By Corrie Tan (1,700 words, eight-minute read) This review contains spoilers and/or plot points for The Bacchae, a 2,500-year-old ancient Greek tragedy; Beware of Pity, a 1939 German novel adapted for the stage by the Schaubühne Berlin and Complicité; as well as the final season of the fantasy television epic Game of Thrones, which concluded […]
Mad women, divine punishment, and “Dionysus” Read More »
By Patricia Tobin (736 words, 3-minute read) Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers for The Mysterious Lai Teck, which will run from 17 to 19 May at the Singapore International Festival of Arts. “I am the shadow of Ho Chi Minh,” a voice states. It starts as a whisper, before being repeated later as a fast,
Confronting Truths in Ho Tzu Nyen’s “The Mysterious Lai Teck” Read More »
Have you ever imagined dancers’ bodies turning into sculptures, as if time stood still? This is the impression of Körper (Body), the signature dance performance of this year’s edition of the Singapore International Festival of Arts. Choreographer Sasha Waltz (SW), Artistic Director designate of Berlin State Ballet, is renowned for her multi-disciplinary productions, blurring boundaries
Seamlessly blending the digital image, live dance and a richly evocative music score, ST/LL is startlingly beautiful treat for the eyes and the ears. This production celebrates the performance collaboration of composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and visual and multimedia artist Shiro Takatani. (Sakamoto’s concert Fragments, with visuals by Takatani, is already sold out.) Here are four reasons to catch ST/LL at the
The Beauty of Time and Image: “ST/LL” at SIFA 2019 Read More »
By Akanksha Raja The 42nd Singapore International Festival of Arts returns this year from 16 May to 2 June 2019. In its second year under Festival Director Gaurav Kripalani, it promises a larger smorgasbord of critically acclaimed international performances as well as Singaporean commissions. Watch the Festival’s official trailer: Within one hour of the
SIFA 2019: Top Ten Picks Read More »
By Ke Weiliang (2,470 words, 10-minute read) In March 2017, Gaurav Kripalani was officially unveiled as the Festival Director for Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2018 – 2020. I was over the moon, but only because a rare opportunity to stop indiscriminately splurging my money on arts events seemed to have finally presented itself.
Was a Skeptic, Still a Skeptic: A Festival-Goer’s Impressions of SIFA 2018 Read More »
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. It’s the time people start making breakfast or getting ready for work. It’s that quiet, dim hour before the sun rises over
Voices on Death Row: GroundZ-0’s “0600” at SIFA 2018 Read More »
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 continuing work. The second and third parts of the complete trilogy are planned for subsequent
“A Dream Under the Southern Bough – The Beginning”: Kun Opera for the Millennial Stage Read More »
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 whose Gaga style of dancing and theatrical physicality has become iconic of Israeli contemporary dance.
“OCD Love” by L-E-V Dance Company: Mental Illness Plus Dance Equals Ballet and Horror Read More »
An enchanting French evening of aerial circus performed to live music. …Sodade… is a nostalgic ode to life, a fable of love and loss in the air as told by two musicians playing and singing on a unique circus structure of huge twin wheels, each over two metres in width, between which a 21-metre long
…Sodade… at SIFA 2018 Read More »
Duration: 19 mins A Dream Under The Southern Bough by Toy Factory is a series of three plays commissioned by the Singapore International Festival of Arts, to be staged over three editions of the festival. The first instalment, titled The Beginning, premieres at SIFA 2018 later this month. This three-part modern-day spin on the classic Ming
Podcast 39: Toy Factory’s “A Dream Under the Southern Bough” at SIFA 2018 Read More »
0600 is named for the time that executions are carried out. What makes an artist take on the polarising topic of the death penalty in Singapore? Zelda Tatiana Ng has been a fixture in the Singapore performing arts scene for over 20 years. Her newly founded collective, GroundZ-0, makes its Singapore and SIFA debut with
SIFA 2018: Walking death’s footsteps in Zelda Tatiana Ng’s “0600” Read More »
By Akanksha Raja The Singapore International Festival of Arts 2018 takes place at different venues across the Civic District, including Victoria Theatre, its sprawling Empress Lawn, and the Esplanade Theatre. Nestled comfortably between these locations is The Arts House, dubbed the Festival House. If SIFA 2018 were a living, breathing person, the Festival House is
SIFA 2018: The Festival House and The Outdoors Read More »
By Akanksha Raja The Singapore International Festival of Arts 2018 is just over a month away, and the programme offers an extensive palette of art and performance not only from Singapore but also as farther afield as Germany, Palestine, India, Cape Verde, and more. It’s hard to define or label the types of shows on
SIFA 2018: Top Ten Picks for the Art Lover Read More »
By Corrie Tan (3,890 words, 20-minute read) A few days after the launch of the 2018 edition of the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), I had coffee with newly minted festival director Gaurav Kripalani to discuss the programme he’s unveiled for his inaugural festival, which includes hits from London’s West End such as Robert
Gaurav Kripalani: a new festival director plots a different path Read More »
By Corrie Tan (4,360 words, 25-minute read) I sat down with Ong Keng Sen after the conclusion of the first edition of the Curators Academy, which ran from 24 to 28 January. Organised by TheatreWorks, the academy sought to establish a platform where aspiring curators from across Southeast Asia could come together for a series
