Chair Stories
In this visual essay, puppet maker and designer Daniel Sim, begins with a set of rejected stage chairs, and ends up on a lyrical journey through Singapore’s theatre history.
Singapore Theatre
Make Hantus Great Again: Breaking Bread With the Undead
“Make Hantus Great Again”, Teatre Ekamatra’s latest production, combines kooky supernatural characters with social commentary this Halloween.
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Isabella Chiam: Cultivating Risks
SMU students Caitlin Leong and Joy Lo interview Isabella Chiam about her gardening workshop, ‘The Last Gardener’, gaining insights into the risks and challenges that artists face in the creative sector.
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Berak: Letting it Go
Naeem Kapadia reviews ‘Berak’ by Singapore’s Teater Ekamatra and comes away moved by the sensitive trancreation of the original play by Chong Tze Chien.
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Reconsidering the Commandments with Wild Rice’s Animal Farm (2022)
In Wild Rice’s restaging of Animal Farm, Rebecca G finds a production that leavens the darker aspects of the text by drawing out the absurdities of the narrative.
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Podcast 106: Boom
In our latest podcast, we discuss Boom, a production by A Mirage which took place on 1-20 July 2022.
Contemporary Moves In Modern Singaporean Tamil Theatre
Hemang Yadav was involved in a recent development program, Tunjuk Arah/ Iyakkunar, for Malay and Indian theatre directors in Singapore. He shares his views and reflections on the current state of Singaporean Tamil theatre, and how the programme was an important platform, while also identifying some entrenched ideas underpinning the design of the masterclasses.
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“What if we do it this way?”: Imagining new Possibilities with Producers SG
With change and transformation being an agenda for the past two years, we talk to Producers SG and uncover how they plan to accommodate the shifts in the art world.
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Podcast 104: Tartuffe: The Imposter
Critics Matthew Lyon, Nabilah Said and Naeem Kapadia discuss Wild Rice’s bold adaptation of Tartuffe: The Imposter by Molière in the latest ArtsEquator Theatre Podcast. In this latest ArtsEquator Theatre Podcast, Matthew Lyon, Nabilah Said and Naeem Kapadia discuss the recent production, Tartuffe: The Imposter, written by Molière and presented by Wild Rice. The cast
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Podcast 103: The Glass Menagerie
Classic play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams gets the Pangdemonium treatment. Critics Matthew Lyon, Nabilah Said and Naeem Kapadia discuss more in the latest ArtsEquator Theatre Podcast. In this latest ArtsEquator Theatre Podcast, Matthew Lyon, Nabilah Said and Naeem Kapadia discuss the recent production The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams and presented by
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Singapore Arts Emerging from the “Great Pause”
The last two years have been significant for those working in arts and culture. In Singapore, this period has seen interesting initiatives focused more on creating meaningful shifts in the scene – from changing the ways we work, to improving and professionalising craft, and decentralising discourse and learning. Nabilah Said, Ke Weiliang and Lee Shu
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Opposition: Cycles of Love, Forces of Change
Faezah Zulkifli dissects Opposition – a multilayered narrative of the relationships people have with one another, with themselves and the spaces they inhabit. This performance is the last of a trilogy of collaborations between The Necessary Stage and Drama Box. Light versus darkness, regularity versus irregularity, stability versus fluidity—from deconstructing binary oppositions to reconciling differences,
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WINDOW by ATTEMPTS: A click away
“You walk into a black room. Right in the middle of that room, a laptop gleams dimly. A voice beseeches you to explore further.” What is WINDOW? WINDOW by ATTEMPTS Or try clicking ANOTHER WINDOW WhatsApp Video 2022-03-03 at 5.44.45 PM Tags: attempts Mental Health online performance Singapore Theatre Video
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Schooled by Singapore Youth Theatre: Teens Tell It Like It Is
Azura Farid reviews Schooled, the play about the concerns of young people devised by the inaugural batch of the Singapore Youth Theatre ensemble, Wild Rice’s educational programme for youths aged 13-17 years old. The piece was first staged in 2020, and puts youths centrestage to be listened to by the adults, for once. As I
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Podcast 102: CITRUS Practices & Library of Care
Adib Kosnan chats with arts practitioners Corrie Tan, Elizabeth Chan and Chong Gua Khee, who are members of CITRUS practices. The group is interested in cultivating better practices around care and intimacy in artmaking in Singapore, and are developing an online resource to help practitioners with that. In the latest episode of the ArtsEquator podcast,
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Empathy is of the essence: Order On The Go by Erwin Shah Ismail
Singaporean performer and playwright Erwin Shah Ismail shares stories of food delivery riders in the promenade theatre piece, Order On The Go, which will see audiences moving around Kampong Gelam. Erwin hopes to make people more aware of their experiences, and calls for more empathy for these essential workers.
