5. IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND SINGAPORE, JUST WATCH HIS PLAYS That statement may sound a bit presumptuous, but there’s a grain of truth to it. After all, Sharma has written more than a hundred plays since the late 1980s, many of which have become classics, published in books, taught in schools, and staged and […]
Understanding Haresh Sharma: 5 things to know about Singapore’s premier playwright Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (630 words, 6-minute read) Penned by writer Goh Boon Teck, Prism was conceived in 2003 under a commission by Japanese theatre company Kageboushi, to become a grand-scale million-dollar touring production with performers from six Asian countries, featuring a variety of Asian artforms (such as martial arts and gamelan music). Essentially, Prism tells
Toy Factory’s “Prism” refracts social reality Read More »
The Vault: Becoming Mother, 19 Mar, 4pm, Centre 42 Dance practitioners and researchers Dr. Nidya Shanthini Manokara and Jocelyn Chng investigate motherhood in its various manifestations – from creating life to producing creative work. Grounded in their dance practices of bharatanatyam and ballet respectively, Shanthini and Jocelyn respond to themes of creation and creativity in
13 – 19 March 2017: Singapore Read More »
Oleh Shahrul Mizad Ashari dan Fasyali Fadzly (774 patah kata, 10 minit bacaan) Rohani Yousoff atau lebih senang dipanggil dengan Kak Ani bagi penggiat teater merupakan salah seorang tokoh teater terpenting negara. Sumbangannya tidak terhad dalam bidang teater praktik tetapi juga dalam bidang akademik. Beliau yang merupakan rakan seangkatan Ahmad Yatim, Faridah Merican, Rahim Razali
Belasungkawa Rohani Yousoff: Pentas, Kelas dan Kertas Read More »
Dulaang UP’s current production, Rody Vera’s Filipino adaptation of Faust, directed by José Estrella, at once seeks to stay true to the spirit of and attempts to contemporize Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s famous Manichean drama that was resolutely rooted in the Romantic vision of its own time.
Cosmologizing Social Evil in Dulaang Up’s “Faust” Read More »
Family Secrets – A Date With Friends 2017 by The Necessary Stage, 10-12 Mar, Esplanade Theatre Studio The Necessary Stage’s Theatre for Seniors presents Family Secrets, a double bill of well-loved plays by Cultural Medallion winner Haresh Sharma, about two families encountering change through illness afflicting their senior members, and how they rise above the challenge
6 – 12 March 2017: Singapore Read More »
Top Picks in Jakarta and Bandung 6-12 March 2017 JAKARTA Of Horizon Landscape, 6 March 2017, 7 PM, Hall B – Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem, Jakarta Of Horizon Landscape is a performance art by artists involved in the 69 Performance Club, a study platform for performance art created by Forum Lenteng. A landscape can be
6 – 12 March 2017: Indonesia Read More »
‘The Cave’, a converted bar and restaurant that is the venue for the performance of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, is small. Audiences sit on three sides, around five persons abreast, ever mindful that to stretch their legs would be to trespass into the performance area. How does one perform Ghosts in such a space, with its
Review: Theatre Company shelf’s “GHOSTS-COMPOSITION/IBSEN” Read More »
ExxonMobil Campus Concerts – Alfaaz, NUS University Cultural Centre, 1 March, 8pm Alfaaz (n.): Urdu for spoken word; the distinguishing factor that makes us undeniably human. Words shape us, unite us and yet at the same time, divide us. Much like humanity, language constantly evolves. The complexity and sense of poetry of years past have
27 Feb – 5 Mar 2017: Singapore Read More »
By Kathy Rowland (1484 words, 15-minute read) The Tokyo Performing Arts Market (TPAM) was established in 1995. In 2011, TPAM moved to the City of Yokohama, re-branding as the Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama. The shift of location also signalled a realignment, from showcase to co-presenting, with a specific focus on Asia. Over the past
Yokohama’s Creative City: Interview with Kozue Nakayama Read More »
Indices of Vanishment by RAW Moves, 23 – 25 Feb, 8pm, Aliwal Arts Centre Choreographed by Edith Podesta, Lighting Design by Adrian Tan, Sound Design by Teo Wee Boon and performed by RAW Moves Company Dancers, Indices of Vanishment is the 2017 edition of RAW Moves’ annual Repertory Platform. Indices of Vanishment is a movement performance that examines
20 – 26 February 2017: Singapore Read More »
ExxonMobil Campus Conerts – Discovery: Stephycube, 16 Feb, 6pm, NUS Yusof Ishak House Singer-songwriter Steph likes to strum late into the night in the privacy of her room, where she mixes popular radio songs. Although her online repertoire consists mainly of acoustic tracks, her musical influences are mainly pop rock while her lyrics are inspired
13 – 19 February 2017: Singapore Read More »
Top Picks in Jakarta, Bali and Yogyakarta from 13 – 19 February JAKARTA Cinconotas – Salihara Jazz Buzz 2017, 19 Feb 2017, 08:00 PM, Black Box Theatre Treat yourself this Sunday with a performance by the a capella jazz group, Cinconotas. The group’s artistic director, Arif Dharma, has performed on Java Jazz Festival, along
13 – 19 February 2017: Indonesia Read More »
By Kathy Rowland (1030 words, 15 minute read) Skin in SIN, a new burlesque group, made its debut at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (M1SFF) last month. Members of the group had spent several months learning the art of burlesque whilst developing their stage persona and performance, under the mentorship and training of Singaporean drag
Your underwear is showing: Foreign Bodies Read More »
Six performance works stood out for their bold placement of the body center-stage: Softmachine Rianto, an Indonesian-Singaporean dance and video collaboration; Skin, a challenging work from Malaysia on human trafficking; Cambodia’s Phare Circus, in which performers perform the seemingly impossible; As If To Nothing, a Hong Kong dance piece on the mutability of memory; Twelfth
