Review: OFF STAGE by Emergency Stairs

All the world’s a stage, and the theatre industry especially so.  Is an actor ever really just an actor, or does their work go far beyond their prescribed ‘role’? For Emergency Stairs’ training and experimental arm Emergency Shelter’s first production, led by artistic director Liu Xiaoyi, OFF STAGE is a challenge to its ensemble of nine actors (Chanel Chan, Chong Woon Yong, Darren Guo, Zachary Ho, WahWah Hung … Continue reading Review: OFF STAGE by Emergency Stairs

[Editor’s Pick] Highlights of Storyfest 2018 – #BeLegendary

The second edition of the Storytelling Centre’s Storyfest returns this weekend, with 17 programmes, 21 storytellers and countless stories to be told at the Arts House. Storytelling is no easy business, and as an ancient oral tradition, it gives power to the spoken word and draws strength from the human voice, something we clearly experienced as we watched Storyfest creative producer Kamini Ramachandran herself perform … Continue reading [Editor’s Pick] Highlights of Storyfest 2018 – #BeLegendary

The Finger Players 2018: An Interview with Framed, By Adolf Director/Playwright Chong Tze Chien and Cast Member Joshua Lim

This June, The Finger Players return with a brand new season of theatrical productions to be staged at the Victoria Theatre. Each playing for a single weekend over two weeks, witness the return of their new shows with Citizen Dog and Framed, by Adolf, helmed by Finger Players resident director Oliver Chong and company director Chong Tze Chien respectively. In the second of a two part series, we … Continue reading The Finger Players 2018: An Interview with Framed, By Adolf Director/Playwright Chong Tze Chien and Cast Member Joshua Lim

Preview: The Lion King presented by BASE Entertainment Asia and Sliding Doors Entertainment

BASE Entertainment Asia and Sliding Doors Entertainment are set to have a roaring 2018 season as they bring back the very first show that played at Mastercard Theatres 7 years ago when Marina Bay Sands first opened – Disney’s The Lion King! Since its premiere in Minnesota in 1997, more than 90 million people around the world have experienced the sheer joy and theatrical mastery … Continue reading Preview: The Lion King presented by BASE Entertainment Asia and Sliding Doors Entertainment

Preview: Leonard Bernstein’s Mass by Orchestra of the Music Makers

Is there anything that Edith Podesta cannot do? After dipping her toes into directing opera last year with Hansel and Gretel, the critically acclaimed theatremaker will once again be teaming up with the Orchestra of Music Makers this June to present the Southeast Asian premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass. First composed in 1971 at the behest of Jacqueline Kennedy for the inauguration of the John F. … Continue reading Preview: Leonard Bernstein’s Mass by Orchestra of the Music Makers

Review: Sensing the Dark (Esplanade’s Flipside 2018)

Darkness feels like an old friend in this concert with a twist.  Directed by Julian Wong with vocal direction by Irene Jansen, Sensing the Dark is a concert with a twist – the musicians and audience members are clothed under a blanket of darkness, initially with almost no light illuminating them as they begin to play. We’re not even privy to seeing their faces before the show … Continue reading Review: Sensing the Dark (Esplanade’s Flipside 2018)

Review: Toruk – The First Flight by Cirque du Soleil (presented by Mediacorp VizPro)

A visually spectacular journey into the world of Pandora. Director James Cameron’s sci-fi film Avatar was a hit when it first premiered in 2009, with a completely new world built around his vision, from an extraterrestrial environment all the way to an entire new language for these iconic, giant blue humanoids. The dedication to creation was as evident then as it is now in Cirque du Soleil’s … Continue reading Review: Toruk – The First Flight by Cirque du Soleil (presented by Mediacorp VizPro)

Review: Agnes of God by Desert Wine Productions

A likeable enough religious mystery/thriller on a budget. Agnes of God is a production whose script pulls out all the stops for shock – an amnesiac novice nun found with her baby strangled by its own umbilical cord and absentmindedly tossed into a wastepaper basket, a cagey Mother Superior who becomes increasingly suspicious as secrets from the convent keep slipping out, and an atheist psychiatrist tasked … Continue reading Review: Agnes of God by Desert Wine Productions

Preview: Pesta Raya 2018 by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

  Coinciding with the celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, the 17th edition of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay’s Pesta Raya – Malay Festival of Arts returns this July! This year, the festival will showcase the rich history of the Nusantara (Malay Archipelago), with a spectrum of programmes set to appeal to everyone from the young ones all the way to the oldtimers and hipsters! … Continue reading Preview: Pesta Raya 2018 by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

100 and 100 More Festival: Into The Blue Forest (Review)

An immersive, interactive meditation on solitude and friendship opens the inaugural 100 and 100 More Festival Jeffrey Tan’s Into The Blue Forest charts a day in the life of an ordinary, old tree (Beatrice Chien) as she encounters flora and fauna living in the forest as they interact with her, from to a wisecracking spider all the way to a sly snake. Midway through, she chances … Continue reading 100 and 100 More Festival: Into The Blue Forest (Review)