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Screen. Shot. at M1 Fringe 2022: Starve a fire, feed a flame
Rebecca G. reviews Bound Theatre’s newest work, which explores the darker elements of our always-connected lives : cancel culture, fake news, and modified behaviours, in an interactive performance that involved the audience to varying degrees of success. Our journey into the all-too-real world of Screen. Shot. starts before any audience member has even stepped foot
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The Secret Life Of Haw Par Villa: How tours are bringing the arts to life
Ever since the pandemic hit, the notion of travel in Singapore has manifested in a variety of forms. The word “staycation” is now commonly associated with a quick getaway from the same walls we’ve grown accustomed to in our HDB flats, as well as the offering of SingapoRediscovers vouchers. Since the beginning of the pandemic,
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Podcast 100: Singapore Theatre Year In Review
Listen as speakers Ke Weiliang, Lee Shu Yu, Matt Lyon, Nabilah Said and Naeem Kapadia share their thoughts about Singapore theatre in 2021, including observations and shows they found memorable. Mentioned in this episode: ArtsWok, Brown Voices, Checkpoint Theatre, Double Confirm Productions/Sight Lines Entertainment, Drama Box, Eng Kai Er, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay,
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Re Somma and Tamil Theatre in Singapore
By Vithya Subramaniam, in conversation with Karthikeyan Somasundaram Why stage a piece about, and play your own father? What is Tamil Theatre in Singapore? And did Karthik really need to put on a full face of paint just for that one 12-minute scene? Vithya Subramaniam and Karthikeyan Somasundaram chat about Re Somma—a ‘bioplay’ on Singaporean
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Year In Review 2021: Singapore Theatre in Statistics
Where did 2021 go? As part of our annual event Year In Review 2021, statistics about 2021 shows were gathered, including those postponed or cancelled. These infographics are produced by ArtsEquator. Discuss, respond and listen as we unpack these statistics and more in Year In Review on 18 Dec 2021. [See details below] You can
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JENG JENG JENG: Singapore Theatre Year In Review 2021
JENG JENG JENG…! Year in Review is back! Where did 2021 go? How did the year unravel, and where have we arrived at? In a year where the arts has had to acquiesce to multiple rules, hopeful for a return to normalcy, 2021 had us hurtling through an unknown abyss of multiple emotions best captured
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Reframing The Mental Health Discourse ‘With Time’
For his directorial and playwriting debut, Drama Box’s resident artist, Chng Yi Kai, wants to reframe the discourse around mental health. This might seem ambitious for a young artist of 29, but this issue has been percolating in his mind since he was in university a couple of years ago. “I was going through some
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The working processes of artists: Sonia Kwek
“Probably your body is the one space you can be the most autonomous still”, says artist and performer Sonia Kwek. In this video, the artist talks about the politics of using the female body in her works, and how this relates to the experiences of marginalised communities. She also shares about her recent work Red
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Bedside Banter: Cyril & Michael by Bridging the Gap Collective
By Naeem Kapadia (800 words, 2-minute read) Two strangers meet on gay dating app Grindr and share an encounter in a hotel room. Except it’s not just fast, meaningless sex. Budding playwright and theatremaker Theo Chen’s assured two-hander, presented by Bridging the Gap Collective, is a deceptively simple play that slowly draws one into its
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The working processes of artists: Grace Kalaiselvi
Theatremaker Grace Kalaiselvi talks about her journey in theatre, the Tamil theatre scene and issues of diversity and representation in Singapore theatre in this video, titled Creating as a Tamil Artist in Singapore, directed and conceptualised by LASALLE students Nur Ashikin Ali and Raman Mruthika. “We wanted to shed some light and understanding on the
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Dear Waterloo Street, From An Emerging Arts Manager
Waterloo Street is for me, a place of beginnings. It has accompanied me through my journey as an arts management student from Singapore Management University (SMU) to my current job as an arts manager with Theatre Practice. While many things may have changed, Waterloo Street has remained a persistent presence in my life. Waterloo Street
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Podcast 95: Three Sisters and _T0701_ at SIFA 2021
In this episode of the ArtsEquator theatre podcast, Naeem Kapadia, Matthew Lyon and Nabilah Said discuss Three Sisters by Nine Years Theatre and _T0701_ by Zeugma, which were both part of SIFA 2021. Stream Podcast 95: ArtsEquator · Podcast 95: Three Sisters & T0701 at SIFA 2021 Also available on Spotify. Podcast Transcript Naeem:
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The frenemy’s handshake: The Singapore Trilogy as political theatre
My phone vibrated one night, with a notification that Singapore political party Workers’ Party (WP) was premiering a live video on Instagram. Curious, I tuned in – digital and social media being the default, on-tap mode of infotainment during the pandemic. It turned out to be an “office tour”, via live video feed, of LO
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Podcast 94: The Singapore Trilogy by The Second Breakfast Company
In the episode of the ArtsEquator theatre podcast, Nabilah Said, Matthew Lyon and Naeem Kapadia discuss The Singapore Trilogy by The Second Breakfast Company, which ran from March 11 to March 21 2021. Stream Podcast 94: ArtsEquator · Podcast 93: The Singapore Trilogy Also available on Spotify. Podcast Transcript Matthew Lyon (ML): Hello, everybody,
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