The year was 1999, and I was an awkward little eighteen year-old virgin, still sweating my way through National Service. I’d only recently become involved in the Singapore theatre scene, and in a similar vein, I’d just begun embracing my identity as a gay man. Both decisions were fraught with danger: after all, Alvin Tan […]
Review of ‘With/Out’: AIDS, Archives, Activism Read More »
“Indonesia’s foremost theatre director, the internationally acclaimed Iswadi Pratama, staged an extraordinary eight productions in 2016 There is no simple way of describing Iswadi Pratama. He claims to be a self-taught artist, yet his exceptional talents seem to suggest otherwise. Having spent most of his life bringing realities to the stage he insists that he
Iswadi Pratama, an auteur of Indonesian theatre [Indonesia] Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (760 words, 7-minute read) Petty People marks the culmination of the undergraduate course for the graduating class of NUS Theatre Studies 2017. The play begins with a quadriptych of scenarios strung together by the enigma of a dog and its ambiguous mortality. The pooch is never seen. Its presence is indicated only
Dogged Delirium: “Petty People” by NUS Theatre Studies Read More »
School of Contemporary Music Festival 2017, 7 – 30 Apr, various timings and venues Held as part of The LASALLE Show 2017 at the end of the academic year, this graduation showcase presents the college’s music students performing at the culmination of their years of training. More information. Every Brilliant Thing by Bhumi Collective, 18 –
17 – 23 April 2017: Singapore Read More »
“Over the past year and a half, May Tran (writer, student and professional procrastinator of Vietnamese descent) has been inundated with PR for two professional and sixteen-hundred amateur productions of Miss Saigon. The following piece has been cobbled together from segments of the largely incomprehensible fury essays she wrote during her frequent and violent rage
#not pho your entertainment [Vietnam] Read More »
“Growing up, my dad always told me, “Every Vietnamese family has a remarkable story.” I was raised in Orange County, Calif., the home of Disneyland, the Angels baseball team, and Little Saigon—the largest population of Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam. It means that we were surrounded by people who were refugees, veterans, war survivors—people who were forced
I Am Miss Saigon, and I Hate It [Vietnam] Read More »
SINGAPORE – A $30 million waterfront theatre will open at the Esplanade – Theatres On The Bay in 2021. The mid-size venue will seat around 550 people. It was announced on Monday (April 10) by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu during the annual theatre awards organised by The Straits Times’ Life. At
New $30 million waterfront theatre for Esplanade [Singapore] Read More »
By Kathy Rowland (728 words, 8 minute read) Teater Ekamatra’s Harap opens with its five characters frozen in the shadows, standing on low plinths. Taking centre-stage is a series of monochromatic, indeterminate images, projected on the backdrop and over their bodies. When the characters break free, the stage crackles with the easy energy of Hadi
‘Hope (Harap)’: No Hope in Contemporary Hell Read More »
Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Malang from 10 – 16 April 2017 JAKARTA Duet of Amplified Sewing Machine, 9 April 2017, 7 – 9 PM, Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem, Hall A2, Jakarta Can a Singer sewing machine sing? Artist Steffi Muller and Lisa Simpson will say, “Yes!” A closing event of the
10 – 16 April 2017: Indonesia Read More »
The music should be familiar to most in the audience—pop tunes known the world over—but not so for the dance, “Re/Play Dance Edit,” which was choreographed over the past week by Cambodian and Japanese dancers. As the artists perform in Phnom Penh on Friday and Saturday, they will gracefully move across the stage without interacting
Championing Diversity, Dancers Move to Their Own Stories [Cambodia] Read More »
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. This week, actor Brendon Fernandez tells us about a production he saw as teenager that gave him the courage to become an actor. We caught up with Brendon
Art that Moves: Brendon Fernandez Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (920 words, 9-minute read) Normal opens with a dreary, dull morning assembly at Trinity Girls’ School, immersing the audience in a mise-en-scène that is all too familiar to anyone who has been through any part of public education in Singapore. This bleary-eyed 7AM routine, of forced uniformity and subservience, is broken by
Who’s Normal Anyway? Read More »
Review of POLITICAL ACTS: PIONEERS OF PERFORMANCE ART IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, Arts Centre Melbourne Steven Tonkin has curated a useful survey of Southeast Asian performance art as part of the inaugural Asia Triennial of Performing Arts. The photographs and videos of seven artists contain glimpses of their social environments, reminding us that performance art comes
Political Acts review: Artists weave defiance into performance art [SEA] Read More »
By Nuraini Juliastuti (1124 words, 12 minute read) Satan Jawa (Garin Nugroho, 2017) a silent movie, in black and white (inspired by Nosferatu and Metropolis), had its world premier with the ‘live’ performances of Gamelan Garasi Seni Benawa and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of AsiaTOPA (Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts) in Melbourne recently. To
Garin Nugroho’s ‘Satan Jawa’ Flirts with the Dark Side Read More »
28.8 by Teater Kami, 7-8 Apr, Aliwal Arts Centre Written and directed by Adib Kosnan, this play targets a specific audience of young men and women who can relate to the challenges that living in Singapore poses to them financially. The play sees the blossoming of a relationship moving into marriage, before hitting different obstacles that
