“Make Hantus Great Again”, Teatre Ekamatra’s latest production, combines kooky supernatural characters with social commentary this Halloween.
Make Hantus Great Again: Breaking Bread With the Undead Read More »
By ila Many of us grew up with ghost stories. For some of us, it’s very much part of our belief system that we share the world with other presences. (If you’re interested, I wrote a speculative text about the Pontianak here.) When I was younger, my mom would use the word “pelesit” each time
Pelesits And Where To Find Them: A conversation with NADA and Teater Ekamatra 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 Faezah Zulkifli (1,020 words, 4-minute read) “ORANG_” The wordplay in Teater Ekamatra’s A Clockwork Orange is no accident. An inventive linguist, author Anthony Burgess, who lived in Malaysia in the 1950s, borrowed the title for his magnum opus from a Cockney expression, and introduced the pun on the Malay word ‘orang’ into the subject.
Say No To Droogs: Teater Ekamatra’s “A Clockwork Orange” Read More »
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Drama Centre Black Box, on level five of the National Library, is bracketed by floors and floors of reference books and historical documents; to get there you must ascend past the Asian Film
“Tiger of Malaya”: The Body Remembers What the Archive Cannot Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (825 words, four-minute read) We’ve been seeing a variety of theatre revolving around dementia and its effects on families in Singapore over the past few years, such as Pangdemonium’s The Father, The Necessary Stage’s Don’t Forget to Remember Me, and Drama Box’s forum theatre shows The Wind Came Home and Exit. The
“Potong” by Teater Ekamatra: Of Kin and Skin Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (575 words, 5-minute read) Nabilah Said’s last staged play, Drip, had a wisecracking and irreverent script which, at its heart, was a story about family. The play looked at the struggle of finding a sense of belonging within one’s family when the wide rifts in beliefs and behaviours seem impossible to bridge.
Teater Ekamatra’s “Angkat”: Uncarried Baggage Read More »
By Kathy Rowland (728 words, 8 minute read) Teater Ekamatra’s Harap opens with its five characters frozen in the shadows, standing on low plinths. Taking centre-stage is a series of monochromatic, indeterminate images, projected on the backdrop and over their bodies. When the characters break free, the stage crackles with the easy energy of Hadi
‘Hope (Harap)’: No Hope in Contemporary Hell Read More »
