Preview: Southernmost – 1 Table 2 Chairs Project by Emergency Stairs

New experimental theatre company Emergency Stairs is ending off the year with a bang, having organized the massive, ambitious Southernmost festival, an all new experimental theatre festival that unites the best traditional and contemporary theatre artists from around the region. Southernmost: One Table Two Chairs Project takes its name from the staging convention for traditional Chinese Opera, where the stage is positioned in the South, facing the North … Continue reading Preview: Southernmost – 1 Table 2 Chairs Project by Emergency Stairs

Review: Resolute by Xin Yi Dance Company

In the Xin Yi Dance Company’s latest performance, there’s an intensity to that keeps our eyes completely focused on the stage at all times. Described as a ‘dance drama’, Resolute follows a tale of morality and virtue, as three strangers – a judge, doctor and lawyer meet under trying circumstances, each of them facing their own moral dilemmas and internal demons. An easy to follow storyline with … Continue reading Review: Resolute by Xin Yi Dance Company

Review: Neo Dance HK X Singapore

Contemporary dance, for us, is often a love-hate relationship. There are times where movements are so abstract, they frustrate with their opaque qualities, yet there are times dances are performed with such determination that we simply remain mesmerized by the pure emotions they evoke in us. Belonging to the latter category is Neo Dance HK’s latest triple bill work, Neo Dance HK X Singapore, which played … Continue reading Review: Neo Dance HK X Singapore

Review: You Can Reach The Sky – An Immersive Theatrical Experience For Pre-Walking Babies

When was the first time you ever caught an immersive theatre performance? For audiences of You Can Reach The Sky, it was probably their first time, before they’ve even hit the tender age of one. You Can Reach The Sky was conceptualised and created by Ellison Tan and Myra Loke. Both artists had already seen how theatre can be aimed ay young children, having been involved in the … Continue reading Review: You Can Reach The Sky – An Immersive Theatrical Experience For Pre-Walking Babies

Review: The White Girl dir. Jenny Suen and Christopher Doyle (SGIFF 2017)

There’s a cheesy quote that goes along the lines of ‘to know what someone fears losing, watch what they photograph.’ It’s not always accurate, but in the case of Jenny Suen’s directorial debut (co-directed with cinematographer legend Christopher Doyle), it’s a phrase that echoes throughout the film more than ever. The White Girl is a film about memory. Described as a homecoming for both Suen … Continue reading Review: The White Girl dir. Jenny Suen and Christopher Doyle (SGIFF 2017)

Kalaa Utsavam 2017: Khwaab-Sa – Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream by The Company Theatre (Review)

Khwaab-Sa opens with a spotlight on lithe, petite dancer Ronita Mookerji as the iconic spirit Puck. In the background, a musician clad in a unicorn mask assaults our ears with loud electronic music, as Mookerji writhes and vibrates. Grinning madly, she laughs silently before impishly back-flipping across the stage, a moon projection making her lunacy obvious. This is Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as you’ve never seen … Continue reading Kalaa Utsavam 2017: Khwaab-Sa – Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream by The Company Theatre (Review)

Preview: What the tree sees…by RAW Moves

Theatre companies aren’t the only arts groups around to have youth wings; one of our favourite local experimental dance groups RAW Moves has one too. Called A Little RAW, the group of youth dancers aged 11 to 19 (including two with special needs) will be presenting their year end performance this November at Goodman Arts Centre’s all new performance space – the Artground. In the … Continue reading Preview: What the tree sees…by RAW Moves

Mosaic Music Series 2017: sudo by FERRY X Canvas Conversations (Review)

The Esplanade’s 2017 Mosaic Music series kicked off with a real showstopper last night, with local electronic band Canvas Conversations collaborating with fellow local musician FERRY (of Giants Must Fall). Interestingly, this was actually our very first show at the Esplanade Annexe Studio, and we couldn’t possibly have asked for a better introduction to all its capabilities. For the geekier readers amongst you, you might … Continue reading Mosaic Music Series 2017: sudo by FERRY X Canvas Conversations (Review)

Review: Our Town by Intercultural Theatre Institute

The final performance of each batch of Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI) graduating students always finishes with a bang, and Our Town is no different. Directed by Arts NMP and Dramabox Artistic Director Kok Heng Leun in his first solo directorial effort since 2015, the production manages to bring Thornton Wilder’s classic play to new heights, highlighting the play’s underlying concerns about distance and lost time. Kok’s vision … Continue reading Review: Our Town by Intercultural Theatre Institute

Spirited Away: Meeting the Team Behind L’arietta’s Purgatory

Stepping into their rehearsal space at UWCSEA, we watch the members of L’arietta’s upcoming production of Purgatory already in the midst of a jovial conversation, easily cracking jokes with each other while chatting animatedly. It’s the very image of a happy family, and we were taken with how in sync the entire group felt at first sight. Founded in mid-2015 by soprano Akiko Otao and tenor … Continue reading Spirited Away: Meeting the Team Behind L’arietta’s Purgatory