Mulan the Musical at Resorts World Sentosa Runs until 5 Feb 2017 In Mandarin with English surtitles, this rendition of the legend of Hua Mulan is a musical comedy from Taiwan that is quite different from the more popular Disney version. Features “Singapore-inspired” songs, local performers Pierre Png and Ann Kok, and Taiwanese vocalists Zhou Ding […]
19 – 25 Dec 2016: Singapore Read More »
By Matthew Lyon (504 words, 6-minute read) Over the years, my reactions to Natalie Hennedige’s work for Cake Theatrical Productions have ranged from adulation (Nothing, 2007) to anger (Versus, 2015), with her recent productions tending towards the latter. How wonderful, then, to see such an abrupt reversal of this trend in a rough-hewn, sharp-edged version
Freaks and Greeks: Electra by Cake Theatrical Productions Read More »
In Search of Salt by Passerby Projects at Centre 42, 16 – 17 Dec This original play staged by performance collective Passerby Projects was written to pass the Bechdel Test and will be performed in a theatre-in-the-round setting. It’s a mystery-thriller story revolving around a girl trying to uncover the meaning behind messages she receives from
12 – 18 Dec 2016: Singapore Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (810 words, 8-minute read) First screened at the International Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival 2016 this summer, A Yellow Bird is K Rajagopal’s first feature film after many acclaimed, award-winning short films. His body of work shows a concern for the lives of Indians in Singapore, drawing from his experience
Outside Looking In: “A Yellow Bird” Read More »
Cheng Ran: In Course of the Miraculous (Southeast Asian premiere) by Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore Sunday 11 Dec 2016, 11am-9pm Following its world premiere at the 14th Istanbul Biennial in 2015, and screenings at Art Basel, K11 Art Foundation in Hong Kong and across China earlier this year, this 9-hour film will have its
5 – 11 Dec 2016: Singapore Read More »
By Pavithra Raja (831 words, 5-minute read) On November 5th, acclaimed literary figures Gwee Li Sui and Boey Kim Cheng both spoke on the topic, Unwritten Country, as part of the Singapore Writers’ Festival Lecture series. The softly lit Chamber Room at the Arts House – formerly the old Parliament house – set a fitting
Ownself Check: SWF 2016 Lecture, Unwritten Country Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (1000 words, 8-minute read) When SRT Artistic Director Gaurav Kripalani revealed that the Media Development Authority approved of Disgraced without making any edits to the script, in answer to a question about censorship, there was an audible gasp from the audience at the post-show dialogue on 22 November. Regulatory authorities are known
Losing My Religion: “Disgraced” by SRT Read More »
By Corrie Tan (2043 words, 15-minute read) It was January 26, 1907, a Saturday night in Dublin, Ireland. Audience members, rowdy and revolted, were pouring out of the Abbey Theatre after the premiere of playwright J. M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World. These riots would continue throughout the play’s week-long run, with the
When Your Privates Become Public: From Synge to M1 Fringe Read More »
Tags: A Yellow Bird K Rajagopal Singapore International Film Festival
Production Talk with K Rajagopal on ‘A Yellow Bird’ Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (530 words, 5-minute read) Blue Bean Productions’ maiden show Dear Jay was spawned from a series of e-mail exchanges between producer and lead actor Benedict Leong and playwright Euginia Tan, about personal experiences coping with mental illness. They had met while working on the Twenty-Something Theatre Festival in June 2016, him as assistant producer of the
Preview: Dear Jay by Blue Bean Productions Read More »
Duration: 30 minutes Michael Ng, who reviewed the 20th Anniversary production of Family for bakchormeeboy joins podcast co-hosts Kathy Rowland and Matt Lyon in a discussion about the staging history of Family, and the relevance of the play today. Opening music by Caspar Productions. Stream Podcast 7: To download Podcast 7, right-click here and select ‘Save Link
Podcast 7: The Second Breakfast Company’s Family by Leow Puay Tin Read More »
Projek Suitcase 2016: Metamorphosis by Teater Ekamatra 30 Nov – 4 Dec, from 7:30pm In the latest edition of Teater Ekamatra, 16 performing artists or performance makers across disciplines and genres have been invited to stage 8 monologues over 2 days at Aliwal Arts Centre. Exploring a multitude of issues and themes, the festival is
28 Nov – 4 Dec 2016: Singapore Read More »
By Matt Lyon (482 words, 6-minute read) Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, a modern tragedy about the fall of an apostate Muslim-American lawyer, is a notable inheritor of the realist theatrical tradition. Sadly, it inherits the worst traits: Ibsen’s machine-cut-jigsaw plotting and Shaw’s parliamentary-debate dialogue. To be fair, Akhtar recognises that his play might engender a “stilted
Low Octane: SRT’s Disgraced Read More »
By Kathy Rowland (988 words, 10-minute read) Spoiler Alert: If you want to enjoy Interchange in all its suspenseful glory, watch the film before you read this review. The 27th Singapore International Film Festival opened last week with the Asian premiere of the Malaysian film, Interchange. Dain Iskandar Said’s third feature is a ‘fantasy noir
Don’t Say Cheese: Interchange Read More »
Tags: Susan Sentler The Substation
Review of Signs of a Nest with Susan Sentler Read More »
