Preview: Rock Guardians of the Sea (守护海洋的神岛) by The Fool Theatre

Following their debut in 2018 with original work Because It’s Fun, The Fool Theatre returns this July with their sophomore work, an all new, original mandarin musical – Rock Guardians of the Sea. In this play, witness a Singapore legend come to life in this madcap adaptation, directed by The Fool Theatre founder Xavier Kang, and with a book by Terence Chan and music by Jonelle Lim. … Continue reading Preview: Rock Guardians of the Sea (守护海洋的神岛) by The Fool Theatre

Preview: Love Ya Mom! 爱呀,我的妈! by Godot Theatre Company

Godot Theatre Company impressed us last year when they presented their award-winning production of Tuesdays with Morrie. Now, they’re back again at the Esplanade Theatre, this time with their hit Mandarin musical Love Ya Mom! In this musical comedy, a single mother (also an expert mechanic) and her daughter (with rock star ambitions) swap bodies when a genius scientist’s experiment goes wrong. Chaos, naturally, ensues as they struggle … Continue reading Preview: Love Ya Mom! 爱呀,我的妈! by Godot Theatre Company

Preview: Both Sides, Now – Immersive Arts Experience by Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative

The third iteration of community engagement project Both Sides, Now comes to a close this year with an immersive arts experience at Telok Blangah this July. Presented by Lien Foundation, Ang Chin Moh Foundation, Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative, the project focuses on presenting end-of-life (EOL) issues in an accessible way to the public, and this year, has focused on the NOW – how one can learn … Continue reading Preview: Both Sides, Now – Immersive Arts Experience by Drama Box and ArtsWok Collaborative

Review: FAUST/US (浮世/德) by Nine Years Theatre

Lest the demons get to me. Written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the early 1800s, there is a timelessness to the narrative and themes discussed in Faust that have led to it becoming an inspiration for countless other works of art, and its regard as one of the greatest works of German literature. To stage it in a new capacity then, is certainly a challenging … Continue reading Review: FAUST/US (浮世/德) by Nine Years Theatre

Dealing with the Devil: An Interview with Performer Mia Chee and Director Cherilyn Woo of Nine Years Theatre’s FAUST/US (浮世/德)

This March, Nine Years Theatre (NYT) opens their 2019 season with what is now their signature style of adapting a Western text into Mandarin, this time around having selected Goethe’s Faustus, the quintessential ‘deal with a devil’ story of a scholar who sells his soul in exchange for his wildest dreams. But in Nine Years Theatre’s FAUST/US, not only will protagonist Faust be receiving a gender swap; for … Continue reading Dealing with the Devil: An Interview with Performer Mia Chee and Director Cherilyn Woo of Nine Years Theatre’s FAUST/US (浮世/德)

Preview: FAUST/US (浮世/德) by Nine Years Theatre

“I often feel like there are two souls living in me. One with an overwhelming zest with love for life, desperately clinging onto the world and all its wonders, the other is immensely yearns to fly above the dust, and into the light.” The classic tale of a deal with the devil gets the Nine Years Theatre (NYT) treatment as the company presents FAUST/US this March. … Continue reading Preview: FAUST/US (浮世/德) by Nine Years Theatre

Huayi Festival 2019: Love Letters by The Nonsensemakers/Nelson Chia & Mia Chee (Review)

Two melodramatic lives, their destinies intertwined by a flurry of love letters. It’s one thing to be married, or married to your job, but quite another to be married to someone who runs a company with you. Such is the case for both The Nonsensemakers (Hong Kong) and Nine Years Theatre (Singapore), run by partners Rensen Chan and Jo Ngai, and Nelson Chia and Mia … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: Love Letters by The Nonsensemakers/Nelson Chia & Mia Chee (Review)

Huayi Festival 2019: The Way of Zhuang Zi (庄子兵法) by Story Works (Review)

Nerve wracking thriller of a play that keeps you guessing every step of the way. Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness. I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. Of the many Chinese philosophers we grew up learning from our scholar of a Chinese teacher … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: The Way of Zhuang Zi (庄子兵法) by Story Works (Review)

Review: The Transition Room by Toy Factory

Waiting rooms can feel like hell.  Over the years, purgatory onstage has taken a great many forms, from the horrific to the mundane. With Stanley Seah’s The Transition Room, the face of limbo takes an absurdist approach towards the middle ground, as we open with four characters finding themselves in a bare, abstract room, each dressed in shades of grey, with no memory or knowledge … Continue reading Review: The Transition Room by Toy Factory

Huayi Festival 2019: FOUR FOUR EIGHT (四四八) by Emergency Stairs (Review)

Warning: This review may contain spoilers Journey to the centre of the self…and Liu Xiaoyi. Over the years, Emergency Stairs Artistic Director Liu Xiaoyi has made it abundantly clear that the work he puts out staunchly refuses to conform to theatrical standards, having created work that subverts the norm, be it a piece of anti-theatre deliberately attempting to crush audience expectations or even performing in unusual … Continue reading Huayi Festival 2019: FOUR FOUR EIGHT (四四八) by Emergency Stairs (Review)