Critics Corrie Tan (SG), Elisabeth Vincentelli (US), Jose Solís (US) and Sharaad Kuttan (MY) chat about Three Sisters by Singapore’s Nine Years Theatre and SITI Company from New York, presented at Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA). The performance took place from 20-22 May 2021 at Victoria Theatre, and from 5-20 June via video […]
Podcast 89: Critics Live: Three Sisters at SIFA 2021 Read More »
Critics Ben Valentine (US), Kathy Rowland (SG), Michael HB Raditya (ID), Sharmilla Ganesan (MY) chat about The Journey by UK-based illusionist and mentalist, Scott Silven. The performance took place from 18-30 May 2021 as part of the Singapore International Festival of Arts. Critics Live! is a critics-led programme series created by ArtsEquator to give arts
Podcast 88: Critics Live: The Journey by Scott Silven at SIFA 2021 Read More »
It was a laid-back day at the end of April, when I got the email from ArtsEquator informing me that I had gotten into the Asian Arts Media Roundtable (AAMR) at the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2021. This was to be the start of my career as an international arts writer and researcher, so
Nabilah Said speaks to Safuan Johari, Rizman Putra and Brandon Tay of Zeugma on their current show _T0701_ (say “toyol”, it’s much more fun), currently available via video-on-demand at the Singapore International Festival of Arts. The show explores a pseudo-futuristic Singapore via the eyes of protagonist Jati, a delivery personnel who navigates the surveilled roads
_T0701_ by Zeugma: How power mutates Read More »
Alongside Goh Boon Teck, artistic director of Toy Factory, we look back at the journey of A Dream Under The Southern Bough, an ambitious trilogy retelling of Tang Xianzu’s 16th century epic of the same name, which combines Kun opera with contemporary staging and elements. The third and final installment, Existence, brings us to the
A Dream Under The Southern Bough: A Look Back and A Look Forward Read More »
An epic set, an epic story, and epic four years of painstaking training is one way to describe The Finger Players’ OIWA – The Ghost of Yotsuya, an aching horror story that retells the classic tale of vengeance revolving around a jilted woman. Combining techniques of Kabuki, Bunraku and Ningyo Buri, as well as the
OIWA – The Ghost of Yotsuya: Primal story of love, or the failures of it Read More »
Let’s face it. In the early days of the pandemic, we mourned for live theatre. Zoom theatre felt like the next best thing, if not quite the real thing. And yet, that period was also one of great experimentation, and brought to us different kinds of online experiences created by artists, with various degrees of
Who’s Afraid of the VOD?: Highlights of SIFA On Demand Read More »
In this month’s Cakap-Cakap (chit-chat), ArtsEquator speaks with poet and critic, Daryl Lim Wei Jie, who curated the poems featured in Local Flavours, an interactive site based on the concept of food delivery mobile apps. Produced by digital storytelling studio, Tusitala, it features 30 Singapore-based illustrators and poets and their works, which were inspired by 15
Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Daryl Lim for Local Flavours Read More »
Every first Wednesday of the month, ArtsEquator releases our editor’s picks of shows/events/programmes that our readers can look out for in that month. Note: The events below are subject to changing conditions due to COVID-19. Do check with the respective presenters. This list in published in no particular order. 1. The Music of Checkpoint
ArtsEquator’s Hot List: May 2021 Read More »
After a short hiatus, the ArtsEquator theatre podcast is back. In the latest episode, Kathy Rowland, Matthew Lyon and Naeem Kapadia discuss three productions at the 2021 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival – a line could be crossed and you would slowly cease to be by Koh Wan Ching and Andrew Sutherland; i am not here
Podcast 86: M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2021 Read More »
By Nabilah Said Against the backdrop of a battle of words, an impossibility is happening. SeptFest, one of The Substation’s most enduring annual programmes, is taking place this month, in March, six months too late. This, of course, is because of COVID restrictions last year, but it also feels strangely early, unseasonal – like when
The Substation’s SeptFest 2021: The last chapter Read More »
By Vithya Subramaniam (1,961 words, 8-minute read) We’ve taken more walks these days, haven’t we? Walking isn’t new to us. There hasn’t been a time when we were not walking. But this simple universal act has found new meanings over this last year. Here in Singapore, some of us walked along old train tracks for
A few walks-with: Vel Vel: A Sonic Walk and more Read More »
By Aditi Shivaramakrishnan Adapting its title from Lessons for Women <<女诫>>, a text by the first known female Chinese historian, Ban Zhao, Alternative Lessons for Women is a double-bill of two solo works: Hymen Instinct created and performed by Sonia Kwek and What? That’s It? created and performed by Tan Weiying. Hymen Instinct subverts the
Alternative Lessons for Women: Sonia Kwek and Tan Weiying on sex, desire and the erotic Read More »
“People always see us artists as cool. They think we paint on the streets, make big money, no need to study one. Ask them to try lah! We work for hours in the hot sun. And you need strong fingers to hold the can.” Artist ANTZ was working on a boom lift on the side
Mixtape: The Millennial, The Zoomer and The Spray Can Read More »
