A History of Violence: The Sharp Edges of “Cerita Cinta”
By Nabilah Said (1000 words, four-minute read) The most powerful moment of akulah BIMBO SAKTI’s Cerita Cinta is the end. To be perfectly clear, it is a dream of a production. The six-person ensemble is tight, the design is exacting,…
Foolishness and Enlightenment in “Lear is Dead”
By Casidhe Ng (1,200 words, six-minute read) “You are a madman, and we are but fools,” the ensemble resounds. So begins Nine Years’ Theatre’s Lear is Dead, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear that borrows from the Chinese opera tradition,…
Truth or Dare with “Lear is Dead”
By Teo Xiao Ting (1,069 words, six-minute read) After a gleaming heap of corpses dissipates into the afterlife and comes back for a closing bow, Lear is Dead ends with the quiver of revelation. But wait, what was it exactly…
“Peter and the Starcatcher”: An Invitation to Suspend Disbelief
By Casidhe Ng (1,100 words, six-minute read) The final show of Pangdemonium’s 2018 season, Peter and the Starcatcher is this year’s equivalent of Fun Home or RENT, an exuberant and expensive production intent on ending their year with a bang….
Growing up Everywhere and Nowhere in “Peter and the Starcatcher”
By Teo Xiao Ting (1,300 words, seven-minute read) What does it mean to be a child? Specifically, what does it mean to be growing up, to be young, in this milieu? While set in the sepia of 1885, Peter and…
Padmini Chettur’s “Varnam” and Pichet Klunchun’s “I Am A Demon”: An Instructive Contrast
By Bilqis Hijjas (975 words, four-minute read) If you have ever felt that classical Indian dance is too melodramatic – if you have ever rolled your eyes at a dancer’s fervid abhinaya, or a poem narrator’s extravagant diction – or…
“The Misinterpreted Futures of George Town 2068”: Missing Futures
By Akanksha Raja (960 words, four-minute read) Prior to stepping into the mystifying world of The Misinterpreted Futures of George Town 2068, I was curious and fascinated by that science-fictioney title, coupled with the exciting premise of a performance with…
“Tiger of Malaya”: The Body Remembers What the Archive Cannot
By Corrie Tan (2,080 words, 10-minute read) Spoiler alert: this essay discusses certain plot points about Tiger of Malaya in detail. The Drama Centre Black Box, on level five of the National Library, is bracketed by floors and floors of…
“7Voices 2.0” by Yayasan Chow Kit and Dramalab at George Town Festival 2018
By Akanksha Raja (830 words, four minute read) Before entering the performance space on the first floor lobby of The Whiteaways Arcade where 7Voices 2.0 takes place, my friend Denise and I are approached by two young “inspectors” demanding documentary…
Podcast 47: TheatreWorks’ “13.13.13” and SRT The Young Company’s ‘The Fall’
Duration : 33 mins Theatreworks’ 13.13.13 and SRT’s The Young Company’s The Fall are the two works discussed in this month’s podcast. Hosts Matt Lyon and Naeem Kapadia are joined by Ann Lee, playwright, LGBTQ activist and PhD-to-be in reflecting on…
La Cie Maxmind’s “Isle of Dreams”: The Dark Fantastic
By Akanksha Raja (620 words, four-minute read) 拾念劇集 La Cie Maxmind’s Isle of Dreams (蓬萊) was the headlining event for the George Town Festival’s Taiwan-focused showcase this year. It is a three-hour long work of musical theatre, original in story…
Ombak Potehi’s “Kisah Pulau Pinang: The Penang Story”: A Slice of Malayan History
By Akanksha Raja (620 words, four-minute read) Ombak Potehi is Ombak Ombak Art Studio’s glove puppet theatre group established in 2015, consisting of young people – all under 30 – producing and performing puppet theatre, having been trained by experts…
“Pratthana: A Portrait of Possession”: Of Politics and Desire
By Amitha Amranand (1225 words, six-minute read) Everyone is always watching and being watched in Pratthana: A Portrait of Possession, the latest play by Japanese director Toshiki Okada. The play begins with a Narcissus-like image—a young man gazes into the…
“Kelantan: A Living Heritage”: Tributing the Traditional
By Akanksha Raja (1050 words, four-minute read) George Town Festival is now in its ninth year, and one of the distinctive qualities in every edition is the balance it strikes between presenting international touring works, and Malaysian shows that are…
“dead was the body”: Theatre Meets Breaking Meets Therapy
By Akanksha Raja (1500 words, seven-minute read) dead was the body till i taught it how to move (dwtb) is Bhumi Collective’s first production of the year, and just like their two principal works of 2017 – Every Brilliant Thing…
“Press Gang”: confessions of yet another ex-ST journalist