3 – 10 April: Singapore Read More »
Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta from 3 – 9 April 2017 JAKARTA Arus Bawah, 3 – 16 April 2017, Kineforum, Jakarta For the first half of April, Kineforum are bringing films with the theme of Arus Bawah or Under Current. Arus Bawah is a reflection of the undercurrent in society. Just
3 – 9 April 2017: Indonesia Read More »
The Age of Bones, written by Sandra Thibodeaux and directed by Iswadi Pratama & Alex Galeazzi, follows the story of an Indonesian boy, Ikan, who goes fishing one day and fails to return. Sandra Thibodeaux latest production to hit the Brown’s Mart stage tackles the traumatic experience of Indonesian teenagers caught up in Australia controversial
SINGAPORE: “I think it’s safe to say that I have a reputation of not doing weird s**t. I do love mainstream work. I don’t think it’s a dirty word. So I’m not shy, embarrassed or apologising for that at all,” said Gaurav Kripalani, with a laugh. The 45-year-old artistic director of Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT)
Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) takes pre-school children and their adults on a sea journey never to be forgotten. Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) is inspired by the seafaring history of Java, Indonesia, and a true tale of a small boy’s arrival in Australia. Cerita Anak places children at the heart of the story by inviting the
By Kathy Rowland (920 words, 8 minute read) Eric, a social worker based in Australia, has returned to Singapore for his father’s funeral. He visits an old neighbour, Kak Biba/Habiba, whose home was a childhood refuge from his own impersonal family. The reunion seems like a genuinely happy occasion. There are hints however – a
Review of “Fundamentally Happy”: Shame and Scandal in the Family Read More »
The Four Note Opera by L’arietta Singapore, 31 Mar – 2 Apr, Aliwal Arts Centre Having had its New York City premiere in 1972, this hilarious one act opera by American composer Tom Johnson – part absurdist, part minimalist, all comedy. L’arietta Productions is a music collective that aims to produce high quality chamber opera, and
27 Mar – 2 Apr 2017: Singapore Read More »
Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandar Lampung, Yogyakarta 27 March – 2 April 2017 JAKARTA Oedipus di Kolonus and Pembunuh yang Adil, 1-2 April 2017, Theater Salihara, Jakarta Komunitas Salihara presents 2 performances from the 2 batches of acting classes held in the last 3 months. On April 1st, the first class will present Sophocles’
27 March – 2 April 2017: Indonesia Read More »
Ridhwan Saidi mungkin nama yang agak asing bagi penggiat teater Malaysia namun beliau telah lama menempa namanya dalam penulisan kontemporari di Malaysia melalui penulisan novel, cerpen, artikel dan puisi. Beliau yang telah menghasilkan enam buah novel di bawah penerbitannya sendiri iaitu Moka Mocha Ink dan juga Buku Fixi. Selain itu cerpen-cerpennya turut diterbitkan di dalam
Menyanggah yang Ditegah dalam ‘Teater Modular’ Read More »
“In a time of ignorance and fears about AIDS, Paddy Chew came out publicly as HIV-positive. He was the first person to do so in Singapore. Three months before he died, he worked with the local theater company The Necessary Stage to stage a monologue titled “Completely With/Out Character” about the coming-out experience. The docu-theater
Singapore Poetry: Loo Zihan on Completely With/Out Character (2015) Read More »
SINGAPORE: This month, theatre group Drama Box will be presenting its brand of community theatre to Europe – and it’s bringing its very own pop-up tent, too. After travelling around various estates in Singapore, the company’s portable GoLi – The Moving Theatre is making its overseas debut at the International Community Arts Festival (ICAF) in
Singapore’s first portable, pop-up theatre goes overseas Read More »
By Matthew Lyon (513 words, 5-minute read) I first saw Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman – in which writer Katurian is questioned by police-state detectives about a series of child-killings that mimic the plots of his stories – in Singapore Repertory Theatre’s 2007 production. Back then, I found the play too full of ideas that didn’t
Overstuffed: Martin McDonagh’s “The Pillowman” by Pangdemonium Read More »
Alena Murang: Talk and Performance, 22 and 23 Mar, LASALLE College of the Arts LASALLE College of the Arts hosts a performance and talk by Borneo visual artist and musician Alena Murang across two days (22 & 23 March 2017). On 22 March at 7:30pm, Alena shares stories, myths and analogies of fast-fading tribes – Kelabit,
20 – 26 March 2017: Singapore Read More »
By Marcus Yee (904 words, 9-minute read) The Necessary Stage’s most recent production, Those Who Can’t, Teach makes a strange journey to its eventual arrival as a “play that salutes teachers”. For one, Haresh Sharma’s script distances itself from the conventional narratives of a teacher’s struggle over a difficult student, with the student’s future success
Class Conflict: “Those Who Can’t, Teach” by The Necessary Stage Read More »
Top Picks in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Bali 20-26 March 2017 JAKARTA Monopolis, 25 March 2017, Black Box Theater Salihara, Jakarta A performance by Komunitas Seni Hitam Putih, Monopolis highlights economic and social issues in Indonesia. These issues are presented through the bodies of the actors in this non-verbal performance. This performance is also the
20 – 26 March 2017: Indonesia Read More »
Written by Liza Magtoto with music by Vince de Jesus and directed by Maribel Legarda, The Care Divas revolves around the struggle of five Filipino caregivers in Israel. However, this struggle is a mere background to the real struggle with their sexual identities as bakla (Filipino gay men) in this predominantly Jewish nation. (Read more
PETA’s “The Care Divas” and the Ethics of Care Read More »
