By Eugene Tan (1,503 words, 5-minute read) As has become customary for every review of a Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA) 2021 show (or as the festival programme now calls them, “content”), we should applaud the fact that these shows are happening at all. After all, COVID-19 restrictions are wildly challenging for artmaking […]
The Commission: Why do these three meet again? Read More »
Filled to the brim at 25% capacity, Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Robertson Quay theatre was cold. The starched whiteness of Petrina Dawn Tan’s set — comprising piles of books that would function effectively as furniture, storage space, and the psychological landscapes of the play’s two characters — added to this austere atmosphere. I didn’t know what
The Sound Inside: Duet of life and loss Read More »
In the latest of our Cakap-Cakap series, ArtsEquator chats with Serene Chen and Krish Natarajan who star in Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT)’s new play, The Sound Inside, written by by award-winning playwright Adam Rapp. The Sound Inside turns the spotlight on an unusual connection forged between a pair of literary-minded people – a professor and
Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Serene Chen and Krish Natarajan Read More »
By Nabilah Said and Corrie Tan (5,950 words, 20-minute read) Spoiler Alert: This text contains spoilers for The Coronologues: Silver Linings by The Singapore Repertory Theatre and Long Distance Affair by Juggerknot Theatre Company and PopUP Theatrics. To view this text in its entirety, please read on a desktop. Introduction (Nabilah) It felt like
Coronalogues, pandemic spectatorship (and the critic) Read More »
By Nabilah Said and Eugene Tan (2,500 words, 10-minute read) Spoiler Alert: This review contains major spoilers for the show Caught. Nabilah: I approach the venue for Caught with some trepidation. There had been scant details from the Singapore Repertory Theatre about what to expect from the show – ArtsEquator ran an interview with
Caught: Goodbye Lin Bo, we hardly knew ye Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (1,500 words, 6-minute read) It’s a party … It’s unbridled and free and outrageous. It demands a full-body, full-mind engagement. That’s how New York-based director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar describes Caught, Singapore Repertory Theatre’s latest production, a socially immersive experience at Miaja Gallery taking place from 10 September onwards. It’s an unusual and
Uncovering the Enigma of Lin Bo: “Caught” by SRT Read More »
By Naeem Kapadia (885 words, four-minute read) First there’s its scale – with its magnificent marble dome, soaring pillars and lush surrounding gardens. Then, the perfect symmetry; it can literally be folded in half both forwards and backwards. Finally, the purity of that incandescent white marble. Commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum
“Guards at the Taj”: The Bloody Brushstrokes of Beauty Read More »
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 its poignant resonances with the current political zeitgeist. Sprawled out upon the cascading slope of the Green, audiences bear witness to power
Shakespeare In The Park’s “Julius Caesar”: I Am She Read More »
Duration: 30 mins Matthew Lyon and Naeem Kapadia are back in the studio again to discuss yet another Singapore-bred musical: Singapore Repertory Theatre’s re-staging of the acclaimed Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress. Having run from 8 to 27 August 2017, this year’s production is its fourth iteration since its premiere at the Opening Festival of the Esplanade
Podcast 24: Singapore Repertory Theatre’s “Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress” Read More »
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 gasp from the audience at the post-show dialogue on 22 November. Regulatory authorities are known
Losing My Religion: “Disgraced” by SRT Read More »
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 Shaw’s parliamentary-debate dialogue. To be fair, Akhtar recognises that his play might engender a “stilted
Low Octane: SRT’s Disgraced Read More »