By Corrie Tan (2,015 words, 10-minute read) “My concern now is how to nurture the critical sensitivity of the playwright, and for that matter theatre and literature and all the other arts. Because I think we have a way of…
“Chinatown Crossings”: A Trail of Echoes
By Akanksha Raja (890 words, 5 minute read) Along the bustling roads of Chinatown and the throngs of long-time residents, local visitors and tourists, there’s an invisible, theatrical time machine that comes to life a few evenings a week, running…
“Framed, by Adolf”: Truth as Shadow-Play
By Akanksha Raja (850 words, six-minute read) In Framed, by Adolf, playwright-director Chong Tze Chien’s fascination with Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust continues from 2016’s Starring Hitler as Jekyll and Hyde, which explored the idea of the dictator as a…
“Fourteen” by Split Theatre: Getting Schooled
By Isaac Lim (810 words, five-minute read) At front-of-house before the doors open, a crew member encourages the audience to walk around the theatre space upon entering, and warns sternly against moving the seats. Neat rows of seats welcome the…
“The Singapore ‘d’ Monologues”: And Suddenly I Reflect Upon My Privilege
By Soultari Amin Farid (800 words, six-minute read) “This body… This body is dangerous. It desires, it delights, it delivers, it dances.” On 25 May, I had the pleasure of experiencing a performance of great chemistry between Deaf and disabled…
A surreal “Citizen Dog” sinks its teeth into your soul
By Corrie Tan (1,540 words, eight-minute read) Halfway through The Finger Players’ trippy, darkly comic Citizen Dog, I pause to consider the philosopher Zhuangzi’s anecdote on how we construct our realities: Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was…
The Second Breakfast Company’s “The Moon is Less Bright”: A New Phase
By Eugene Koh (1200 words, 8 minute read) The Second Breakfast Company restaging Goh Poh Seng’s The Moon is Less Bright is akin to grabbing this behemoth of a national literary relic by its horns and tackling it. The play’s…
Nine Years Theatre’s “Pissed Julie 茱莉小解”: Third Wheelings
By Daniel Teo (1340 words, six-minute read) In Pissed Julie, the magic number is three. The play begins with a row of three chairs, dwarfed by a succession of three enormous three-sided wooden frames. The actors emerge from the darkness…
“Underclass” twists the knife in your middle-class guilt
Spoiler Alert: If you’re planning to watch Underclass, please note that this review discusses certain plot points. By Corrie Tan (2,200 words, 11-minute read) You know that auntie. You’ve waved her off at the hawker centre, or maybe you’ve apologised,…
Voices on Death Row: GroundZ-0’s “0600” at SIFA 2018
By Kirsten Han (1,080 words, six-minute read) 6am is a pretty unremarkable time. It’s the time Singaporean students are woken up by alarm clocks or family members, blearily rubbing the sleep from their eyes to prepare for another school day….
Shakespeare In The Park’s “Julius Caesar”: I Am She
By Roweena Yip (925 words, five-minute read) The Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) Shakespeare In The Park returns to Fort Canning Green, after a year’s hiatus, with Julius Caesar—a play that has recently seen a resurgence in performance, perhaps because of…
“A Dream Under the Southern Bough – The Beginning”: Kun Opera for the Millennial Stage
By Jocelyn Chng (813 words, 5-minute read) A Festival Commission for the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2018, Toy Factory’s A Dream Under the Southern Bough – The Beginning is, as the title suggests, the first part of a…
“OCD Love” by L-E-V Dance Company: Mental Illness Plus Dance Equals Ballet and Horror
By Chan Sze-Wei (849 words, 5 minute read) L-E-V Dance company’s OCD Love is tightly choreographed and intense in its physicality, as might be expected from a choreographer issuing from years dancing, choreographing and directing for the iconic Batsheva Company…
“Version 2020”: Dataran Merdeka Sebagai Tapak A̶r̶k̶e̶o̶l̶o̶g̶i̶ Ideologi Tentang Masa Depan
Oleh Fasyali Fadzly (1075 patah kata, 9-minit bacaan) Saya mengambil masa yang lama untuk menyiapkan tulisan mengenai teater Version 2020 yang diarahkan oleh Mark Teh. Ia sebuah teater yang memerlukan pengamatan yang tajam, pengetahuan yang luas dan pemahaman terhadap konteks…
The Glorious Anger of “Leda and the Rage”
By Akanksha Raja & Corrie Tan (2,300 words, 12-minute read) Corrie Tan: When Edith Podesta first told us during our Studios podcast interview that Leda and the Rage would feature the life and paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi, I felt a…