By Matthew Lyon (480 words, 6-minute read) The Necessary Stage’s Best Of (His Story) is a response to the company’s 2013 monologue, Best Of that detailed a day in the life of a young Malay-Muslim woman. The project of the original piece was to endow a racial stereotype with such verisimilitude that when she fails her
Crisis of Masculinity: Best Of (His Story) Read More »
Akanksha’s Top Picks in Singapore from 21 – 27 November 2016 Akanksha is Assistant Editor at ArtsEquator. She grew up in Singapore and graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2014. She gladly invites event recommendations at akanksha(at)artsequator.com, and in the meantime, here are a few shows she’s looking out for this week: Cari Makan by Hatch Theatrics, 24
21 – 27 Nov: Singapore Read More »
Duration: 27 minutes Choreographer and performance makers Susan Sentler and Chan Sze Wei recently participated in the Esplanade’s da:ns lab 2016 workshop, facilitated by daniel kok. Unlike previous workshops, in which processes of making were central, this year’s lab enshrined the viewer’s gaze. We talk with Susan and Sze Wei about their experiences during the three-day
Podcast 6: da:ns lab – What You See Is Not What I Meant Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (608 words, 6-minute read) Speculative fiction (or spec-fic) is an umbrella term for a number of literary genres including science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, magical realism, and horror. It’s the term for all those movies and books that for most of the 20th century used to be typified as the domain of
SWF 2016 Panel: Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction Read More »
Akanksha’s Top Picks in Singapore from 14-20 November 2016 Akanksha is Assistant Editor at ArtsEquator. She grew up in Singapore and graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2014. She gladly invites book/art/film/album/event recommendations at akanksha(at)artsequator.com, and in the meantime, here are a few shows she’s looking out for this week: Women in Photography 2016 Venue: Objectifs
14 – 20 Nov 2016: Singapore Read More »
Asian works were part of the main programme in this 50-year-old festival From 24 September to 2 October 2016, the jubilee edition of the Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF) with the subtitle “On the back of a raging bull”—with contemporary dance and theatre performances, film screenings, exhibitions, workshops and conferences—was held at various venues in
Changing Notions: On the Back of a Raging Bull Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (800 words, 8-minute read) The second edition of Objectifs’ annual Women in Photography 2016 programme, co-presented with the Magnum Foundation, is a group exhibition featuring photographic works from 18 contemporary female artists associated with Magnum. While Magnum has a storied history in photojournalism and documentation of socio-political and human rights issues,
Full View: Women in Photography 2016 Read More »
Duration: 28 minutes Reviewer Karin Lai joins Matt Lyon in conversation about Pangdemonium’s October 2016 production of Rent, the Tony-award-winning Broadway musical by Jonathan Larson about a group of New York City bohemians in the mid-1980’s grappling with love, art, impoverishment, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The discussion touches on the theatre company’s trend of staging
Podcast 5: Rent; Musicals Read More »
By Kathy Rowland (1010 words, 10-minute read) Best of (His Story) is a monologue set on a crowded stage. A young man, alone in an apartment decorated by his wife, reflects on his marriage on the day his divorce is to be finalised in the syariah court. He is kept company by the familial expectations,
Necessary Nuance: Best Of (His Story) Read More »
Do you like chocolate? I like chocolate. Who doesn’t like chocolate? Although, come to think of it, I do know of some people who don’t like chocolate — at least, I remember somebody once telling me he or she didn’t like chocolate. But that’s a vague memory. It’s like, as far as I know, everyone
You Must Like Chocolate: An Essay on Taste Read More »
Duration: 28 minutes Academic and theatre practitioner Dr Charlene Rajendran is lured into the studio to explain her process as a dramaturg. Also, to teach us how to actually pronounce “dramaturg”. Plus we talk about our reaction to Akulah Bimbo Sakti’s The Malay Man and His Chinese Father, created and directed by Noor Effendy
Podcast 4: The Malay Man and His Chinese Father; Dramaturgy. Read More »
Duration: 28.54 minutes With Shawn Chua, we remember the playwright Edward Albee who passed away on 16 Sept 2016. Plus we give a quick take on Couch Theatre’s Eurydice by Sarah Rhul. ArtsEquator’s weekly podcast on arts and culture features co-hosts Kathy Rowland and Matt Lyon chatting about the latest performances, exhibitions and arts news
Podcast 3: Edward Albee & Couch Theatre’s Eurydice Read More »
Duration: 30 minutes We discuss The Last Bull: A Life in Flamenco and I Am LGB in Podcast 2, the second part of our SIFA special. ArtsEquator’s weekly podcast on arts and culture features co-hosts Kathy Rowland and Matt Lyon chatting about the latest performances, exhibitions and arts news in Singapore and other parts of Southeast
Podcast 2: SIFA Review Part 2: The Last Bull: A Life in Flamenco; I am LGB. Read More »
Duration: 29 minutes ArtsEquator’s weekly podcast on arts and culture features co-hosts Kathy Rowland and Matt Lyon chatting about the latest performances, exhibitions and arts news in Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia. In Part 1 of our coverage of the Singapore International Arts Festival 2016, we are joined by performance maker and researcher,
Podcast 1: SIFA Review: Five Easy Pieces; Ibsen: Ghosts; Riding on A Cloud Read More »