Brown Is Haram: Reconstructing The Brown Narrative is a performance-lecture exploring different aspects of the experience of being brown in Singapore, exploring issues such as social mobility and masculinity. This show is based on the work and ongoing collaborative project of writer and activist Kristian-Marc James Paul and writer-researcher Mysara Aljaru, and is directed by
Brown Is Haram: Kristian-Marc James Paul and Mysara Aljaru reclaim their space Read More »
Snow Whitening Revisited presents an allegory on being a female artist in Cambodia, playing with imagery that evokes visceral feelings of clinging, and a sense of embodied helplessness that pays tribute to both cultural heritage and a deep historical trauma. Presented digitally as part of this year’s M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, the piece masterfully explores
Women making history: Snow Whitening Revisited Read More »
By Vithya Subramaniam (915 words, 4-minute read) It begins with a provocation, asking if we can ‘change the way we make theatre in the future’. The concern here is in the way theatre is made, the process. While raising these questions might seem to suggest upending theatre as we know it, Offstage 3.0 presents a
Offstage 3.0: Of stage and on walls Read More »
Where can we find each other? And where do we go from here? Happening on Saturday, January 23 2021, Festival Forum: Meeting-In-Progress discusses ideas, processes and ways forward in this new year of not-so-new normals. Both an agitation and undulation towards a common point of reference, Meeting-In-Progress is an attempt to gather everyone in a
Festival Forum: Meeting-In-Progress at National Gallery Singapore Read More »
In this new series of ArtEquator Cakap-Cakap (or in other words chit-chat), ArtsEquator sits down with director Koh Wan Ching and playwright Andrew Sutherland to chat about “creative romances”, random internet finds/memes and how things are going with their upcoming work, a line could be crossed and you would slowly cease to be, at the
Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Koh Wan Ching and Andrew Sutherland Read More »
Every first Wednesday of the month, ArtsEquator will release a list of recommended shows/events/programmes that our readers can look out for in that month. This list in published in no particular order. 1. M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2021 20 to 31 January 2021 After almost a year of cancelled shows, we’re happy for the return
ArtsEquator’s Hot List: January 2021 Read More »
For former jazz pianist Peter Ng, the past year has been one of great change. Set up in mid-2019, Maduro was envisioned to be a jazz lounge and a whisky bar, but Ng quickly realised – hastened by the pandemic – that it needed to evolve. The venue will soon be featured in an online
Maduro, online jazz concerts, SIFA: A jazz bar evolves in a pandemic Read More »
For artist weish, who is one-half of electronica duo .gif, this has been an intense year creatively, and one of increased self-scrutiny. Her most recent project, Did you want more sleep?, combines sound, visual and text, and references the artist’s personal problems with sleep. It is available online via video-on-demand from now to 31 December,
Did you want more sleep?: weish knows people are tired of livestreams Read More »
ArtsEquator speaks to Andy Chia, Natalie Alexandra, Rizman Putra, Russell Morton and Yeo Siew Hua, the creatives behind The Wandering, a dance film about loss connections and a family in crisis, about what it’s like working on the film together, especially during a pandemic. The Wandering runs from 18 to 20 Dec as part of
Why everyone is dancing during the pandemic: The Wandering at SIFA 2020 Read More »
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
By Chan Sze-Wei (739 words, 4-minute read) In grainy close up, we see segmented views of one woman, fighting to breathe with every fibre of her sinewy body. She grunts, writhes, sweats, hyperventilates. Her body multiplies by video effect but perhaps also by mass audience hallucination. Depending on which way you lean, Pat Toh’s Topography
Harrowing and sublime: Topography of Breath 2.0 by Pat Toh Read More »
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
The unabashedly virtual edition of SIFA just launched its slate of year-end programmes, marked by dreamy and lush audioscapes, compelling narratives, and encounters with the audience in places both personal and private. We recommend five events to catch. A Bird Calls You To Moscow What it is: Playwright Joel Tan and director Tan Shou Chen
Year-end SIFA Spotlight: 5 things you should catch Read More »
By Ke Weiliang (2,400 words, 8-minute read) I had the pleasure of attending The Lesson in September 2015, when it premiered at Toa Payoh Central as part of the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA). That encounter was a serendipitous one, for I initially had not planned to attend the show and only happened to
From GoLi to Zoom: “The Lesson – An Online Experiment” by Drama Box Read More »
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
Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Bangkok Art Biennale; Singapore creatives forced home Read More »
In this month’s theatre podcast, Nabilah Said, Matthew Lyon and Naeem Kapadia discuss two plays from the Festival of Women: N.O.W. 2020: King, written and performed by Jo Tan and directed by Jasmine Ng; and The Book of Mothers, written by Eleanor Tan and directed by Edith Podesta. N.O.W. is presented by T:>Works. King ran from
Podcast 81: King and The Book of Mothers Read More »
