mar – 12 May 2018 Dinh Q. Le’s “Splendor and Darkness” series of woven photographs is a depiction of the Cambodian history that blends images of Khmer temples with portraits of Khmer Rouge victims killed at Tuol Sleng. Singapore Tyler Print Institute presents these
Weekly Picks: Singapore (19 – 25 March 2018) Read More »
In the assembly hall of Chatsworth International School hang six statues of Sir Stamford Raffles. However, these aren’t your typical heroic effigies of Singapore’s chief colonist. They’re headless, legless, composed of patchwork fabric with Javanese words stitched into their skins, dangling from the ceiling at odd angles, as if participating in an erotic rope bondage
The Artists’ Colony: A Review of OH! Emerald Hill Read More »
Duration: 22 min In March’s edition of Fresh Blood, we get to know Thereabouts Theatre, a new young theatre group interested in site-specific performances and dance theatre. Their first production Set Apart, which broadly explores the notion of the taboo through the use of movement and text, opens on the 24th of March at Emily Hill.
Podcast 36: Thereabouts Theatre Read More »
