Freaks and Greeks: Electra by Cake Theatrical Productions
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,…
12 – 18 Dec 2016: Indonesia
Meta’s Top Picks in Solo, Jakarta, Bandung, and Bali from 12 – 18 December Meta is a freelance arts administrator and a traveling yogi. She spent 16 years of her life as an art practitioner and the last few years…
12 – 18 Dec 2016: Singapore
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…
12 – 18 Dec 2016: Malaysia
Axiomatic by Asia Duo Dance Company Damansara Performing Arts Centre, 16 – 18 Dec Two award winning dancer-choreographers Fairul Zahid (from KL, Malaysia) & Yachao Zhu (from Beijing, China) show their work together on this night of contemporary dance. More…
Outside Looking In: “A Yellow Bird”
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…
5 -11 Dec 2016: Malaysia
5 – 12 Decem Kemandirian Seni Persembahan di Pulau Pinang (Independence of the Performing Arts in Penang), 6 De 2016, George Town, Penang. Culture can be defined from various perspectives: it is a way of life that arises from and…
5 – 11 Dec 2016: Singapore
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…
5 – 11 Dec 2016: Indonesia
Meta’s Top Picks in Yogyakarta, Solo, Jakarta, Bandung, and Bali from 5 – 11 December Meta is a freelance arts administrator and a traveling yogi. She spent 16 years of her life as an art practitioner and the last few…
Ownself Check: SWF 2016 Lecture, Unwritten Country
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…
Losing My Religion: “Disgraced” by SRT
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…
Sundance of Southeast Asia: Luang Prabang Film Festival 2 – 7 Dec 2016
If you’re in withdrawal now that the 27th Singapore International Film Festival 2016 has ended, you have two days left to catch the Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF). Founded in 2010 by Gabriel Kuperman, the Luang Prabang Film Festival has…
When Your Privates Become Public: From Synge to M1 Fringe
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…
Preview: Dear Jay by Blue Bean Productions
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…
Podcast 7: The Second Breakfast Company’s Family by Leow Puay Tin
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…
28 Nov – 4 Dec 2016: Singapore
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…
28 Nov – 4 Dec 2016: Malaysia
Talk Prof. Dr. Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof: Kelantan Shadow Play: Some Challenges, 29 Nov, KL Following a brief introduction to the Kelantan shadow play, principally in terms of dramatic content, this lecture will touch upon socio-political as well as religious issues surrounding…
28 Nov – 4 Dec 2016: Indonesia
Meta’s Top Picks in Bali, Jakarta, and Bandung from 28 November – 4 December Meta is a freelance arts administrator and a traveling yogi. She spent 16 years of her life as an art practitioner and the last few years as…
Low Octane: SRT’s Disgraced
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…
Don’t Say Cheese: Interchange
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…
21 – 27 Nov: Malaysia
The State of Humanity: An Evening with AC Grayling, 22 Nov 2016, Bobo Kuala Lumpur Our world is in turmoil again: and yet there has also been great progress in the state of humankind over the last four centuries….
Crisis of Masculinity: Best Of (His Story)
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…
Safe Space: Southeast Asia Choreolab
By Bilqis Hijjas (1536, 20-minute read) The recent US election has Bilqis Hijjas reflecting on the politics of minority safe spaces and her Southeast Asian identity. In the weeks since the US election, I have had ample opportunity to ponder…
21 – 27 Nov: Singapore
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…
Podcast 6: da:ns lab – What You See Is Not What I Meant
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…
21 – 27 Nov 2016: Indonesia
Meta’s Top Picks in Bali, Jakarta, and Bandung from 21 November – 27 November Meta is a freelance arts administrator and a traveling yogi. She spent 16 years of her life as an art practitioner and the last few years…
SWF 2016 Panel: Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction
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…
14 – 20 Nov 2016: Singapore
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…
Changing Notions: On the Back of a Raging Bull
by Pawit Mahasarinan (1045 words, 12-minute read) 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…
Full View: Women in Photography 2016
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…
Podcast 5: Rent; Musicals
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,…