OzAsia Festival: Celebrating Asian Dance and Theatre Down Under Read More »
Duration: 27 minutes Dance educator and writer Stephanie Burridge joins Matt Lyon in discussing Dance Nucleus‘ HATCH, a showcase of works-in-progress by the company’s artists-in-residence: Felicia Lim, Wayne Ong & Leia Ang and Yarra Ileto as well as Maya Dance Theatre’s Release 6.0. They share their thoughts on each of the works, also discussing the role
Podcast 10: HATCH 2017 and Release 6.0 Read More »
In celebration of the National Arts Month in February 2017, the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) recuperates the kuwentong bayan (folk narratives such as epics, myths, legends, folk tales, etc.) as important repository of ideas, information and even knowledge through a festival billed Salaysayan: K’wentong Byan, Kaalamang Bayan (Storytelling: Folk Narratives, Folk Knowledge). Tags:
If theatre-goers feel as if they’ve been going to Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts almost every month in 2016, it’s partly because Thailand’s first tertiary institution to offer a bachelor’s degree in modern theatre –Chulalongkorn University’s Department of Dramatic Arts – is celebrating its 45th anniversary. And as part of this celebration, the department
The Esplanade rings int he Chinese New Year with performing arts We don’t know yet how President Donald Trump will deal with China, but we do know that China is a force to be reckoned with. That’s not only from an economic and manufacturing point of view – Chinese mobile phones take much better selfies than
The Rooster Catches Fire: The Esplanade’s Huayi Chinese Festival of Arts Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (1200 words, 20-minute read) There are so many performance modes packed into the approximately 70 minutes of FIGHT! PALAST #membersonly – confessional monologue, workshops, live fighting, interactive sketches – that it is difficult to classify. Performance makers have been using this form of super-hybridity for a while now, but it still takes
3 #Millennials Read “Fight Club”. You Won’t Believe What Happens Next! Read More »
We said that the commercial theatre companies would put on fewer musicals and we were right. From their independent counterparts we expected more international collaboration thanks to support from foreign cultural institutions and again our words were prophetic. Now we are predicting that these two trends will continue in 2017. With the official mourning period
Pawit Mahasarinand foresees Thai theatre in 2017 for The Nation Read More »
Teguh Karya and Suyatna Anirun were each inspired by traditional and popular forms of theatre throughout Indonesia, as well as the Western forms of theatre they adapted for the stage. Their style of theatre resided in the realm of intercultural practices that all theatre artists in Indonesia now revere. Tags: Inside Indonesia Suyatna Anirun Teguh Karya Theatre Directing
Two Visionaries of Indonesian Theatre Read More »
This essay is the first in a new series where artists and writers reflect on artworks that were personally important to them. Syria, climate change, Brexit, Trump, the loss of beloved public figures from Prince to Muhammad Ali — my friends and I couldn’t wait for 2016 to end. But the sense of renewal that
Art that Moves: Time and Tuition Read More »
Deruma by Azpirasi & Dian Dancers, 26 – 27 Jan at Esplanade Theatre Studio Presented as part of Esplanade Theatre’s Pentas series, which is its second annual programme of Malay arts, apart from Pesta Raya. Deruma follows the local folktale of Si Tanggang. It’s a story about filial piety and gratitude told through Malay dance and traditional
23 – 29 Jan 2017: Singapore Read More »
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the comedic play that opens Repertory Philippines’ 2017 season and its 50th anniversary, has got more going for it than a chockfull of references to the despondent characters, dreary settings, and poignant stories of Anton Chekhov. “You don’t need to know Chekov to enjoy it,” said acclaimed award-winning
‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’: An all-star family feud Read More »
…dive into the making of Singapore’s first feature film selected for competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival with Director Kirsten Tan and Producer Weijie Lai. Tags: Kirsten Tan Pop Aye
Podcast interview with “Pop Aye” Director Kirsten Tan & Producer Weijie Lai Read More »
Gaslight Cafe presents Alena Murang, 17 Jan, 9pm Gaslight Cafe at Bukit Damansara shines the spotlight on young Bornean singer-songwriter Alena Murang, whose debut EP, Flight, was released last year. A graduate from the music programme at LASALLE College of the Arts, Alena play folk music of the Kelabit and Kenyah tribes, using the traditional lute instrument
16 – 22 Jan 2017: Malaysia Read More »
SWF POP #15: Screening of Between The Lines: Rant & Rave II, 18 Jan at The Projector This is a screening of a recorded theatre production, Between The Lines: Rant & Rave II, a 2012 play by award-winning playwright Chong Tze Chien. Restaged at the Singapore Writers Festival 2016 featuring actors Serene Chen and Jean Ng,
16 – 22 Jan 2017: Singapore Read More »
“Sensitive and nuanced, this piece is almost like a Judith Butler essay, popping at the seams with its investigation of gender and the way it is performed, mimed, mocked and torn apart basically.” Tags: LGBT M1 Singapore Fringe Festival Tan Liting
Judith Butchler – Review of Tan Liting’s “Pretty Butch” at M1 Fringe Read More »
2016 was a busy year for theatregoers in Japan, and an especially fruitful one for those with an interest in Malaysia. The Kyoto Experiment 2016 (22 Oct – 13 Nov) featured the documentary theatre work, Baling by Mark Teh as its festival opening piece. It was produced by Five Arts Centre, one of Malaysia’s most
Faith in Tokyo: A review of ‘Nadirah’ and ‘Family’ Read More »
