M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Soultari Amin Farid and Grace Lee-Khoo (Mak-Mak Menari)

Who exactly are the Mak-Mak Menari and why should we care about Bhumi Collective’s latest show of the same name? In short, the 23-member group of veteran Malay dancers have been around since the early 2010s, and by virtue of their very existence, are pushing boundaries and subverting expectations of the middle-aged Malay woman. Premiering at the 2020 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, Mak-Mak Menari is … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Soultari Amin Farid and Grace Lee-Khoo (Mak-Mak Menari)

Music Is: Martin Grubinger – The Tears of Nature by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Preview)

One of today’s top percussionists, Martin Grubinger, comes to Singapore on 29th February to perform Tan Dun’s percussion concerto, The Tears of Nature. The work, which was written for Grubinger, celebrates the human spirit in its endeavour to live, fight and dance with nature. Tan Dun, whose music is regularly performed by the SSO, said of the piece: “While composing I thought about nature and … Continue reading Music Is: Martin Grubinger – The Tears of Nature by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Preview)

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Square One Collective (No Place)

In the not so distant future of 2075, the world is at its end. Three people – a political exile, a former radical and a climate refugee go in search of a virtual utopia, in the hopes that they find some form of shelter away from everything else. But what results is an absurd game, as Square One Collective’s No Place emerges as a social experiment that … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Square One Collective (No Place)

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Reut Shemesh (ATARA – For you, who has not yet found the one)

Female, Jewish and an Israeli living in Germany, Reut Shemesh’s background is certainly one that offers up a myriad of perspectives by which to see the world. At the 2020 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, Reut will be bringing in her work ATARA – For you, who has not yet found the one, investigating femininity, religion and personhood with a mixed cast of Orthodox and secular dancers. … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Reut Shemesh (ATARA – For you, who has not yet found the one)

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Spacebar Theatre (The Utama Spaceship)

If there’s one thing Singapore theatre seems to lack, it’s more companies willing to go down the irreverent route, having fun with their craft and taking theatre to its extremes. For Spacebar Theatre, comprising Eugene Koh and Lee Shu Yu, the NUS Theatre Studies graduates are about to do just that with The Utama Spaceship, playing this January as part of the 2020 M1 Singapore Fringe … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Spacebar Theatre (The Utama Spaceship)

Review: The Shadow Curriculum by Jelaine Ng (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★☆☆☆☆ (Performance attended 11/1/20, 2pm) Attempt to satirise motivational speakers unclear in its motives and falls flat.  In Singapore’s results-oriented society, success is everything. So it comes as no surprise that parents will try any ways and means necessary to give their children a leg up in the place that will most likely make or break their future: school. From countless tuition lessons to enrichment … Continue reading Review: The Shadow Curriculum by Jelaine Ng (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: Beside Ourselves by .gif (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★☆☆☆ (Performance attended 10/1/20) Great songs from .gif stitched together with a premature theatre production unable to fully capture the theme of displacement with its form.  While primarily known as darlings of the local music scene, local electronica duo .gif has also recently dabbled in mediums such as theatre, having provided the lush, trippy soundtrack to Checkpoint Theatre’s Displaced Persons Welcome Dinner (2019). Their iconic … Continue reading Review: Beside Ourselves by .gif (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Music Is: Inner Worlds – Igor & Pei Sian in Concert with re:Sound (Preview)

Start 2020 off with a round of music as re:Sound Collective presents Inner Worlds – Igor & Pei Sian in Concert at the Victoria Concert Hall this January. Bringing together violinist Igor Yuzefovich, co-concertmaster of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and SSO principal cello soloist Ng Pei-Sian, the concert is set to bring audience members on an exploration of the human spirit. The set will open … Continue reading Music Is: Inner Worlds – Igor & Pei Sian in Concert with re:Sound (Preview)

Review: Secretive Thing 215 by Secretive Thing (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★★☆ (Performance attended 9/1/20) Intricate, introspective experience with only our phones and a mysterious communicator. Going in to a performance of a secretive nature, knowing absolutely nothing about what to expect, feels a little unnerving and very exciting. With Secretive Thing 215, the latest ‘show’ by mysterious collective Secretive Thing, all we know is that we are to come with a phone enabled with WhatsApp, and … Continue reading Review: Secretive Thing 215 by Secretive Thing (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: Contemplating Kopitiam and Kampong Wa’Hassan by Oliver Chong and NAFA (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★☆☆ (Performance attended 9/1/20) Alfian Sa’at meets Kuo Pao Kun meets the Millennials in this well-directed but conceptually disjointed reflection on belonging and identity.   There’s something incredibly audacious about splicing two unlike plays together in an attempt to better bring out their shared concerns. Where Kuo Pao Kun’s Kopitiam was a naturalistic, three-character work in Mandarin concerning itself with an elderly coffee shop owner struggling to understand … Continue reading Review: Contemplating Kopitiam and Kampong Wa’Hassan by Oliver Chong and NAFA (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)