Ong Keng Sen: educating the curator; curating the everyday Read More »
By Isaac Lim (496 words, 4 minute read) In the beginning, there was light. Four characters are glimpsed on a bare stage as it gradually and sporadically lights up. They each hold a portable control board that operates the venue’s lights. They are silent. Then their thoughts appear as words projected on two panels, and
“Germinal”: Does consciousness go ‘Poc poc’? Read More »
By Patricia Tobin (500 words, 5-minute read) “Are you interested in the first series of major discoveries, such as the law of elementary mechanics?” a friendly voice asks over an intercom. “The wheel, perhaps?” Halory’s three companions shake their heads and he promptly replies, “No.” In classical physics, we deal with the observable world. In
“Germinal”: Mystery, Science, Theatre Read More »
By Chan Sze-Wei (920 words, 8-minute read) Given that the publicity synopsis to Dries Verhoeven’s video installation pretty much tells all, I’m surprised by how excited I am by the time I’m finally summoned to enter the heavy white door. A lot of the theatricality in my experience of Guilty Landscapes III is in the anticipation
The Easy Trigger of “Guilty Landscapes III” Read More »
By Felipe Cervera (1400 words, 10-minute read) It is as if Mozart were able to capture what death sounds like, in those moments when people run around trying to assert themselves in the face of a body that has just ceased to breathe. Personally, it takes just a few notes of his Requiem for me
“And So You See…”: The Irrational is in the Eye of the Beholder Read More »
By Elaine Chiew (1116 words, 10-minute read) Euripides’ play Trojan Women has been adapted and performed numerous times around the world, from a version written by Jean Paul Sartre to American playwright Charles Mee’s 2003 adaptation that included Holocaust and Hiroshima testimonials. [1] This time, it has been given a Korean pansori makeover by SIFA
SIFA’s “Trojan Women”: An Allegory for Modern Times Read More »
By Naeem Kapadia (738 words, 7-minute read) What are human beings without language, possessions and a sense of time and place? How do we make sense of our surroundings? Stripped of all trappings of civilisation, can one start from scratch and create a brand new world with form and function? This unique, challenging and wildly
“Germinal”: Metaphysical Magnificence Read More »
By Isaac Lim (514 words, 5-minute read) A large red-orange hued, tile-patterned cloth dramatically falls in a Kabuki drop, then rain falls on stage. The year is 2022, Brexit is complete and Trump has won a second term. The stage is set for a showdown between ‘the locals’ and ‘the foreigners’. Dragonflies, written by Pangdemonium’s
“Dragonflies”: The Foreseeable Truth Hurts Read More »
By: Patricia Tobin (500 words, 5-minute read) We are no different from dragonflies. With their tiny transparent wings flapping at 30 beats per second, these creatures travel thousands of kilometers to reproduce, to find a new home, to fight for their survival. This is what Pangdemonium’s Dragonflies alludes to: like dragonflies, our existence is dependent
“Dragonflies”: A Migrant Dreams For Home Read More »
By Alvin Lim (1235 words, 10-minute read) Becoming Graphic is both a meditative and mediated performance about living and dying. Commissioned by Singapore International Festival of Arts, graphic novelist Sonny Liew and theatre practitioner Edith Podesta come together to create a cross-disciplinary performance that breaks boundaries. The parallels, and thus the comparisons, between two forms—theatre
“Becoming Graphic”: Life in Graphic Form Read More »
By Dan Koh (1,263 words, 12-minute read) “I finally felt that being an artist was a meaningful vocation,” Chua Mia Tee says towards the end of a career-spanning interview.[1] Best known for his 1950s oil paintings Epic Poem of Malaya, National Language Class, and Portrait of Lee Boon Ngan (depicting his wife, also an oil
“Art Studio” by Nine Years Theatre: Back to the Page Read More »
Duration: 31 min Akanksha Raja speaks with Jeffrey Tan, producer of Open Homes, a theatre-in-the-home experience presented as part of the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2017. Audiences are welcomed into the homes of residents where they enter not only into intimate spaces, but lives, hearts and deeply personal experiences shared through creative storytelling. Joining
Podcast 22: Open Homes at SIFA 2017 Read More »
by Kathy Rowland (1102 words, 6 minute read) “In order to change people’s minds, you have to break their hearts”. So said Reverend Miak Siew at O.P.E.N’s curtain raiser, Art as Res Publicae. Unfortunately, there was never any danger of broken hearts. Art as Res Publicae, conceived by O.P.E.N Director Noorlinah Mohamed and SIFA Artistic
“Art as Res Publicae”: Where the Devil was the Devil? Read More »
By Dan Koh (1,231 words, 6-minute read) At the inaugural Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab in Bangkok last week, some of us participants chatted about how close we live to each other regionally, but how far it actually feels, with opportunities to convene and collaborate like SEAFIC remaining far and few between. Curated by Tan
Three O.P.E.N. Southeast Asian Documentaries Read More »
By Kathy Rowland (2100 words, 20-minute read) ArtsEquator sat down for an in-depth interview with Noorlinah Mohamed about her role as the Director of the O.P.E.N, the challenges of programming for diverse publics, and her feelings about saying goodbye to the O.P.E.N community. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. ArtsEquator (AE): The
Full Circle: Interview with Noorlinah Mohamed Read More »
