M1SFF 2018 Previews Part 3: Questioning Perfection and the Patriarchal Gaze

In the final part of our previews for the 2018 M1 Singapore Fringe Fest, we look at four works that tackle the complexities of the female form and the emphasis on female beauty. These pieces question the validity of succumbing to the patriarchal gaze and reject the emphasis on traditional ‘aesthetic beauty’, as they bring alternative takes on femininity across age and history. Read our previews in detail below!

If there’s not dancing at the revolution, I’m not coming by Julia Croft (R18)
(18th – 20th January)

This is a party.
This is a poem.
This is a tiny call to arms.

If there’s not dancing at the revolution, I’m not coming brings you the best of pop culture – from songs to film, ads and more, as New Zealand artist Julia Croft stitches these into a rich collage that succinctly and entertainingly portrays the treatment of the female body as spectacle in popular culture. Unpicking and teasing out the collective fantasies that we’ve applied to femininity, Croft masterfully brings them together in one masterful, unapologetic performance that explodes into feminist confetti.

If there’s not dancing at the revolution, I’m not coming plays at the Esplanade Annexe Studio from 18th – 20th January. Tickets available from SISTIC

Step Outta Line by Thong Pei Qin & Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
(18th – 21st January)

Co-presented with Theatre Arts students from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Thong Pei Qin’s Step Outta Line features a whole army of quirky characters as they don high heels and present an assortment of selected texts from local playwright Ovidia Yu, layering these female transgressions, aggressions and negotiations with movement, soundscapes and visuals in response to Amanda Heng’s works.

With a keen sense of rhythm created from the tapping of high heels, Step Outta Line becomes a keen observation and call for individuals to learn and lay claim to the various identities they can take on even amidst the suffocating patriarchal society, subverting norms at their best as they reappropriate the clothing, tools and embodied ideals which conspire to keep them in line.

Step Outta Line plays at the NAFA Studio Theatre from 18th – 21st January. Tickets available from SISTIC

The Most Massive Woman Wins by Madeleine George
Produced by Mitchell Productions Inc. & Chopt Logic Productions
(24th – 25th January)

Australian companies Mitchell Productions Inc and Chopt Logic Productions present Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist Madeleine George’s The Most Massive Woman Wins, a comic and stinging social commentary that introduces us to four intelligent successful women, anxiously awaiting liposuction surgery as they each try to win the battle to be thin.

This is no ordinary theatrical performance though; innovative director Jenn Havelberg emphasises the dramatic potential of the script and the conflicts of these women by literally setting the action in a mud-pit. Expect brutal mud wrestling as these women reflect on their lives, and audience members eagerly await to see just which one of these ‘massive women’ emerge champions of their own lives.

The Most Massive Woman Wins plays at the Esplanade Annexe Studio from 24th – 25th January. Tickets available from SISTIC

Attempts: Singapore by Rei Poh (24th – 27th January)

Developed in conjunction with Centre 42, artist Rei Poh presents Attempts: Singapore, an innovative, immersive theatrical experience that takes inspiration from playwright Martin Crimp’s  Attempts on Her Life  where audience members become participants as they work together to hunt down a missing girl while the appearance of a mysterious new databank sparks off an international crisis

As the audience members search, the possibility of incriminating the girl in the incident becomes more and more apparent, and we’re forced to ask ourselves the question: as we collectively try to define her, are we closer to understanding or destroying her? Performed by Farez Najid, Farhana M Noor, Henrik Cheng, Julie Wee and Sabrina Sng, Attempts: Singapore brings video game logic and adventure to reality in one of the most unique and futuristic shows at the 2018 M1SFF.

 

Attempts: Singapore plays at various spaces before concluding at Centre 42 from 24th – 27th January. Tickets available from SISTIC

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That’s a wrap for our previews of ticketed events at the 2018 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival: Let’s Walk. But this is by no means the end of coverage, we’ll be watching the shows featured in all three of our previews when the festival happens in January, so watch out for our upcoming reviews, and see you at these incredibly exciting performances!

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2018 takes place from 17th – 28th January 2018. Book your tickets now via SISTIC and for more information, check out the website here